CRISIS CENTRE DIOCESE OF AMBOINA
Jalan Pattimura 32 -- Ambon 97124 -- Indonesia
Tel 0062 (0)911 342195 Fax 0062 (0)911 355337
E-mail: crisiscentre01@hotmail.com
Ambon, 13 January 2005
THE SITUATION IN AMBON/MOLUCCAS - Report No. 461
1. DEMONSTRATION BY BURU REFUGEES - On January 10, several hundreds of
refugees from the large island of Buru went up to the governor's office in Ambon to
vent their anger and frustration with the inertness of the government in returning them
to the town of Namlea and other places on the island of Buru, which they fled from five
years ago. Since then about 4.500 of them have lived as refugees in Ambon. There
was lack of discipline among the demonstrators. Vice governor Mohammad Abdullah
Latuconsina promised the mass that he would see to it that their very reasonable
request should be responded to as soon as possible. However - he said - the
refugeees' data were still ambiguous. Other complaints had to do with the inattention
of the government to the refugees' needs, such as funds to return and the financial
support for rebuil;ding their houses as they are entitled to receive.
2. LIGHT EARTHQUAKES IN THE NORTH MOLUCCAS - "Liputan6.com" from the
commercial SCTV Television reports that during the last two weeks, almost every day
minor earthquakes are being felt in the city of Ternate, capital of the province of the
North Moluccas. Their center is about 330 km from Ternate and according to the
"Badan Metereologi dan Geofisika Ternate" measure approximately only 3,3 on the
Richter scale. It is said that the tremors are caused by friction of three plates: the
Indian-Australian plate, the Eurasian plate and the Pacific plate. Though no direct
danger is to be feared, nevertheless the authorities are instructing the peple on the
symptoms of a major earthquake. The whole North Moluccas are vulnerable to
tsunamis. In the 1960-ies a tsunami struck the Sula islands, having a death toll of
several hundreds.
C.J.Böhm msc,
Crisis Centre Diocese of Amboina |
