Earthquake victims still scared
Agencies, Jakarta
Minor aftershocks hit the Papuan town of Nabire on Monday, causing people who have been camping outside their homes over the last two days to stay in their tents.
"Today there were three or four minor aftershocks. People are still afraid to return to their homes," Tornado Edmawan, a district judge who along with other residents, has moved to a tent outside his house, said.
Despite continuing fear, electricity, air and land transportation and other public facilities have returned to normal after being paralyzed by the main earthquake measuring 6.9 on Richter scale on Friday. The death toll in the quake that hit the town located some 600 kilometers west of the provincial capital of Jayapura has reached 30.
The health ministry said 253 people were injured, 85 of them seriously. More than 250 homes were badly damaged and 31 others were razed by fire, not including government offices and other buildings. The damage has been estimated at Rp 360 billion ($42.9 million.
Rescue workers said they were seeking access to isolated villages, fearing there may be more casualties.
"There are several villages that have not been checked. Those villages can only be accessed by helicopter or small aircraft," said Frans Ayomi, head of the search and rescue office on Biak island.
"Those villages are located near the epicenter of the quake and I'm worried that the devastation is worse there," Ayomi told AFP.
He said rescuers would ask the provincial government to provide a helicopter to allow them to visit the villages, about 70 kilometers from the main town.
One of the injured victims, Williem Fafied was transported to East Java's capital Surabaya to receive further treatment at Dr. Soetomo General Hospital.
Williem, who suffered injuries to his spine while trying to save his two-year-old daughter Prili during the disaster, will be operated on as Nabire hospital which also was partly damaged by the quake, lacked medical equipment.
Meanwhile, the United States government has extended US$50,000 in emergency relief assistance through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the US government said in a statement on Monday.
The contribution consists of items for personal hygiene, plastic sheets, jerrycans, cooking utensils, tents and tarpaulins, as well as the provision of chartered air transportation to deliver supplies to remote areas, it said.
The assistance, it said, will be made through the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) and implemented by the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI).
PMI said on Monday it had been distributing humanitarian assistance to earthquake victims since Sunday.
The Japanese government has earlier donated $124,000 in the form of generators, tents and blankets to the quake victims.
In the East Java town of Gresik, Navy chief Adm. Bernard Kent Sondakh said the Navy would dispatch personnel and humanitarian aid to Nabire. They will be transported by two airplanes.
A Navy ship has arrived in the remote town, carrying medicine, while more vessels will follow.
"If necessary one of our ships will serve as a floating hospital," Bernard said on the sidelines of the inauguration of a housing complex for Indonesian Military (TNI) personnel by President Megawati Soekarnoputri.