Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged his country's help in rebuilding schools, orphanages and hospitals on Sunday as he toured Indonesia's tsunami-ravaged Aceh province. On his first stop of a five-nation tour of the disaster zone, Erdogan _ the fifth foreign leader to tour Aceh _ was greeted at the airport in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, by Indonesian Social Affairs Minister Bachtiar Chamsyah and 30 of about 200 Turkish aid workers sent there by the Turkish Red Crescent Society. During a visit to devastated Lhoknga village, Erdogan said Turkey had "a humanitarian and Islamic duty to serve here," having experienced its own tragedy when two earthquakes killed about 18,000 people in 1999. "The needs we see here _ the schools, housing, orphanages, hospitals _ we will do our best to assist," Erdogan said. Turkey has pledged US$1.25 million (¤972,000) to the relief effort. Erdogan travels next to Malaysia, Thailand, the Maldives and Sri Lanka. Also Sunday, Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot arrived in Aceh to assess relief needs. The Netherlands _ Indonesia's colonial ruler for more than three centuries _ donated ¤400 million (US$514 million) and has offered prefabricated bridges to temporarily fill gaps in highways. Six weeks after the disaster, Indonesia has confirmed 113,913 deaths, and estimated the number missing at more than 127,700. The total death toll in the 11 tsunami-hit Indian Ocean nations ranges from 161,610 to 178,115. Among the dead were one Turkish citizen and nine Dutch nationals.
