Aid agencies rush to help quake survivors
SUGIAN, Indonesia — Indonesian aid agencies and government officials rushed on Tuesday to help survivors after another series of powerful quakes rattled Lombok island, killing at least 10 people and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless.
The picturesque island next to holiday hot spot Bali was hit by two deadly quakes on July 29 and August 5. On Sunday it was shaken again by a string of fresh tremors and aftershocks, with the strongest measuring 6.9 magnitude.
At least 10 people were killed on Sunday, mostly by falling debris, but authorities said the death toll would likely rise.
“The number of victims continues to increase,” said national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, without elaborating. “Aftershocks are still ongoing.”
Aid organizations have vowed to boost humanitarian assistance on the island as devastated residents struggle in makeshift displacement camps.
“We are focusing on the basics, provision of shelter materials — tarpaulins, shelter kits, hygiene kits,” said Tom Howells from Save the Children.
Indonesia’s disaster agency said it was also accelerating efforts to rebuild destroyed homes, hospitals and schools.
However, relief agencies fret that access to food, shelter and clean water is insufficient for some of 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 6.9-magnitude quake on August 5 that killed at least 481 people.
A week before that quake, a tremor surged through the island and killed 17.
Rebuilding costs
Rebuilding costs are estimated to top $480 million.
Authorities said they will not designate the quakes as a national emergency, which would unlock the central government’s 4.0 trillion rupiah disaster relief fund.
Indonesia’s disaster agency announced the decision on Monday evening, strikes a nationalistic tone, noting that declaring a national disaster opens the “door as wide as possible” to international assistance that can cause new problems.
Media articles and people on social media have criticized the relief response to the earthquakes. An Australian journalist’s tweet expressing astonishment that a national disaster hadn’t been declared was retweeted nearly 5,000 times.
But it also said Indonesia has substantial experience in handling natural calamities and hasn’t declared a national disaster since the December 2004 tsunami that killed more than 100,000 people in Aceh province on Sumatra.