Struck again<\/p>\n
They say that lightning never strikes twice. But earthquakes
\napparently do. Just a few days over three months since a 9-
\nmagnitude temblor sent the ocean crashing over littoral areas
\naround the region leaving 288,000 people dead or missing, another
\nkiller quake measuring 8.7 on the open-ended Richter scale jolted
\nroughly the same area around the Indian Ocean near midnight on
\nMonday.<\/p>\n
Given the remoteness of many of the areas that were affected,
\nprecise information of the devastation which this latest calamity
\nhas wrought is as yet difficult to obtain. But even at this early
\nstage, officials are reporting that hundreds, and probably
\nthousands, of people have been killed, many of them by their
\ncollapsing houses while they lay fast asleep as the midnight hour
\napproached. The first temblor struck the northern parts of
\nSumatra at 11:15 p.m. local time.<\/p>\n
In urban centers, such as Banda Aceh, Lhok Seumawe and Medan,
\nthousands fled their homes for higher ground in cars, on
\nmotorbike or on foot, mindful of the near-total devastation that
\nthe Dec. 26 earthquake-triggered tsunami wrought some three
\nmonths earlier. Calm returned only after it became clear that no
\nnew tsunami was about to materialize and that in terms of both
\nmagnitude and destructive effect, Monday's temblor was far less
\nthan the Dec. 26 killer quake.<\/p>\n
Even so, it is clear that the devastation is considerable. In
\nthe early hours after the tremor, for example, officials in
\nGunungsitoli, capital of the remote island of Nias off the West
\nSumatra coast, reported that about 70 percent of the buildings in
\nand around the local market had been destroyed and hundreds of
\npeople had been killed. Appalling as it may be, that report may
\npaint an overoptimistic picture of the situation. And while
\nGunungsitoli was without doubt hard hit, the devastation is
\nbelieved to be probably even greater at Teluk Dalam, the island's
\nremote port, near the popular surfing beach of Lagundri.<\/p>\n
Whatever the case, these are tentative observations and the
\nprecise extent of the damage will only become clear after
\nmethodical tallies have been made. In one estimate, given by Vice
\nPresident Jusuf Kalla in Jakarta on Tuesday morning and based
\nmerely on the number of buildings destroyed, the death toll could
\nbe anywhere from 1,000 to 2,000 on the island of Nias alone. As
\nof Tuesday noon, rescue workers were reported to be still pulling
\nbodies from out of the wreckage of buildings on Nias Island, but
\npoor communications have so far hampered rescue operations
\nelsewhere.<\/p>\n
It is heartening to learn that offers of help have already
\ncome in from countries as far apart as the United States,
\nAustralia and Japan. All have said they would be ready to send
\nassistance as soon as they receive a request from the Indonesian
\ngovernment. And given the sort of spirit of international
\ncooperation in times of adversity that was demonstrated in the
\nwake of the Dec. 26 tsunami, there is little doubt that more
\ncountries will follow suit. The Indonesian Red Cross, for its
\npart, has already rushed a team and medical supplies to the
\nisland to help the victims.<\/p>\n
Amid all this, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's gesture
\nof sympathy to those affected by this most recent calamity
\ncertainly deserves to be commended. We have no doubt that the
\nAustralian authorities will fully understand and accept the
\npresident's decision to delay his planned visit to Canberra,
\ngiven the circumstances.<\/p>\n
We are more than thankful for all the help that has been
\nextended to the victims of the Dec. 26 tsunami in Aceh and North
\nSumatra. We only hope that the same assistance can be made
\navailable, and without too much delay, to the people of Nias and
\nthe nearby islands and regions who have been made to suffer at
\nthe hands of nature.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/struck-again-1447899208",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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