AS many as 27 foreign ambassadors are set to attend a ceremony commemorating the 10th anniversary of the deadly earthquake and tsunami that devastated parts of Aceh province on December 26, 2004.
Head of the Aceh Provincial Culture and Tourism Office, Reza Pahlevi, said on Friday that the ambassadors confirmed their plan to attend the event, which will take place at Blang Padang Square, Banda Aceh.
Pahlevi added that the event’s organizing committee had, so far, extended hundreds of invitations to domestic and foreign dignitaries to attend the event.
The 27 foreign ambassadors expected to attend the ceremony represent friendly countries that assisted Aceh in its post-tsunami rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts, he pointed out.
In addition, representatives from 34 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) also look set to attend the event, Pahlevi affirmed.
“The NGOs and donor countries will become participants of the disaster expo at Blang Padang,” he noted.
According to the head of the provincial tourism office, the Aceh government expressed its gratitude to the national and international communities that assisted the province in the post-tsunami rehabilitation and reconstruction phases.
Aceh bore the brunt of the 8.9 Richter scale magnitude undersea earthquake and the tsunami that followed on December 26, 2004, which left more than 200 thousand people dead.
//AntaraNews
