Post-quake diseases concern spread in Nabire town

Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura, Papua

Some 155 Nabire residents were treated at the Nabire hospital on Friday, bringing the recorded number of residents suffering post- quake diseases to 958.

"The residents have dengue fever, respiratory ailments or dysentery," said Second Brig. Hendra Simbolon of the Papua Natural Disaster and Refugee Management Task Force in Nabire.

The number of people suffering illness could be higher, because people who have visited other local community health centers for medical treatment have not been recorded. Nabire Hospital is the only hospital in town.

Residents are prone to illness because they have chosen to stay outdoors for fear of the frequent aftershocks in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake on Feb. 6.

Residents who are living in tents out in the open are easy prey for the anopheles mosquito, the carriers of malaria.

Living out in the open, they are also vulnerable to respiratory ailments and dysentery as sanitation is poor.

According to Hendra, members of the task force were concentrating on treating people suffering from post-quake diseases and people injured in the earthquake.

At least 592 residents were injured, some seriously, in the earthquake on Feb. 6, which measured 6.9 on the Richter scale.

The number of fatalities rose to 39 on Friday, when two more people died.

Meanwhile, fear continues to grip Nabire, as two aftershocks rattled the area on Friday, with the first measuring 4.5 on the Richter scale at 4:20 a.m and the second 5.2 at 12:15 p.m.

Separately, the coordinator of the Health Crisis Center at the Papua administration's Health Office, Paminto Widodo said he had not received any reports of post-quake diseases.

"The emerge of post-quake diseases makes sense, because, for example, malaria is endemic in Papua. However, we haven't received a report yet," he said.

Paminto claimed that his office had people in the quake area would contract malaria.

When the office sent medical officers to Nabire right after the earthquake, they brought along mosquito nets and equipment to fumigate against the anopheles mosquito.

Meanwhile, aid for victims of the earthquake continued to pour into Nabire. A Japanese government official handed over aid to Nabire Regent A.P. Youw on Friday. The aid included 120 generators, 70 tents and 3,000 blankets, rice, buckets and medicines.

"They chartered two planes from Biak to Nabire to carry the aid," said Hendra. Food and medicine from fellow Indonesians has already poured into Nabire.

A 56-members-strong government medical team, led by Dr. Dati Indrasnato, departed on Friday from Biak to Nabire aboard the KM Kutilang ferry.

They were from the Ministry of Health in Jakarta, and arrived in Biak on Thursday, aboard an Indonesian Army airplane.

They will help local medical staff treat the victims of the earthquake.