Friday, July 21, 2006
Indonesia's President,
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
, visited the area worst hit by the tsunami that struck the
Indonesian
island of
Java
Monday afternoon. Mr Yudhoyono toured the small town of
Pangandaran
meeting people who were staying in a temporary camp. Many of them are too scared to return home after the huge wave killed nearly 550 people. The
tsunami
was produced by an underwater
earthquake
with a magnitude of 7.7 on the
Richter scale
.
At the camp, Mr Yudhoyono told one woman to "be strong". According to a relief worker, about 3,000 people have taken refuge at the site, but only about 500 of them have lost their homes. She said people are too scared to go home because they live on the coast, a sentiment shared by one woman who told
AFP
: "I did not lose my home, and my husband and child are safe, but we are still traumatised by the tsunami and are too afraid to return home in case another one comes."
West Java
Governor Danny Setiawan told journalists that officials are persuading people to return home, and he said a return to normality "could take five to six years".
Aid workers are working to provide relief to the 15,500 people who have been left homeless as a result of the two-meter high wave. Yesterday, 15 tonnes of
rice
and 1,600 boxes of
instant noodles
were dropped, but some residents have said government assistance is necessary for them to regain their livelihoods. One woman told
Reuters
, "I don’t have anything, only 5,000
rupiah
(£0.30, $0.55) in my wallet. The government should give us money to buy houses and a boat."
It is estimated over 300 people are still missing, and the army and police are using helicopters, boats and mechanical diggers in the hope of recovering survivors. Lieutenant Colonel Tri Yuniarta has told his 350-strong rescue team in Pangandaran to finish collecting bodies trapped under debris by next Monday.
The Indonesian government has been criticised for failing to inform residents that a tsunami was looming. After the underwater earthquake was detected,
US
and
Japanese
agencies issued warning notices, but the government has admitted it was unable to transmit the bulletins to coastal areas. Speaking yesterday, Mr Yudhoyono vowed to hasten efforts to build an early warning system planned after the
2004 Asian tsunami
. "We want to expedite efforts to get infrastructure for the tsunami warning system in place,"
AP
quoted him as saying. "I will work with parliament to get the budget".
Survivors have described the tsunami, which struck a 200km stretch of
Java
's southern coast. A
Belgian
tourist said he was in a beach side bar when the wave hit. "I saw this big cloud of dark sea water coming up to me".
Indonesia is situated on the
Pacific Rim of Fire
where 90% of the world's earthquakes and 81% of the world's largest earthquakes occur.
Sources