Indonesia: Aceh earthquake leaves more than 43,000 homeless
Indonesian rescue workers carry a survivor from a fallen building after an earthquake in Trienggadeng, Pidie Jaya, in the northern province of Aceh, Indonesia.-Antara Foto/Ampelsa
11th December 2016
AT least 43,000 people have been displaced by the powerful earthquake that hit Aceh province, the Indonesian government said.
The estimate of the number of the homeless continues to grow as relief efforts fan out across the three districts near the epicenter of Wednesday’s magnitude 6.5 quake. At least 100 people died.
The disaster relief agency says humanitarian groups are now coordinating their efforts from a main command post in the worst affected district of Pidie Jaya.
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo traveled Friday to areas of the province torn apart by the quake and vowed to rebuild communities.
Indonesian officials said on Friday search and rescue operations were nearing an end three days after the powerful earthquake hit the northern province.
Indonesian officials said on Friday search and rescue operations were nearing an end three days after the powerful earthquake hit the northern province.
The latest earthquake, which toppled dozens of buildings and injured hundreds of people, was the worst disaster to hit the region since the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
“We believe we have found 99 percent of the victims,” said Sutopo Nugroho, spokesman of the national disaster management agency.
The agency revised the death toll down to 100 from 102.
Hundreds of people in Aceh’s Pidie Jaya regency held Friday prayers outside mosques that had been reduced to rubble.
Many residents of the town of 140,000 have been sleeping in shelters and relief workers have been handing out food, water, and blankets.
President Joko Widodo visited survivors, including many getting treatment for broken bones in hospitals and tent clinics.
The province of Aceh, on the northern tip of Sumatra island, has declared a two-week state of emergency and the central government has pledged aid for recovery efforts.
A Dec. 26, 2004, earthquake and tsunami killed more than 120,000 people in Aceh.
In all, the 2004 tsunami killed 226,000 people along Indian Ocean shorelines.
Additional reporting by the Associated Press and Reuters
