KOMPAS.com - The number of foreign tourists arrivals in Indonesia increased 4.20 percent to 493 thousand in January 2010 from 473.2 thousand in the same period a year earlier, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS). However, if it is compared with their arrivals in December 2009, the number of arrivals in January dropped by 21.17 percent, because January is not a peak season for foreign tourists to come to Indonesia.
BPS chief Rusman Heriawan said that in January the hotel room occupancy rate in the country’s star-rated hotels in 14 provinces was recorded at the average of 46.11 percent, a decline of 6.45 percent compared with that in December 2009 which stood at 52.56 percent. The average length of stay of foreign tourists at star-rated hotels in 14 provinces in January 2010 was 2.08 days, an increase of 0.11 percent compared with that in December 2009, he said.
Java Jazz Festival News
KOMPAS.com - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono here on Saturday night enjoyed the Java Jazz music scene following last week’s tense political atmosphere over the Bank Century bailout case. The president who was among others accompanied by First Lady Ani Yudhoyono and their youngest son, Edhhie Baskoro, watched the Java Jazz music concert featuring songs by Diane Warren in Hall D2, Jakarta Fair arena in Kemayoran.Yudhoyono and Ani who wore blue dress, when entering the Hall D2 at 08:45 pm, were greeted enthusiastically by hundreds of spectators. The audience which previously sat facing the stage, directly turned to see the head of state’s arrival.
The presidential seat which was near the seats of Minister/ State Secretary Sudi Silalahi, Minister of Culture and Tourism Jero Wacik, was located on a small stage in the rear room. Before the concert began, the presenter asked the audience to sing the national anthem "Indonesia Raya" together.
Diane Warren who created the world hits like "I do not want to miss a thing" appeared only briefly in the early stage. After that several singers, namely Eric Benet, Due Voci, Griffith Frank, and Sandy Sondoro alternately sang songs by Diane Warren. Among them was "Unbreak My Heart" which was popularized by Toni Braxton, "Can’t fight the moonlight," which was popularized by Lee An Rimes, and "Because you love me" which was sung by Celine Dion.
Before the show, Diane Warren who has written more than 1,000 songs met with President Yudhoyno for 30 minutes.
News From Chile
The toll of dead rose to 723, with 19 others missing, the National Emergency Office announced, in a magnitude-8.8 quake that President Michelle Bachelet called "an emergency without parallel in Chile's history."
Some coastal towns were almost obliterated — first shaken by the quake, then slammed by a tsunami that carried whole houses inland and crushed others into piles of sticks. Shocked survivors were left without power, water or food.
In Concepcion, the biggest city near the epicenter, rescuers heard the knock of trapped victims inside a toppled 70-unit apartment building and began to drill through thick walls to reach them, said fire department Commander Juan Carlos Subercaseux.
Only the chop of military helicopters flying overhead broke the silence demanded by rescuers straining to hear signs of life inside the building. Firefighters had already pulled 25 survivors and eight bodies from the structure.
Mayor Jacqueline van Rysselberghe told Radio Cooperativa that some food aid was arriving in the city of 200,000 Monday for distribution to the hungry. Electricity was still out, however, and water was scarce.
Concepcion police chief Eliecer Soler said officers arrested 55 people for violating a curfew imposed after looters sacked nearly every market in town. Troops ordered into the city by Bachelet patrolled to enforce security. A few looters re-emerged to rob a market on Monday.
Spanish professor Eduardo Aundez watched with disgust as a soldier patiently waited for looters to rummage through a downtown store, then lobbed two tear gas canisters into the rubble to get them out.
"I feel abandoned" by authorities, he said. "We believe the government didn't take the necessary measures in time, and now supplies of food and water are going to be much more complicated."
The U.N. said Monday that it would rush aid deliveries to Chile after Bachelet appealed for international aid. U.N. humanitarian spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs said Chile was seeking temporary bridges, field hospitals, satellite phones, electric generators, damage assessment teams, water purification systems, field kitchens and dialysis centers.
"We are prepared to provide assistance," Byrs told The Associated Press in Geneva. "It could be quite fast, given that our experts are on standby and were alerted in the region."
The World Health Organization said it expected the death toll to rise in the coming days as communications improve. For survivors, it said access to health services will be a major challenge and noted that indigenous people living in adobe homes were most at risk from heavily damaged infrastructure.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton also offered to provide disaster aid. Traveling in Uruguay, Clinton said she would bring some communications equipment when she visits Chile on Tuesday.
Argentina said it was sending six aircraft loaded with a field hospital, 55 doctors and water treatment plants. Bachelet ordered troops to help deliver food, water and blankets and clear rubble from roads, and she urged power companies to restore service first to hospitals, health clinics and shelters. Field hospitals were planned for hard-hit Concepcion, Talca and Curico.
Bachelet also ordered authorities to quickly identify the dead and return them to their families to ensure "the dignified burials that they deserve."
Defense Minister Francisco Vidal acknowledged the navy made a mistake by not immediately activating a tsunami warning after the quake hit before dawn Saturday. Port captains in several coastal towns did, saving what Vidal called hundreds of lives.
Thirty minutes passed between the quake and a wave that inundated coastal towns, leaving behind sticks, scraps of metal and masonry houses ripped in two. A beachside carnival in the village of Lloca was swamped in the tsunami. A carousel was twisted on its side and a Ferris wheel rose above the muddy wreckage.
Officials said at least eight people died and eight were missing on Robinson Crusoe Island, where it the tsunami drove the sea almost 2 miles (3 kilometers) into the town of San Juan Bautista.
Efforts to determine the full scope of destruction were undermined by an endless string of terrifying aftershocks that turned more buildings into rubble — and forced thousands to set up tents in parks and grassy highway medians.
"If you're inside your house, the furniture moves," said Monica Aviles, pulling a shawl around her shoulders to ward off the cold as she sat next to a fire across the street from her apartment building.
As if to punctuate her fear, an aftershock set off shuddering and groaning sounds for blocks around. "That's why we're here," she said.
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