Quake victims coming home

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)