Five ministers visit devastated Nabire
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Five ministers visited the devastated town of Nabire on Thursday as many residents in the area continued to come down with various diseases following the recent earthquake.
In the belated visit, which took place almost a week after the powerful quake rocked the town, the five ministers toured the city and visited victims in local hospitals.
The ministers flew back to Jakarta in the afternoon, and quickly pledged that they would report on the situation in Nabire to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
The five ministers were Minister of Health Siti Fadillah Supari, Minister of Social Affairs Bachtiar Chamsyah, Minister of Home Affairs M. Ma'aruf, Minister of Public Works Djoko Kirmanto and State Minister for the Development of Disadvantaged Regions Saifullah Yusuf.
During the visit, which lasted a couple of hours, the ministers were accompanied by Papua Governor JP Salossa and Nabire Regent AP Yeouw, Antara reported.
Meanwhile, as of Thursday at least 169 residents, including many children, were reported to be suffering from various ailments, including malaria, respiratory infections and diarrhea.
The ailments were attributed to poor sanitation following the earthquake.
Many residents continue to remain outdoors for fear of the aftershocks that continue to rattle the city.
The education sector has also been paralyzed as the powerful quake collapsed dozens of schools and higher education facilities.
Nabire airport is still closed to large aircraft as the damaged runway has not been repaired yet. Only small planes, such as Twin Otters, can land.
However, despite the gloomy situation, some encouraging developments have taken place in the city. Electricity and telephone connections have been restored in some areas, to the joy of residents. A government official also confirmed that the supply of rice was sufficient for the next few months.
Nabire Logistics Agency has some 770 tons of rice in stock, which will be enough to last until January of next year, said Papua Logistics Agency director Indra Sutanto.
Indra said that his agency had also requested some 2,000 tons of additional rice from Surabaya, which is set to arrive in the city in the middle of this month.
As of Thursday, the number of fatalities in the earthquake still stood at 29, but this figure could rise as many more bodies are believed to still be buried under the rubble.
The earthquake on Friday, which measured 6.4 on the Richter scale, was the second to hit the city in nine months.
Last February, a 6.9-on-the-Richter-scale earthquake in the city killed 37 people and injured hundreds of others.