NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #30/NN_1992_30.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/9365

Internet Message Format | 1992-12-15 | 14.3 KB

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From: Charles Scheiner <[e-mail]>
Subject: Indonesia: Flores Earthquake Relief
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The following are a few of the many articles we have seen
about the disaster in Flores, (especially in the Peacenet
reg.Indonesia conference).

Flores is the first large island west of Timor, and shares its
Catholic religion and some of its Portuguese colonial history.

The East Timor Action Network/US is encouraging people to donate to
the victims of the earthquake to show that although we oppose
Indonesian government policy, we support the people of Indonesia. The
tidal waves this week killed many times as many people as the
massacre at Santa Cruz last year -- some report put the earthquake
death toll at up to 4,000. We must support the survivors of both.

ETAN/US will accept contributions and forward them to an appropriate
Indonesian non-governmental organization for the victims of the
Flores catastrophe. Tax-deductible checks can be made payable to
"WESPAC Foundation/ETAN" and mailed to
     East Timor Action Network/US
     P.O. Box 1182
     White Plains, NY 10602 USA.

We also encourage contributions directly to relief organizations, but
by channeling it through ETAN (we will not take any of this money),
we can help the people of East Timor as well as those of Flores.

                -- Charlie Scheiner, East Timor Action Network / US

=======================

>From the Peacenet Alerts Conference:    4:02 pm  Dec 14, 1992
From: Alex Wijoyo <[e-mail]>

        ********* FLORES QUAKE RELIEF EFFORT********

        You may have heard from the news media that recently an
earthquake has hit severely the Island of Flores, East Indonesia.  The
exact death toll rises day by day.  The New York Times (Dec 14, 1992)
reports that according to Indonesian officials the earthquake measured
6.8 on the Richter scale. The United States Geological Survey
put it even higher at 7.5.  The city of Maumere suffered the most; 80% of the
buildings had been destroyed, 1,232 people confirmed dead, and many
more rendered homeless.  The people of Flores are predominantly catholic.

        The Paroki-net, meaning "Parish-net"--a network for Indonesian
Students abroad, mostly catholic, but is also open to Indonesian
students of different Christian denominations and even of other
religions--is making an appeal to all who are willing to contribute
money to help relieving the suffering people in Flores.

        The Paroki-net (internet: [e-mail]) can channel your
contribution.  Since we are all students, we could only manage
financial contribution.  For this purpose, checks or money order can
be sent to the Paroki-net's Relief Effort Committee:

        Mr. Teddy Setya
        3307 Powelton Apt 3F
        Philadelphia, PA 19104   USA

For accounting purpose, we ask you to report your contribution to:
        Mr. Parulian Sihotang (internet address: [e-mail]).
He will record your contribution and send you an acknowledgement upon
receipt.
        Thank you for your kind help.

Sincerely,
Alex Soesilo Wijoyo, S.J.
West Side Jesuit Community
220 West 98th Street Apt 4E
New York, NY 10025, USA
[phone] (Voice)

=======================

The following are taken from reg.indonesia, which has many more
articles and updated news on this tragedy posted almost hourly.

