Indonesian aid agencies and officials yesterday rushed to help survivors after the third quake disaster in less than a month on the island of Lombok, where about 500 people have died and hundreds of thousands are homeless.
The picturesque island next to holiday destination Bali was hit by two deadly quakes on July 29 and Aug. 5. On Sunday, it was shaken again by a string of fresh tremors and aftershocks, with the strongest measuring magnitude 6.9.
At least 13 people were killed on Sunday on Lombok and neighboring Sumbawa, mostly by falling debris, the Indonesian National Disaster Management Agency said.
Photo: AFP
Drone footage from the village of Sugian, on the hard-hit eastern part of Lombok, showed streets lined with rubble, caved-in roofs and a collapsed mosque.
Aid organizations have vowed to step up humanitarian assistance as devastated residents struggle in makeshift displacement camps.
“We are focusing on the basics, provision of shelter materials — tarpaulins and hygiene kits,” Save the Children Program Implementation director Tom Howells.
“We have shipped enough for about 20,000 people over the past two weeks,” he added.
The disaster agency said it was also accelerating efforts to rebuild homes, hospitals and schools.
Relief agencies worry that access to food, shelter and clean water is insufficient for the more than 430,000 displaced by the disaster.
“There has been damage to the water infrastructure, which is already quite poor in Lombok due to a lack of ground supply and drought conditions,” Howells said.
Tens of thousands of homes, mosques and businesses across Lombok had already been destroyed by the magnitude 6.9 quake on Aug. 5 that killed at least 481 people.
A week before that quake, a tremor surged through the island and killed 17 people.
About 150 patients at a hospital in Lombok’s capital, Mataram, were being treated in tents after being taken out of the damaged building on Sunday over safety fears.
“We heard a sound like the building was cracking and panicked, so all the patients were taken outside,” said Andre, a relative of a patient.
The hospital had already been damaged in the Aug. 5 tremor.
Most people caught in the latest quake had been outside or at shelters when it struck, which limited casualties, authorities said.
Rebuilding costs are estimated to top 7 trillion rupiah (US$479.84 million).
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