Birth rates soar as grieving mothers try to rebuild families

(8 Dec 2005) SHOTLIST 1. Sign indicating entrance of Jantho refugee camp barrack 2. Residents of the camp 3. Midwife walking to shelter 4. Close up of baby girl 5. Midwife talking to mother 6. Tilt from new mother, Nurbaiti, to her baby 7. Midwife 8. SOUNDBITE: (Indonesian) Nurbaiti, mother: "I am happy and thankful to Allah because I have brought another of Allah's subject to this world. We have lost many people (during the tsunami) and now we're getting more." 9. Exterior of hospital 10. Various of pregnant woman undergoing check-ups at hospital 11. Various of nurses preparing to deliver a baby 12. SOUNDBITE: (Indonesian) Ridwan, obstetrician: "Some families have lost all of their children because of the tsunami, and they want new children. That is why some mothers now want to get pregnant again." 13. Midwife entering another shelter at refugee camp 14. Tilt from stomach to face of pregnant mother, Cut Asmika 15. Midwife checking Asmika's pulse 16. Asmika's husband watching 17. SOUNDBITE: (Indonesian) Cut Asmika, expectant mother: "I am sad and happy at the same time. I am sad because I lost my parents, but I am also happy because I now have a baby. I will have a friend." 18. Various of children playing in the camp 19. Tilt from pregnant mother Faridah sitting with midwife to pictures on the wall 20. Pictures of Faridah's children who died in the tsunami 21. SOUNDBITE: (Indonesian) Faridah, mother who lost two children: "I want a baby to cheer me up and leave behind my sadness, but I will never forget my two children." 22. Midwife talking to pregnant mother in barrack 23. Expectant mother talking 24. SOUNDBITE: (Indonesian) Kemala Intan, midwife: "The women here want to have more children. Those who do not have children want them, and those who already have children want more. On average they want a lot of children." 25. Various of children at refugee camp STORYLINE: Nearly one year after the tsunami devastated their lives, many grieving mothers living in the tents of the Jantho refugee camp in Indonesia are desperate to rebuild their families and homes. "We have lost many people (during the tsunami) and now we're getting more," said Nurbaiti, the new mother of a baby girl. Ridwan, an obstetrician at the refugee camp explained that some families had lost all of their children because of the tsunami and "they want new children." No one had a complete count of the pregnant women in the province, but midwives said they didn't need statistics to know what was coming. A few tents down from Nurbaiti and her baby, 23-year-old Cut Asmika was tenderly stroking her bulging belly. She was due to give birth any day and believed a new baby was her chance to escape her loneliness. Asmika's mother, father and all three siblings were among those who died in Aceh, the province on the northern tip of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Scared and alone, she married a man she hardly knew in a mass wedding in February and immediately began trying to start a family. "I am sad because I lost my parents, but I am also happy because I now have a baby. I will have a friend," she said. The head of the UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund) Safe Motherhood programme confirmed they were expecting a baby boom. She noticed a surge in new pregnancies in August following a flurry of marriages and expected the real boom to get under way in mid-2006. The tsunami left at least 216,000 people dead or missing in 11 Indian Ocean countries, triggered by a magnitude 9 earthquake on December 26 2004. ==== Clients are reminded: Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...