Thousands in Indonesia await aid after quake kills 54

REO, Indonesia

A vilager cooks beside a tent in an open field in Marapokot, Nagekeo. (AFP photo)

Thousands of people were still waiting for aid on the Indonesian island of Flores as the country celebrated its 81st Independence Day on Aug. 17, days after a powerful earthquake killed at least 54 people, injured dozens and damaged hundreds of homes and other buildings.

Many residents spent the day mourning victims, searching for loved ones and waiting for aid to arrive to communities still cut off by the deadly quake.

More than 1,300 homes were damaged when the quake struck East Nusa Tenggara province on Aug. 15, with nearly 250 were destroyed on Flores alone. Some 5,000 people were forced into temporary shelters and 135 people were injured, according to the National Disaster Management Agency.

The province’s governor declared a 14-day state of emergency on Aug. 16.

Thousands of people on Flores camped outside collapsed homes under tarpaulin tents overnight into Aug. 17, sleeping outside because of the danger of more aftershocks.

For many residents, the disaster revived painful memories of a powerful earthquake and tsunami that struck Flores in 1992, killing about 2,500 people.

“My house is just rubble now,” said Rasyid Jafar, a clothing trader in the village of Reo, the hardest-hit area in Manggarai regency, “We need food, medicine and clean water urgently.”

More than 3,500 military and police personnel have been deployed across the disaster zone and 275 tons of aid have been to the area, though logistical challenges have slowed deliveries to some hard-hit communities.

While some relief has trickled in, survivors say they still need equipment to cook food.

“We have nothing left. Why isn’t there a public kitchen?” said Mariana Tewu, another villager in Reo.