The once-thriving Indonesian town of Gunungsitoli was eerily quiet and forlorn early on Thursday morning as a flotilla of supply ships brought much-needed aid to survivors from this week’s earthquake, believed to have killed at least 1 000 people.
Silence and darkness greeted aid workers arriving on the island of Nias, one of the worst affected by Monday night’s 8,7-magnitude quake. The only lights were those twinkling from the ships in the bay, the only sound that of the sea lapping on the shore.
On Wednesday, Gunungsitoli, the main town on Nias, was gripped by desperation and disorder, as some clawed with their bare hands at rubble and concrete to search for the many believed still trapped, while others reportedly looted shops as police looked on.
One major problem for the relief workers is finding fresh water and food for the survivors. The United Nations and other agencies said they plan to divert supplies from Sumatra, where they have been stockpiled to help victims of the Boxing Day tsunami.
But relief workers immediately hit problems, finding roads from the airport on the island damaged by Monday night’s quake. The island’s hospital is barely functioning, lacking electricity, water and fuel for its generators.
There are still wildly fluctuating estimates of the numbers of dead and missing. While the UN estimates that 500 people died on Nias and other nearby islands, local politicians say it is at least twice that figure.
On an Indonesian warship sailing to the island, relatives expressed their fears. RM Sembiri said he is desperate for news of his wife and three daughters who live in the remote town of Lahewa, on the north coast.
”We have heard by satellite phone from the Catholic church in the town that 40 people have died,” he told The Guardian as the ship sailed from Sibolga. ”My wife and children are not among the 40, but no one knows anything about them. What we do know is that 90% of the buildings in the town are destroyed.”
A fuller picture of the situation on Nias emerged on Wednesday after the UN surveyed four of the six devastated districts.
”The current death tolls is thought to be about 500,” a UN spokesperson said. ”There are still areas we haven’t got to, so this will probably rise.”
The Governor of North Sumatra, Rizal Nurdin, estimated that the death toll could be as high as 1 000. — Guardian Unlimited Â