Alor earthquake victims share shelters with cattle
Yemris Fointuna, The Jakarta Post, Alor
Yustus Maiten, 35, put his one-year-old son to bed in an empty pigpen while he and the five other members of his family got ready for bed on mats laid out under a starlit sky.
"This is all that we have, and (this is) where we sleep. God knows what a mess it will be when it rains," Yustus, a villager from Baumi, North Alor regency, told The Jakarta Post.
The pigpen is the only structure Yustus could find for his son to sleep in because a recent earthquake completely leveled the family's home.
Nearby, people and their farm animals crowded together inside a few emergency tents.
"We have no other place to stay. All we had was destroyed. The earthquake has left us with nothing to survive," said another villager, Ayub Maiten.
A powerful quake measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale devastated the East Nusa Tenggara island of Alor on Nov. 12, killing more than 30 people, damaging around 17,000 buildings and leaving 50,000 people homeless.
Yustus and Ayub are two of the thousands left homeless by the disaster with little food and clothing as the rainy season begins.
"I used to farm, but our rice fields were destroyed by the landslides. If the government doesn't come to our rescue, we are all going to starve," Yustus said.
He wished the government could supply them with building materials so they could rebuild their coastal village, which had sunk into the ground.
A similar scene of devastation was observed in Waisika village, Northeast Alor regency, where some 400 people were scaling the mountain, eating whatever edible vegetation they could find.
"We've been gathering leaves and cassava from the forest for food. We need rice, we need clean water, we even need school supplies for our kids," said Yulius Pamanu, 40.
The earthquake has halted schools, businesses and other daily activities. People are afraid to return to damaged buildings for fear of aftershocks.
With the rainy season approaching and diseases spreading, the quake survivors are not sure how to go on with their lives.
The central government has put aside Rp 1 billion in aid to rebuild houses and other structures in the regency, a far cry from the Rp 100 billion in losses estimated by the local administration.
The East Nusa Tenggara provincial administration plans to erect emergency shelters for the survivors and to take steps to contain communicable diseases.
Until this plan materializes, however, Yustus and Maiten -- and thousands of other island villagers -- will have to rely on their own wits and resources to prevail.