Survivors of quake left ‘starving, thirsty and cold’
Enjot was tending his cows in the hills near his home when the earth shook.
The 5.6 magnitude earthquake killed more than 268 people, including 11 of Enjot’s family members. His sister-in-law and her two children were hurt, among the hundreds injured in Monday night’s quake.
Now, Enjot is visiting his hospitalised loved ones and trying to rebuild his shattered life, one of thousands of Indonesians reeling from the disaster.
‘‘My life has suddenly changed,’’ said Enjot, 45, who goes by one name like many Indonesians. ‘‘I have to live with it from now on.’’
The epicentre of the quake was just south of Enjot’s hometown, Cianjur, about a three-hour drive from the capital, Jakarta. After getting a call from his daughter, Enjot hopped aboard his motorbike and raced home, arriving within a few minutes to see his neighbourhood flattened.
‘‘Men, women and children cried while people who were trapped in the collapsed houses were screaming for help,’’ he recalled. ‘‘I saw terrible devastation and heart-rending scenes.’’
His sister-in-law and her children, who were visiting from a nearby village, were among the more fortunate. Others heard their screams from the rubble and pulled them out.
Like many other villagers, Enjot desperately dug through debris looking for survivors, and managed to rescue several. Throughout the day, relatives wailed as they watched rescuers pull mud-caked bodies from the destroyed buildings, including one of Enjot’s nephews.
Not far from Enjot’s home, an aftershock triggered a landslide that crashed onto the house of one of his relatives and buried seven people inside. Four were rescued, but two nephews and a cousin were killed, he said. In a neighbouring village, his sister, a cousin and six other relatives were killed when their homes collapsed.
Faced with such a sudden loss of life, and left without a place to live, Enjot is wondering what comes next. He is with thousands living in tents or other temporary shelters set up by volunteers, barely enough to protect them from monsoon downpours.
‘‘The situation is worse than appears on television,’’ Enjot said. ‘‘We are starving, thirsty and cold without adequate tents and clothes, while no access to clean water. All that’s left is the clothes I’ve been wearing since yesterday.’’
More than 12,000 army personnel were deployed yesterday to increase the strength of search efforts being carried out by more than 2000 joint forces of police, the search and rescue agency and volunteers, said Suharyanto, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency chief.
Television reports showed rescuers using jackhammers, circular saws and sometimes their bare hands and farm tools, digging desperately in the worst-hit area of Cijendil village.
Suharyanto said more than 58,000 survivors were moved to shelters and more than 1000 people were injured, with nearly 600 of them still receiving treatment for serious injuries.
He said rescuers had recovered 268 bodies and at least 151 were still reported missing. –