Fourth Day After NTT Earthquake: 70 Dead and 1,182 Injured
The combined search and rescue team has recorded 202 casualties from the 7.7 magnitude earthquake in Nusa Tenggara Timur (NTT), consisting of 70 people dead and 1,182 others injured, with details of 1,517 seriously injured, 651 lightly injured and the remainder moderately injured.
Acting Head of the Data, Information and Disaster Communication Centre of the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) Berton SP Panjaitan said the injury data came from the Ministry of Health. However, the casualty data differs from data released by the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) on the same day, namely 132 injured victims, consisting of 40 seriously injured and 92 lightly injured.
According to Berton, the difference occurred because the recording methods used were different. Basarnas records injured victims based on people found, while BNPB data sourced from the Ministry of Health records patients currently receiving services at health facilities.
“So, there will be a slight difference between the injury data we convey. This need not become a polemic because Basarnas records injured people from what is found, while the figures we convey from the Ministry of Health are based on data at health facilities currently being served,” said Berton in an online press conference.
According to him, earthquake activity is still fluctuating. As of Tuesday, 24 aftershocks had been recorded and seven of them were felt by the public. “Earthquake activity is still fluctuating, and the decay pattern is not yet clearly visible. It is estimated that conditions will begin to stabilise in the next two to three weeks,” he said.
With no reports of victims still being searched for, Basarnas operations in the following days will be focused on sweeping and strengthening support, especially in the health sector.
Meanwhile, Basarnas Director of Operations Admiral TNI Bramantyo said that entering the fourth day, SAR operations were focused on sweeping affected areas. Basarnas said there were no more reports of residents still declared missing or being searched for.
“There are no longer their relatives, neighbours, colleagues, who are recorded as still being searched for. So the SAR team in the field is focused on helping sweep and assisting the search and recovery process carried out by BNPB,” he said.
In addition to sweeping, Basarnas is strengthening health support in areas that are quite severely affected and difficult to reach, especially Lambaleda. A total of 40 medical personnel from Kodam IX/Udayana and volunteers were moved from Kupang to Reo, Manggarai, using Basarnas aircraft.
Basarnas also deployed helicopters to support health services in Lambaleda. In two flights, the team moved health workers while evacuating eight residents to Labuan Bajo for referral to hospital.
Meanwhile, refugee data as of Tuesday afternoon reached 40,040 people. However, according to Berton SP Panjaitan, this figure does not describe house damage, so it needs to be interpreted carefully. This is also related to the many psychological impacts felt by residents.
The tens of thousands of refugees were mostly from Manggarai Regency, totalling 6,487 people. In East Manggarai there were 966 people taking refuge at BPBD posts, but around 14,000 others took refuge independently.
Then in West Manggarai Regency there were 600 people taking refuge, Nagekeo Regency 6,221 people, Sikka Regency 5,681 people, Ende Regency 3,666 people, and Ngada Regency 1,920 people. Meanwhile, the total number of damaged houses reached 11,925 units, with details of 5,516 heavily damaged units, 1,916 moderately damaged units, and 4,493 lightly damaged units.