Indonesia will start a rehabilitation and reconstruction programme in areas devastated by quakes and tsunami in Central Sulawesi province next month, Vice-President Jusuf Kalla said Tuesday, reported Xinhua.

Powerful and shallow under-earth quakes of 6.0-, 7.4- and 6.1-magnitudes and an ensuing tsunami with a height of up to 3m hit the province on Sept 28, and have resulted in massive damages of houses, buildings and infrastructure facilities.

The worst destruction occurred in provincial capital Palu and the district of Donggala.

"Rehabilitation will start next month. The works will include establishing temporary barracks along with construction of school buildings, mosques, office buildings and houses," the vice president said in his office.

The rehabilitation and reconstruction would take about two years and will be divided into two phases, said Kalla.

The first phase will be the construction of transient settlements such as barracks for the survivors whose houses were levelled by the jolts and the strikes of the tsunami, which will be followed by the rehabilitation and reconstruction of houses and buildings damaged by the natural disasters,.

On foreign aid, the vice-president said it will be primarily used for the forthcoming rehabilitation and reconstruction programmes. By far about 26 nations have offered assistance to the Indonesian government, some of which have channelled their aid, including China, Japan, France, Switzerland and others, according to the national disaster management agency.

The earthquakes and the tsunami have killed at least 2,010 people, left over 5,000 others missing and triggered massive damage and a huge evacuation, the agency revealed.

The agency recorded that as many as 67,310 houses, 2,736 school buildings and 20 health facilities, and scores of infrastructures facilities, including bridges and airport, were devastated.

Some 82,775 people were forced to escape the deadly natural disasters and are now taking shelter in encampments or under tarpaulins in over 100 evacuation centres.

- Bernama