Aid has arrived for earthquake victims in the Indonesian Island of Lombok. /Asia News Network
Families remain in shelters
JAKARTA — The death toll from an earthquake on the Indonesian island of Lombok has topped 400, authorities said Monday, as bodies were still being recovered from the ruins of destroyed buildings.
The shallow 6.9-magnitude quake on August 5 leveled tens of thousands of homes, mosques and businesses across Lombok, just a week after another tremor surged through the island and killed 17.
“Search and rescue teams are still removing victims who were buried beneath collapsed buildings and landslides,” said national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho.
The total number killed in the quake is now 436, Nugroho said, with more than 1,300 injured and nearly 353,000 displaced.
The hardest hit region of Lombok has been in the north, where 374 people died and more than 137,000 have been forced from their homes, according to the latest official tolls.
Most of the displaced are sleeping under tents or tarpaulins near their ruined homes or in evacuation shelters, while makeshift medical facilities have been set up to treat the injured.
The relief mission comprising of Malaysia Fo Guang Shan, Perkumpulan Sinar Budha in north Sumatra, Indonesia, and Sin Chew Daily Foundation arrive at Tanjung, a village in northern Lombok with the most number of Buddhists on its second day in Lombok.
The volunteers shifted relief items stored in a warehouse nearby to the trucks after briefing session by Lim Kim Leng, commander of the Malaysia Fo Guang Shan relief team in the morning.
The warehouse is provided by the Hakka Association in Lombok, Indonesia for Perkumpulan Sinar Budha in north Sumatra, Indonesia to store relief items. Items such as rice, mineral water, instant noodles, blanket, eggs, and soap are distributed to Buddhists in two villages – Desa Lendang Bila and Desa Tegal Maja.
It takes one and a half hour of car ride from Madaran to the two villages. Along the way, the volunteers witnessed many collapsed building.