Damaged roads hinder relief efforts in Nias

Damaged roads hinder relief efforts in Nias

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Crucial aid was headed toward Nias island on Thursday, but
severely damaged roads and ports were slowing down efforts to get
help to thousands of people affected by Monday's earthquake.

Relief agencies are forced to use helicopters to ferry food,
medical supplies and tents to the island, because the runway at
the island's only airport was badly damaged in the quake, leaving
it unable to serve large aircraft. Most of the roads on Nias are
also impassable.

"I have received 100 tents for the residents of Nias, most of
whom do not have roofs above their heads. But so far I have only
been able to transport a few to Nias," Second Lt. J. Hutauruk,
the head of logistics at the Air Force base in Medan, told The
Jakarta Post on Thursday.

"One tent weighs 65 kilograms, while a helicopter from the
Singapore military can only carry a ton. We also have to
prioritize the transportation of medicine, doctors and
paramedics. So we can only load two or three tents per flight,"
he said.

The base has received food aid, potable water and power
generators from various donors. However, most of the bottled
water, water purifying plants and generators are sitting on the
base waiting to be transported to the island.

The United Nations World Food Program estimated 200,000 Nias
residents will require food aid for about two months. According
to government data, there are more than 422,000 residents on the
island.

"Please, sir, help us, we are starving," said a man in the
Nias capital of Gunung Sitoli, as dozens of people looted a
government store while the police looked on.

The grim search for survivors trapped beneath the rubble
continued on Thursday, but badly needed heavy equipment failed to
get ashore due to damaged ports.

Indonesian Military chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto said there
were four large excavators aboard naval ships, but they were
still trying to get the equipment ashore.

Officials have said the death toll from Monday's earthquake
could be as high as 2,000. The United Nations said on Thursday it
had recovered some 624 bodies, including 600 on Nias island and
the remainder on the neighboring islands of Simeulue and Banyak.

"We do anticipate that figure is still going to go up," UN
Development Program spokeswoman Imogen Wall said.

French and Norwegian rescuers pulled a boy and young woman
alive from two separate buildings overnight, both relatively
unscathed despite spending more than 50 hours trapped in the
wreckage.

"They suffered from bruises and cuts all over their bodies,
but other than that they were in relatively good condition," said
Florent Dalmon of Pompiers Sans Frontieres, or Firefighters
Without Borders.

Dalmon said his team used sledgehammers and bolt cutters to
free the 19-year-old woman, while Olaf Lingiaerae of the
Norwegian Support Team said the boy, 15, was hauled from the
third floor of a collapsed five-story building.

Aftershocks continued to cause alarm among islanders and
relief workers, with around 700 aftershocks having been recorded
since Monday's major quake measuring 8.7 on the Richter scale.

Thousands of Nias residents are still taking refuge in the
mountains because of fears of a tsunami, while others are
sleeping in makeshift shelters.

Hundreds of injured people are being treated at a makeshift
hospital on a football field in the center of Gunung Sitoli, and
aid workers on the island say more help is needed.