Simeulue island badly needs aid, attention: Regent
Nani Afrida, The Jakarta Post, Sigli
While much attention has been paid to the stricken Nias Island, a top local official has asked the government not to ignore Simeulue island, which was also devastated by Monday's 8.7- magnitude earthquake.
Simeulue Regent Darmili said on Thursday that the government had to dispatch aid immediately to the area as the scale of the damage across the island was vast.
"Almost 80 percent of buildings in Sinabang, the capital of Simeulue regency, have been damaged due to the powerful earthquake," Darmili, who is currently seeking refuge in a hilly area with his family, told The Jakarta Post by phone from Simeulue.
The regent said that his people, who are in a state of shock, partly due to tsunami fears, badly needed food, medicine and fuel. "People return to the town to search for their relatives under the rubble and go back to temporary shelters in hilly areas in the afternoon," said Darmili.
Due to a lack of heavy equipment, people are using their bare hands to pull dead bodies out from under the rubble, said Darmili. Frequent rainfall in the area has made the evacuation process more difficult, the regent added.
As of Thursday, Aceh government officials had recorded the deaths of 31 people in Simeulue and Singkil regencies and said 97 others were severely injured.
The disaster forced 40,162 people in the two regencies to take refuge in safer places and damaged or destroyed 806 buildings.
Most of the dead bodies were found in collapsed buildings.
To assist relief efforts on Simeulue, the acting governor of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, Azwar Abubakar, has instructed the Kuala Bate Ferry to travel to Banda Aceh, the province's capital, to pick up heavy equipment and bring it to Sinabang.
"The heavy equipment is needed for evacuation attempts, as well as removing rubble," said Darmili.
While relief agencies do not know how many people have been left homeless on Nias, they estimate that at least 12,000 people need shelter on Simeulue.
UN Development Program spokeswoman Imogen Wall said that relief groups still on Simeulue after the Dec. 26 tsunami last year had already distributed some 200 tonnes of food aid.
She admitted there had been some difficulties in carrying out relief operations but said the response had been fairly swift.
"We've already got so much on the ground. Doctors, food, water supply ... 500 tents were on their way within 24 hours of the earthquake," she said, quoted as saying by AFP.
"This is a very remote area where access is very difficult. Even with the best logistics in the world, a road that is badly damaged -- that is an issue."