No casualties found in two epicenter villages
Agencies, Jakarta
Rescuers found no casualties on Tuesday in two isolated villages earlier feared to be at the heart of last Friday's powerful earthquake which killed over 30 people in Nabire, Papua.
Frans Ayomi, head of the search and rescue station on Papua's Biak island, said a member of his team had returned from a mission by helicopter to the two villages near the epicenter of the quake which measured 6.9 on the Richter Scale.
"There were no casualties or damage in the two villages," Ayomi was quoted by AFP as saying.
Earlier Ayomi said he was worried devastation could be worse there than in Nabire where most of the victims were found.
Meanwhile, the Nabire administration evacuated 10 people seriously injured to nearby island Biak on Tuesday as specialists coming from provincial capital Jayapura and Makassar in South Sulawesi started to treat injured victims.
Meanwhile, officials from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) arrived in Nabire on Monday to begin assessing the level of damages and the needs of the local population. OCHA has allocated US$40,000 for earthquake relief.
In Jakarta, Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla said on Tuesday that the government had allocated Rp 100 billion (US$12 million) to rehabilitate infrastructure destroyed by last Friday's earthquake.
"The Rp 100 billion will be used to build school buildings, government offices, bridges, and roads, as well as, building material assistance for the people," Jusuf Kalla was quoted by Antara as saying.
A powerful earthquake measuring 6.9 on Richter Scale shook Nabire on Friday, killing over 30 people and injured hundreds others.
There have been further aftershocks, with one on Saturday measuring 6.2 on Richter Scale and on Tuesday measuring 6.6.
Much of the town's infrastructure was damaged including the hospital, prison, airport control tower, local parliament, oil facilities, telecommunications, nine bridges, 14 schools, five mosques, nine churches and 250 homes.
Provincial police spokesman Daud Sihombing said in the province's capital of Jayapura the final casualty toll might never be known.
"We don't yet have (complete) data because transportation and communication are even more difficult out there," Daud said.
Police may have to wait for local officials and residents in remote communities to file reports on casualties, said Daud, that statistics so far show 28 people died in the quake and 187 were injured.
Other deaths have been reported but not yet confirmed, he said. Ayomi said his initial data shows 30 deaths.
Daud said a great deal of food and medical aid has already arrived in Nabire in Papua's northwest, but it is still not enough.
Among the contributions is a US$39,000 donation from the Australian government and US$50,000 from the United States.
Minister Jusuf Kalla has donated Rp1 billion while Minister of Settlement and Infrastructure Soenarno and Papua Governor JP Solossa donated Rp200 million and Rp300 million respectively.