REUTERS, Tue Mar 7, 2007 9:10 PM ET
Anger turns to despair for quake survivors in Sumatra
By Jalil Hamid
BUKIT TINGGI, Indonesia, March 9 (Reuters) - Living in a squalid tent following
earthquakes in Indonesia's Sumatra, Seri Hartati says she may be forced to beg to
feed her five children with no signs of financial help from the government.
Anger has turned to despair for some survivors of this week's quakes in West
Sumatra province, many of whom were huddled in crowded tents with little food and
few amenities.
They were also uncertain about their future after the quakes left them without jobs or
money.
"I have no house, my husband is jobless and I have to feed my five children," said
45-year-old Hartati, one of 100 survivors packed in a tent about the size of a
basketball court.
"I may have to rely on handouts. We have no savings," she said, holding one of her
small children.
West Sumatra was hit by a 6.4 magnitude quake and another measuring 6.3 on
Tuesday that badly damaged 4,000 buildings and left thousands homeless.
An official at the National Coordinating Agency for Disaster Management in Jakarta
said on Friday the quakes killed 72 people and seriously injured 504.
NO BLANKETS OR TOILETS
Hartati's aged parents, her brother, her sister-in-law and their six-month-old baby boy
are also taking shelter under the blue tent. Her father, a 69-year-old former soldier
named Ripo, suffers from a heart problem and asthma.
Wearing an overcoat, Ripo, who like many Indonesians uses one name, said the
government did not even supply blankets to them.
"There are also no toilets here, but there's electricity. And it gets chilly here at night."
Outside the tent on Thursday evening, some women were cooking dinner -- a simple
meal of plain rice and instant noodles.
The victim's houses, many sitting on the edge of a cliff, had cracks in the walls. Some
have been declared unsafe by the authorities.
At another evacuation centre in Bukit Tinggi, one of the hardest-hit towns, victims said
some supplies meant for them may have been diverted to elsewhere.
"We received just two boxes of noodles today, hardly enough to feed 50 people here,"
said a 52-year-old labourer named Pian. "We have not seen any infant milk, diapers
and blankets as promised."
At night, they sleep on straw mats on a badminton court covered by an orange tent.
"I have no money since there's no work since the quake and yesterday we had to bury
my five-year-old nephew who died in the disaster."
At the town's main bazaar, where three people were killed and scores injured by
falling debris caused by the quake, shopkeepers pondered their future.
"It's hard to continue here. The electricity supply is unstable," said one 50-year-old
businesswoman, who declined to be identified. "Given the extent of the damage, the
economy here could be affected."
But she said the government should be blamed partly for the number of casualties
because it allowed too many stalls to operate, blocking emergency exits.
"The main building, built during the Dutch colonial rule, should have been declared
unfit years ago," she said. "It was a disaster waiting to happen." Town officials
declined to comment.
Some shopkeepers said they were pulling out from the place, hoping to look for
somewhere safer.
"I won't return here," a 56-year-old barber said as he smoked a kretek (clove)
cigarette. "I need to raise 15 to 20 million rupiah ($1,600 to $2,200) to start a new
business, a big sum for me."
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