Quake victims coming home

MAUMERE, East Nusa Tenggara: Hundreds of the 1992 quake evacuees who had been living in the Sikka regency are streaming back to Babi Island, 23 miles north of here, in the belief the island is finally safe.

Two thousand five hundred people were killed in the quake that triggered widespread tidal waves throughout the archipelagic province. All the survivors of Babi Island's 15,000 population were evacuated.

Islanders wanting to return say they are certain their homes are safe and that they cannot wait to recultivate the land they abandoned five years ago.

The majority are either farmers or fishermen.

One farmer, Ahmad, said he had visited the remains of his home on the island occasionally since the natural disaster to assess the situation.

Anita, who lost her husband in the earthquake, said she was too traumatized to return to the isolated island and would rather die in her accommodation tent. (yac)