Help could not come soon enough on yesterday for thousands of evacuees on Indonesia’s Flores island after a powerful earthquake killed at least 53 people, injured dozens and damaged hundreds of houses and buildings.
About 5,000 people fled their homes as the magnitude 7.7 quake hit the island early on Saturday, followed by about 1,000 aftershocks of varying intensities in the hours that followed, officials said.
People in some areas were left without electricity and telecommunications, and at least one emergency access road remained inaccessible.
Photo: AP
“We need food, drink, medicines and diapers for the children,” Umri, a resident of Nangahale village on the north coast of Flores, said yesterday morning.
The 55-year-old, who like many Indonesians uses one name, has been hiding out on a hilltop for 24 hours with others afraid to return home.
At Kisol village a few hours away, Bertolomeus Tiga, 42, said that his house was one of several collapsed by the quake that also brought down part of the local church.
“The police came yesterday and collected all the data, but there’s no aid yet. The most important thing is probably staple foods. Food and drink ... medicine,” he said.
Bertolomeus said villagers were afraid to return to compromised homes and buildings.
“For the time being, we’re still taking refuge outside. We’re still living outside,” he added.
The head of the Indonesian National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), Suharyanto, said at least five helicopters, several planes, a naval vessel and search and rescue ships were on their way to help.
The agency upped the death toll yesterday to 53 from 47 the day before, with 135 people injured.
There were no reports of missing people.
Survivors were in urgent need of assistance in the form of emergency tents, food, medicines, blankets, camp beds, mats, clean water and electricity generators, rescue officials said.
The epicenter of the shallow quake was located just off the north coast of the island, authorities said.
The affected areas have few, if any, high-rise buildings.
BNPB spokesman Berton Suar Pelita Panjaitan said at least 914 houses on the island were severely damaged and hundreds of others to a lesser degree.
Dozens of public buildings were also affected, including 93 educational and 36 health facilities, and 38 government offices.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said on Saturday that preparations were under way to bring aid to thousands in temporary shelters.
The Indonesian government sent 50,000 aid packages weighing a total of 275 tonnes to the area, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen offered help from the bloc’s Copernicus Earth observation satellites.
In Ruteng, a town about 200km from the worst-hit part of the island, heavy machinery were clearing rubble from the street yesterday.
The local hospital had been badly damaged, and patients were evacuated to tents erected outside.
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