** Topic: Flores A Vast Cemetery **
** Written  6:54 am  Dec 14, 1992 by apakabar in cdp:reg.indonesia **

    According to a December 14 Reuter story by Menuk Suwondo datelined
Maumere, a killer earthquake triggered treetop-high tidal waves that ripped
infants from their mothers' arms and turned parts of Indonesia's "Isle of
Flowers" into a cemetery, survivors said on Monday.
    At least 1,226 people are confirmed dead and hundreds are missing
after the quake, which measured 6.8 on the Richter scale, hit Flores
island in eastern Indonesia on Saturday.
    "The death toll will be much more," said Nonpas Ferdinandus, an
official of the local district administration. Officials said hundreds
of people were still missing on Flores and the small island of Babi.
    On Maumere's outskirts, survivors said tidal waves swamped their
fishing village three times and swept many of the hamlet's 2,000
residents away in a hot gush of water.
    "The second wave was as high as a coconut tree," fisherman Patamu,
30, said. "The waves were hot, like lava."
    Patamu, his wife and two children were swept out of their hut by the
waves and thrown onto a hill where he joined other survivors to put up
crude tents for cover.
    The hot waves of death took a 10-day-old girl named Marina out of
her mother's arms. Miraculously, she was pulled from the swirling waters
by a neighbour and restored to her mother.
    Others were not so lucky. Observers on an aircraft passing over Babi
island saw no signs of life among the fishing colonies ringing its
once-pristine, now-mud-fouled beaches.
    Dr Harmanus Man, head of Maumere's hospital, told Reuters he
believed 750 people had died on Babi alone.
    At least 1,000 people died in the Maumere area, just 30 km (19
miles) from the offshore epicentre of the earthquake.
    Johannes Uda, a teacher in a vocational school in Maumere, suddenly
felt his legs giving way under him about midday on Saturday.
    "I then saw everyone on the streets suddenly also going on their
knees. I then realised it was an earthquake."
    Stumps of walls, with iron girders sticking out, and roads with deep
cracks testify to the fury of the earthquake.
    Tents have been put up outside the hospital to treat patients afraid
of entering because of cracks in the walls.
    Lines are forming in the town at food distribution centres. Even
drinking water is scarce at these centres.
    Few cars are on the streets and people walk about in a daze, many
searching desperately for their families. "I don't even know if they are
alive," said a man pausing in his tearful search for his two children.
    Rescue teams who searched the island for victims on Monday feared an
epidemic among survivors. "We are badly in need of medicine, tents and
volunteer relief workers," said Herman Gadidjou, aide to East Nusa
Tenggara governor Hendrikus Fernandez.
    Fernandez said the tents and medicine were needed to protect people
from diseases like pneumonia, respiratory diseases and gastroenteritis,
with the onset of the rainy season.
    President Suharto ordered the navy on Monday to help in relief
operations. Troops and civilians are also expected to boost the ranks of
the rescue workers.
    The tragedy was the latest to hit the earthquake-prone region. A
series of tremors hit eastern Indonesia last year, killing at least 22
people and badly damaging property.
    The last major earthquake to hit the country was also in the east,
in Irian Jaya in 1989. The quake triggered landslides that killed 97
people.
    Until midday on Saturday, Flores was known mainly for its colourful
Roman Catholic religious festivals, its coral and its flowers.
    Now most of the flowers around Maumere have vanished. Only a few
purple bougainvillea poke up from the rubble and dark brown mud.

--------------

   According to a December 14 UPI story datelined Jakarta, the death toll
from a powerful earthquake  that shook eastern Indonesia over the weekend
was raised to more than 1, 500 Monday and was expected to go higher, while
authorities warned jittery survivors of possible aftershocks.
   Officials placed the death toll from Saturday's earthquake and
resulting tidal waves at 1,581, making it the worst earthquake disaster
suffered in Indonesia, an official said.
   "We are expecting reports on more casualties," said Jacobus Lai, an
official at the natural disaster office in Kupang, in the eastern
Indonesian provincial capital of Nusa Tenggara.
   Rab Sukamto, director of the government directorate of geological
development, called on people "to remain on alert," as strong
aftershocks remain a possibility.
   Sukamto said officials have been sent to Flores with equipment to
survey the source of the temblor and to detect the possibility of more
activity. He said 80 percent of Indonesia's islands north of Australia
are prone to earthquakes.
   Flores suffered the worst damage from the quake, Jacobus said with
some 1,516 dead and as many as 40,000 left homeless in the town of
Maumere.
   The precise number of deaths is sure to grow, officials said, adding
that rescue teams are searching for possible survivors and bodies of
victims in the rubble of what is left of Maumere.
   The quake, which registered 6.8 on the Richter scale, shook the
island of Flores shortly after noon Saturday, triggering a tidal wave
and causing the collapse of thousands of houses, shops and government
buildings.
   "More than 90 percent of buildings in Maumere were totally
destroyed," Jacobus said.
   Those left homeless on Maumere have been moved to shelters and were
living out of plastic tents. Rescue workers continued searching for more
victims under the debris of crushed buildings.
   The Babi and Panama Besar islands off the coast of Maumere were most
severely struck by the tidal waves, the official news agency Antara
said.
   Witnesses said that Babi was temporarily "sunk for a short period of
time and (the water) swept and flattened everything on the tiny island,"
one official said.
   Officials said about 2,000 people - more than half of the two
island's residents - are "strongly believed to have died, swept by the
tidal wave," while 200 from Babi are seeking refugee on Flores because
aftershocks continue rumbling on the tiny island.
   Reports reaching Jakarta said that the quake triggered an 82-foot
tidal wave and sent water as far as 1,000 feet inland, sweeping up
houses and other buildings in Maumere, Babi and Panama Besar.
   Landslides also occurred in several place on Flores, some 1,175 miles
east of Jakarta. The island had more than 1 million residents.
   The tidal wave also killed about 200 people in Wuring village near
Maumere, officials estimated.
   One survivor, Mohammad Salahu, said in Jakarta's Kompas newspaper
that he saw that about 50 bodies stuck on trees, adding that people on
Babi were in panic and didn't know where to run.
   "In the end we just surrendered to God," Salahu said.
   Officials in East Nusa Tenggara said that basic necessities remain a
problem for those left homeless.

