Nabire picks up after quake
Agencies, Jakarta
Residents of Nabire, Papua, struggled after Friday's deadly tremor to reestablish some normalcy in their lives on Sunday, as humanitarian aid started to pour into the country's easternmost province.
Christians attended Sunday services, shops reopened for business and public transport zoomed back on the streets after two earthquakes in as many days.
"The people's enthusiasm was high today. They keep coming to mass. We're trying to see this disaster from a positive side, and it has strengthened our brotherhood," Rev. Boulevard Abram told Reuters.
A churchgoer said his faith had helped him.
"This mass has strengthened my belief so that I can be stronger in facing this disaster," said 50-year-old Elias Bakai, whose home is in ruins.
Public transport was up and running, and some shops were open.
"I decided to open shop today, because I can see it's been getting better since morning. More people are going into town, looking for things," said Yulianti, who runs a general store.
Like other shopkeepers, however, she has moved her wares outside in case of further aftershocks.
Two major aftershocks rattled the town on Sunday, preventing local residents from returning home for fear of more quakes, as the toll from the quake rose to 31.
The first aftershock in the morning measured 5.3 on the Richter scale, while the magnitude of the second was not immediately known, but seemed greater.
"Residents said the tremor in the afternoon was stronger than in the morning," Fauzi, a seismology agency official, was quoted by AFP.
A resident said the afternoon tremor sent people rushing out of their homes.
"Power was up and we were starting to return to our houses, but suddenly there was this strong aftershock and we ran out in a panic. People screamed," Tornado told Elshinta radio.
He said electricity was cut off again following the aftershock.
Meanwhile, humanitarian aid started to pour into Nabire on Sunday, with the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) setting up medical centers to treat injured victims.
A team of doctors from Jayapura treated patients outside the badly damaged Nabire hospital. Health workers and local officials said hundreds of people had been injured.
Responding to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan's call for the international community to provide relief aid, Japan has donated generators, tents and clothes worth 13 million yen (US$12.3 million).
A quake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale -- thought to be the largest quake in the region since 2000 -- struck the northwestern Papua town on Friday.
At least 33 aftershocks have been recorded since then, including one measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale on Saturday, an official said.
Papua military spokesman Colonel GT Situmorang said at least 31 had been killed and that the toll could rise further.
"That's according to the information I received last night. I haven't received an update," he told AFP.
Authorities fear it could be days before the full extent of the damage and casualties in rural areas and smaller villages would be known. Friday's quake has damaged transportation, electrical and communications facilities in the remote area.