Thousands of people on Indonesia’s Flores Island are still waiting for assistance as the country commemorates its 81st Independence Day. This comes two days after a powerful earthquake killed at least 68 individuals, injured over 200, and damaged thousands of homes.
Residents of Flores, in the East Nusa Tenggara province, mourned the victims while military teams attempted to deliver food, clean water, and clothing to communities inaccessible by air. The earthquake, which struck on Saturday morning, left extensive damage, with buildings collapsing onto parked cars, homes destroyed, and roads blocked by trees and rocks.
My house is now just rubble,lamented Rasyid Jafar, a clothing merchant from Reo, the hardest-hit area in the Manggarai district.We urgently need food, medicine, and clean water.
During the Independence Day ceremony in Jakarta, President Prabowo Subianto urged attendees to pray for those affected by disasters in East Nusa Tenggara and other regions, leading a national moment of silence in honor of independence heroes.
More than 4,500 homes were damaged when the earthquake shook Flores early Saturday. Approximately 19,000 people were forced into temporary shelters, and 213 were injured, according to the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB). The disaster also damaged 122 health facilities, 252 schools, and 84 places of worship.
The provincial governor declared a 14-day state of emergency on Sunday. The earthquake occurred at a depth of 10 kilometers shortly before 6 a.m. on Saturday, according to the United States Geological Survey. Residents fled in panic when tsunami alerts were issued, but these were later lifted. Authorities have recorded 1,576 aftershocks up to Monday, though only 54 were felt by residents.
Thousands camped out until Monday among collapsed homes, beneath tarpaulins, and in the open due to the threat of further aftershocks. For many, this disaster rekindled painful memories of a powerful earthquake and tsunami that hit Flores in 1992, killing about 2,500 people.
As thousands of survivors still need food, shelter, and medical treatment, the government reported deploying more than 1,800 military and police personnel across the disaster area. They are supported by 10 aircraft and various vessels to distribute over 100 metric tons of emergency aid. Nearly 5,400 food packages, two field hospital tents, medicine, and clothing were being delivered across the disaster zone, though logistical challenges have slowed deliveries to some severely affected communities, said BNPB’s deputy chief, Abdul Muhari, in a video statement.
Authorities set up two emergency field hospitals in the worst-hit town of Ruteng to treat earthquake victims due to damage to local hospitals. Two crisis management teams were overseeing an emergency health operations center, Muhari noted. Rescue teams continue to search for victims in affected areas; however, no residents reported missing family members.
Aid workers reached the small island of Palue, one of the areas nearest the earthquake’s epicenter, late Sunday after a difficult journey by sea and land through landslide-affected terrain, authorities said. Thousands of residents continued to require urgent assistance.
The roads are steep, and many were blocked by landslides. It was an almost deadly journey,stated Marselus Yugo Amboro, deputy police chief of Sikka district, whose team was among the first to arrive on the island with emergency supplies. He added that initial assessments showed extensive damage, with one resident dead, two seriously injured, and nearly 150 homes destroyed.
Indonesia, an archipelago of over 17,000 islands, is prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions due to its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, a horseshoe-shaped arc of seismic faults and volcanoes.
In 2018, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake triggered a tsunami on the island of Sulawesi, killing more than 4,400 people. In 2004, a magnitude 9.1 earthquake off Sumatra unleashed a tsunami that killed around 230,000 people in a dozen countries, nearly 170,000 in the Aceh province alone.
Karmini reported from Jakarta. Associated Press journalists Edna Tarigan, Dita Alangkara, and Andi Jatmiko contributed to this report.
This story was translated from English by an AP editor with the help of a generative AI tool.
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