-------------

   According to a December 14 UPI story datelined Jakarta, aftershocks
rumbled through Indonesia's ravaged  Flores island and nearby smaller
islands Monday, rocking the region where more than 2,000 people have
been confirmed killed by a devastating weekend earthquake and accompanying
tidal waves.
   H. Fernandez, governor of East Nusa Tenggara province, Monday cited
1,584 deaths in a report to the central government in Jakarta.
   Hours later, officials confirmed 600 additional deaths on a tiny
island located just off Flores island. One official said the islet had
been "sunk for a short period of time" by the tidal wave that "swept and
flattened everything ..."
   The Suara Pembaruan newspaper meanwhile reported the death toll could
climb as high as 4,000.
   "It even could be higher, as there still are many bodies and missing
people to be found by rescue teams," one official told the newspaper.
"The bodies were being found under scattered debris or after being wiped
away by the tidal wave."
   In another development, military commanders said soldiers would be
deployed to Flores island - some 1,175 miles east of Jakarta - to
rebuild destroyed houses. Officials have estimated about 40,000
residents were left homeless when their houses collapsed in the quake or
were swept off by the sea.
   Two aftershocks shook the Flores town of Maumere Monday morning,
triggering more panic among people whose homes collapsed and are now
living in plastic tents, the official news agency Antara said.
   Rab Sukamto, director of the government-sponsored geology
directorate, warned survivors "to remain on alert" for aftershocks. He
said officials were sent to Flores with equipment to survey the source
of the tremor and check for signs of more seismic activity.
   The initial quake, which registered 6.8 on the Richter scale, shook
islands in East Nusa Tenggara province shortly after noon Saturday,
triggering tidal waves and collapsing thousands of houses, shops and
government buildings.
   The quake was the most harmful in Indonesian history, an official
said.
   "I saw everywhere only scattered debris," said one villager who just
returned home from outside the town of Maumere on Flores island. "It
looks like just after a war."
   One official said more than 90 percent of buildings in Maumere were
destroyed, forcing the homeless to move into plastic tents. Rescue
workers continued searching for more victims under the debris of
collapsed buildings.
   The quake triggered a 80-foot tidal wave and sent sea waters as far
as 1,000 feet inland, sweeping houses and other buildings in Maumere and
on the two islands on the northern coast area.
   Landslides also occurred in several place on Flores, which is home to
more than 1 million residents, mostly Catholics.
   President Suharto on Monday expressed condolences to the families of
the victims and ordered on officials "to immediately to begin planning
the reconstruction of public facilities, such as schools and public
hospitals."
   State Secretary Murdiono told reporters that Suharto also called for
immediate efforts to begin distributing supplies of food, clean water
and medicine in the affected areas.
   One survivor, Mohammad Salahu, told Jakarta's Kompas newspaper he saw
about 50 bodies stuck on trees on the tiny inundated island off Flores.
   Officials in the East Nusa Tenggara province said clean water and
electricity remained a problem for the homeless. Land communications
between districts on Flores were cut off as the quake destroyed
connecting bridges, officials said.
   The quake, centered in the Sawu Sea separating the Flores and Sumba
islands, also collapsed the airport tower in Waingapu on Sumba island.