Aid effort intensifies after Indonesia quake
MAMUJU, Indonesia (AP) — Aid was reaching the thousands of people left homeless and struggling after an earthquake that killed at least 84 people on an Indonesian island where rescuers intensified their work Monday to find those buried in the rubble.
More rescuers and volunteers were deployed in the hardest-hit city of Mamuju and the neighboring district of Majene on Sulawesi island, where the magnitude 6.2 quake struck early Friday, said Raditya Jati, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency’s spokesperson.
He said nearly 20,000 survivors were moved to shelters and more than 900 people were injured, with nearly 300 of them still receiving treatment for serious injuries.
A total of 73 people died in Mamuju and 11 in Majene, said Didi Hamzar, the disaster agency’s director of preparedness. He said rescuers also managed to pull 18 people alive from the rubble of a collapsed houses and buildings.
Mahatir, a relief coordinator for volunteer rescuers, said his team was trying to reach many people in six isolated villages in Majene district after the quake damaged roads and bridges. Aid and other logistic supplies can be distributed only by foot over the severe terrain, said Mahatir who goes by one name.
In a virtual news conference, Hamzar said that three helicopters were taking aid supplies Monday to four cutoff villages in Majene.
In other hard hit areas, water, which has been in short supply, as well as food and medical supplies were being distributed from trucks. The military said it sent five planes carrying rescue personnel, food, medicine, blankets, field tents and water tankers.