NIAS, Indonesia, 31 March 2005 — Foreign aid workers began arriving on Indonesia’s Nias island yesterday after an earthquake killed hundreds of people, while desperate survivors dug through the rubble with bare hands and scuffles broke out over food.
Fires also broke out yesterday in buildings destroyed by the earthquake on the neigboring island of Simeulue, spreading panic and complicating efforts to help survivors.
The fires in the town of Sinabang razed dozens of buildings and houses already destroyed by Monday’s 8.7-magnitude earthquake, as residents tried to douse them with buckets of water and pulled down structures to halt its spread.
“The flames are very tall and widespread. The people are in panic,” district chief Darmili said, adding that it was not clear if there were any casualties in the fires.
The town’s two fire trucks were buried under rubble, he said.
Although a lack of earth-moving equipment left many survivors trapped under rubble on Nias, with hope of pulling them out alive diminishing, French firefighters pulled one woman alive from the ruins of her home after 39 hours. Other survivors used whatever tools were available to remove fallen masonry in the desperate hunt for friends and relatives.
“Last night I still heard noises from beneath the rubble,” shopowner Henky Tjoa told AFP as he searched for his two young sons. “But now I resign their fate to God.”
Vice President Yusuf Kalla yesterday reiterated his initial estimate that some 2,000 people may have perished in the quake. The United Nations said 518 people had so far been confirmed dead, all except 18 of them on Nias.
A coordinator for UN aid operations, Michele Lipner, said Chinook helicopters ferrying machinery and supplies from the Sumatra port of Sibolga had been delayed for several hours due to bad weather, while one C-130 transport plane had simply not turned up.
As some aid arrived, about 500 people tried to storm the district chief’s residence in Nias’ main town of Gunung Sitoli, where three trucks loaded with essential food supplies were parked, it was reported. Before security officers restored order, several people carried away some cardboard boxes.
Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supardi, visiting Nias, warned that though 110 tons of rice had now reached the islands, a lack of transport meant it was difficult to distribute aid.
“There aren’t enough vehicles to transport the rice and medicine, there’s not enough fuel for the vehicles and unfortunately vehicles and trucks are the most important aspect for us right now,” she told AFP.
An international relief effort has been mobilized in response to the disaster, which came just three months after the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami hit the same area, leaving at least 220,000 Indonesians dead.
The UN teams were spearheading offers of aid that included planes and ships from Australia and Singapore, and offers of help from the EU, United States and numerous international governments and agencies.
Many aid organizations and groups would be returning to the region, or diverting existing aid in place after last year’s tsunami disaster. Oxfam, the British-based aid charity, said that its first batch of basic emergency supplies had arrived on Nias.
In a statement, it said a helicopter landed at midday yesterday with tents for 300 people, 5,000 portions of noodles, 10,000 portions of rice, 3,000 bottles of water, 200 body bags and several hundred liters of fuel.
