Indonesian Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Fahmi Idris said on Wednesday that his ministry was striving to create up to 50,000 badly-needed jobs for tsunami survivors in devastated Aceh province.

The new jobs are expected to come from labor-intensive projects within the next three months.

Fahmi said that labor-intensive projects would be launched in 100 locations in Aceh and adjacent North Sumatra province, which bore the brunt of the disaster.

The ministry would also employ volunteers to provide psychological, religious and social counseling for survivors in the two provinces, he was quoted by the Antara news agency as saying.

About 400,000 people were displaced by the natural calamity, believed to have killed more than 237,000 Indonesians.

Many people had their livelihoods devastated by the tidal waves,which swept away huge swathes of coastline, demolishing houses, boats, fish farms and wharves, and contaminating arable land. Enditem