Simeulue deserted as people flee
The Jakarta Post, Nias/Jakarta
Nearly 90 percent of the around 78,000 people living on quake-hit Simeulue island have reportedly left their homes for fear of a repeat of the Dec. 26 tsunami.
The senior government official on the island, Darmili, told AFP that the main town, Sinabang, was already deserted, as persistent rumors of an imminent earthquake more powerful than last week's 8.7 magnitude tremor had scared many residents.
"The people do not dare to return home, not only because of the rumors of a strong quake that will strike soon, but also because many of them no longer have any homes to return to," Darmili said on Monday.
Twenty people were confirmed killed on Simeulue in the March 28 earthquake, but weaker aftershocks have continued to jolt the area almost everyday, igniting widespread panic.
Darmili said food and medical stocks were sufficient, with assistance arriving from the government, the World Food Program and other United Nations agencies. More tents arrived on Monday to accommodate those who have to live in the open -- around 60 percent of the island's total population.
Meanwhile, on the neighboring island of Nias, where the death toll from the earthquake stands in the hundreds, people are taking refuge in the mountains for fear of aftershocks.
Data from the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) in Gunung Sitoli, Nias, showed that there had been 190 aftershocks up until Sunday.
There are now around 20,000 displaced persons on Nias, with most of them living in the mountains.
Harlis Gea, 33, and his wife, Sridesti Lestari, 29, said they were too afraid to come down from Gunung Ono Sitoli mountain, and were eager to leave the island.
As the March 28 earthquake hit the island, the couple ran some 10 kilometer from their home in Gunung Sitoli, a town only around 200 meters away from the beach.
It caused some bleeding for Sridesti, who had just delivered her second son two weeks earlier.
"I have climbed back down once in a while to check my house. It's half ruined but we're still afraid to go back. We'd rather sleep here with the other refugees," Harlis told The Jakarta Post.
He said he was anxious to find free transportation to bring his family to Central Java, where Sridesti originally comes from.
"We have nothing left, but we're really going to leave this place," said Harlis, who brought his family from Jakarta to live on Nias 18 months ago.
Like Harlis, Hermiwati Harefa, 50, wanted to move with her relatives to the South Sumatra capital of Medan, but transportation is still disrupted.
"Many people from my family are dead," cried Hermiwati, who lost four uncles and one sibling.
Sofyan Nasution, the assistant on social and legal affairs to the South Sumatra governor, said that there had yet to be any exodus to Medan. The displaced persons who had fled Nias had gone to Sibolga, and they were few in number.
"They only visited their families there and then went back to Nias. Maybe there are some displaced persons who have left Nias on boats. But we don't know their numbers or destinations yet," Sofyan told the Post.
Some people had fled, he added, because of the rumors that the island was going to be swamped in the near future.
"That is just a rumor, please don't believe it. We're asking the residents to stay while at the same time keeping abreast of developments. The island will not be washed away. Even the aftershocks are weak, so there's no need to worry and leave Nias," said Sofyan confidently.