More aftershocks hit Alor, land transportation cut off

More aftershocks hit Alor, land transportation cut off

Yemris Fointuna, The Jakarta Post, Kupang

A string of aftershocks measuring over 5 on the Richter scale
again rocked Alor regency over the past three days, but no
immediate injuries or fatalities were reported.

Thousands of local residents were forced to stay outdoors
after the earthquake on Nov. 12 in fear of further aftershocks.

The aftershocks have also cut sections of roads in Sibone area
connecting Alor capital, Kalabahi, and East Alor and North East
Alor districts, impeding transportation and aid distribution to
the two districts whose residents began to rebuild houses and
infrastructures in the area.

Aftershocks have also reportedly damaged a bridge in East
Lembur subdistrict, North Central Alor district.

Amin Dopu, a senior government official, said that the
government had quickly dispatched heavy machinery to clean up
debris from the roads in Sibone, some 30 kilometers east of
Kalabahi.

District heads in the regency have not reported any injuries,
fatalities or damages, said Amin, Alor's deputy chief of the
disaster management task force.

Meanwhile, an official with local Meteorology and Geophysics
Agency (BMG), A. T. Muhammad, confirmed that a string of major
aftershocks had struck the regency since Monday.

On that day, an aftershock measuring 5.7 on the Richter scale
rocked the city with the epicenter located in Banda Sea, some 56
kilometers east of Kalabahi.

Two other earthquakes, slightly below 5.7 on the Richter
scale, again hit the city on Tuesday and Wednesday, and the
epicenter was estimated to be somewhere in Flores Sea, said
Muhammad.

Some Kalabahi residents, who were still traumatic after the
Nov. 12 earthquake, erected tents and chose to stay outdoors, in
fear of more aftershocks.

"They are afraid that they could be buried under debris if
they stayed in their houses," said Domi Mooy, a local student
leader.

The string of aftershocks over the past three days occurred
after a powerful earthquake, measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale,
on Nov. 12, which killed at least 34 people and injured hundreds
of others. It also damaged at hundreds of buildings in the
regency, including places of worship and schools.

There were aftershocks shortly after the Nov. 12 earthquake,
but mostly minor shocks below 5 on the Richter scale.