Aid trickling in, but remote areas still desperate

SOME services began returning to normal in Indonesia’s quake and tsunami stricken city of Palu yesterday, but the fate of many thousands of people in outlying districts remained unknown nearly a week after the disaster struck.

The small city of 370000 people has been the focus of the aid effort launched after last Friday’s 7.5 magnitude earthquake and tsunami on the west coast of Sulawesi island.

International help for survivors has gathered pace, but communities in remote areas have been cut off by broken roads, landslides and no communications, leaving people increasingly desperate for basic needs as aid has only just begun to trickle through.

By yesterday, the death toll stood at 1 424, but it is widely expected to rise as most of the dead accounted for have been from Palu, while figures for remote areas remain unknown.

“There are so many challenges with this disaster, it’s never been so bad,” said Frida Sinta, an aid volunteer trying to get help to fellow residents of Palu.

Orderly queues formed at petrol stations after the arrival of fuel shipments and the power came back on, at least in parts of the city. The improvements are helping with the aid effort.

“We carry whatever we can by car or motorbike within the city wherever we can. But not yet to the most inaccessible places,” Sinta said.

Rescue workers are pushing into outlying districts, where residents have said they have been scavenging for coconuts, bananas and cassava.

Villagers rushed to a Red Cross helicopter that landed near the town of Donggala, north-west of Palu, to distribute bread and other food, a Reuters photographer said.

The UN announced an allocation of $15 million on Wednesday while the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said it was appealing for 22 million Swiss francs (R35m).

Indonesian Central Bank governor Perry Warjiyo played down the impact on South-east Asia’s biggest economy of the disaster in Sulawesi, and of earlier deadly quakes on Lombok island.

“This is really difficult time for Indonesia and for all of us, but we are united and we stand strong,” he said on Wednesday.