Post-quake diseases concern spread in Nabire town
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.