RUTENG: Rescue teams in eastern Indonesia recovered six more bodies Sunday, a day after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake, raising the death toll to 53, authorities said, as many of the thousands of displaced people spent the night outdoors in fear of aftershocks.
Rescuers dug through debris looking for anyone buried beneath landslides triggered by the quake across six regencies on Flores, a predominantly Catholic island in the Muslim-majority country. They focused on three regencies that remained inaccessible hardest-hit Manggarai, East Manggarai and Nagekeo.
"We have cleared most landslides and reopened roads to previously isolated villages, although communication disruptions and power outages continue to hamper search efforts," said Fathur Rahman, head of the search-and-rescue office in Maumere, the capital of Sikka regency.
More than 900 homes were destroyed and 450 more damaged in East Nusa Tenggara province, forcing about 5,000 people into temporary shelters. At least 241 homes were damaged in the Flores region alone, said Abdul Muhari, the National Disaster Management Agency's chief for disaster prevention.
The quake occurred at a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles) shortly before 6 a.m. Saturday, the U.S. Geological Survey said. Residents fled in panic as tsunami warnings were issued and later lifted.
Authorities have since recorded at least 995 aftershocks, but only 46 were felt by residents, Muhari said, adding that 135 people were injured.
Many residents at Labuan Bajo, the gateway to Komodo National Park, one of Indonesia's best-known tourist destinations, spent the night outside because of the aftershocks.
"The shaking was terrifying, so intense that my house nearly collapsed," said farmer Anastasia Imad, speaking from a makeshift green tent beside her damaged home. "We feared the aftershocks would bring it down on us while we slept."
Landslides blocked sections of the Trans-Flores Highway, a roughly 700-kilometer (435-mile) road linking communities across the mountainous island.
Meanwhile, relief workers distributed rice, ready-to-eat meals, drinking water, blankets and medicine, while emergency shelters were set up for displaced residents. Authorities said restoring electricity and communications, as well as delivering aid to remote villages isolated by landslides, were among the biggest challenges.
Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, is prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions because of its location on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," a horseshoe-shaped arc of seismic faults and volcanoes.
Flores has experienced some of the country's deadliest disasters. A powerful earthquake and tsunami in 1992 killed about 2,500 people on the island.
In 2018, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake triggered a tsunami on the island of Sulawesi that killed more than 4,400 people. In 2004, a magnitude 9.1 quake off Sumatra unleashed a tsunami that killed about 230,000 people in a dozen countries.
Nearly 13,000 displaced after deadly Indonesian quake
Thousands of people displaced by a powerful earthquake in eastern Indonesia awaited much-needed aid on Monday as they camped out at schools, police stations and government offices, with many stuck outside.
The 7.7-magnitude quake early on Saturday killed 53 people and injured more than 100. Rescue officials have said there are no reports of people missing.
However, the number of people unable to return to their homes had risen to 12,800 by Monday morning, dispersed among several towns on Flores island, Berton Suar Pelita Panjaitan, spokesman for Indonesia's BNPB national disaster agency, told AFP.
Many Flores inhabitants slept outside for a second night in a row, afraid to go home as hundreds of aftershocks rumbled through the area.
AFP saw several residents of the small town of Mbay, in Nagekeo regency nearest the epicentre, camped out in makeshift tents they had erected using tarpaulins and poles.
"Our houses are no longer liveable, because many have collapsed and are full of cracks, so we can't go inside anymore," Mbay resident Junaidin, 32, told AFP outside his self-made tent that was sleeping about 30.
"We only go back home to get water, clothes, pillows, and then we... spend the nights here."
Many Flores residents have traumatic memories of another 7.7-magnitude quake that hit the island in 1992, triggering a tsunami and killing about 2,500.
"We're on our own here," said Junaidin, who like many Indonesians has one name.
He expressed frustration with a perceived lag in the arrival of aid while the nation celebrated Independence Day with pomp and ceremony in the capital Jakarta.
"As for help from the government, there hasn't been any -- no tents, no medicine, no food, no drinking water, nothing," said Junaidin.
"Please open your eyes, government. We are your people, we are part of you. So please look after us."
We fled with nothing
The Indonesian Air Force said it was bringing 13 tons of emergency aid airlifted in two Hercules transport planes and a Boeing.
It was also deploying helicopters to bring emergency supplies directly to survivors in isolated communities, the Antara state news agency quoted the commander of El Tari Air Base in Kupang as saying.
The aid included food, clothes, clean water and emergency medical equipment.
The military has deployed personnel to help with distribution in key hubs.
For locals, the provisions cannot come soon enough.
"We fled with nothing. Just the clothes on our backs. We're victims; we're going through a disaster," said Mbay resident Siti Saudah Daso, a 31-year-old mother of three.
"They said they would give us something, but there's no proof. So honestly, we're a bit upset, disappointed."
Rescuers were still combing the stricken area for victims, search and rescue official Fathur Rahman told AFP on Monday morning.
"We conduct land and air operation from helicopters. There haven't been any reports on missing persons, but we are still scouring the area just to be sure."
The epicentre of the shallow quake was located just off the north coast of Flores, geological authorities said.
The affected areas have few, if any, high-rise buildings.
Berton, the national disaster agency spokesman, said at least 914 houses on the island were severely damaged and hundreds of others to a lesser degree.
Dozens of public buildings, including educational and health facilities as well as government offices, were also affected.
The NGO Save the Children said more than 8,000 children faced "safety risks and disruptions to their education" following the quake.
Indonesia experiences frequent earthquakes due to its location in the Pacific "Ring of Fire", an arc of intense seismic activity stretching from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.
A devastating 9.1-magnitude tremor in 2004 struck off the coast of Sumatra and triggered a tsunami that killed 220,000 throughout the region, about 170,000 of them in Indonesia.
It was one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history.
