Earthquake disrupts education in Irian Jaya
Earthquake disrupts education in Irian Jaya
JAKARTA (JP): The Feb. 17 major quake that claimed more than 100 lives in northern Irian Jaya has thrown local education out of kilter in Biak Numfor, the worst stricken regency.
Education officials said yesterday hundreds of students will have to take their classes in the open air because their school buildings were devastated by the quake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale.
According to an official count, 129 school buildings were totally lost, eight heavily damaged and 244 slightly damaged across Biak Numfor.
Chief of the local education office Afindin Mandja said 20,395 of the regency's 32,395 elementary school students have lost all their belongings when the tidal waves triggered by the quake hit their homes.
He said he needs clothing for 800 kindergarten pupils, 15,400 elementary school students, 3,300 junior high school students and 1,700 high school students.
"They badly need clothing to go to school," Afindin was quoted as saying by the Antara news agency.
But the absence of school buildings and uniforms have hardly dampened the students and teachers' spirit. Education officials have promised to provide tents and open spaces for them to continue education.
Meanwhile, relief aid authorities in Biak said yesterday the death toll from the quake rose to 107 yesterday. Another 51 were still unaccounted for, and 56 were in critical condition.
Lt. Col. Toni Husodo from the relief aid coordination unit told The Jakarta Post by telephone that the disaster has caused an estimated loss of Rp 117.7 billion ( $518.5 million) in Biak Numfor.
Humanitarian assistance is still streaming in. As of yesterday, the unit had collected Rp 176 million in cash, 110 tons of rice, 3,900 boxes of medicines, 5,500 blankets and 178,000 packs of instant noodles, Toni said.
The earth quake, which had its epicenter on the seabed about 110 kilometers east of Biak, also caused extensive damage in two other regencies, Manokwari and Yapen Yaropen.
The Japanese government sent a team of experts to the affected areas yesterday to study the disaster's aftermath and provide technical assistance to their Indonesian colleagues, the Japanese embassy in Jakarta said.
Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto expressed his sympathy to the Indonesian government over the calamity. (pan)