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WORLD NEWS Thursday 4 OcTOber 2018

Slow arrival of aid frustrates Indonesia quake survivors

By STEPHEN WRIGHT but the distribution is very
Associated Press bad.”
PALU, Indonesia (AP) — Picking through the pile
Climbing over reeking piles nearby was a 50-year-old
of sodden food and debris, woman named Rosminah,
a crowd on Wednesday who had a plastic shopping
searched a warehouse bag bulging with muddy
wrecked in Indonesia’s packets of food.
earthquake and tsunami “There’s no support. Our
for anything they could sal- house was destroyed,” she
vage: cans of condensed said. “We came here to
milk, soft drinks, rice, candy search for food. There’s no
and painkillers. assistance. We have to find
A trickle of emergency aid it by ourselves.”
is only now reaching parts Following widespread loot-
of Sulawesi island, five days ing and aid vehicles being
after the destructive quake stopped and surrounded
that killed more than 1,400 by people on roads, Indo-
people, and some increas- nesian military chief Hadi
ingly desperate survivors Tjahyanto said one soldier
are taking matters into their and one police officer
own hands. would be placed on every
“We came here because aid truck, and that soldiers
we heard there was food,” would be sent to secure
said Rehanna, a 23-year- Men scavenge for food inside an abandoned warehouse in an earthquake and tsunami-affected markets, the airport and
old student, wearing a red area in Palu, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia Indonesia, Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2018. fuel depots to maintain or-
motorcycle helmet. “We Associated Press der.
need clean water, rice.” rescue crews had reached ing was scrawled with the weren’t waiting for help. He added that a Singapor-
Elsewhere in the hard- all affected areas. message: “Help us Mr. Presi- Besides those searching ean military transport plane
hit city of Palu, residents The horror was still fresh in dent.” for food, dozens of others will help evacuate victims
clapped and cheered as the minds of those like furni- President Joko “Jokowi” combed a flattened com- from Palu. In addition, air-
they swarmed a truck that ture maker Khairul Hassan, Widodo visited the disaster plex of warehouses along craft from South Korea, the
was finally delivering aid. who was working at a shop zone Wednesday for a sec- Palu’s ravaged coast for United Kingdom and Japan
“I’m so happy,” said Heru- near the beach in front of ond time, saying there’s still anything they could sell or were expected to ferry aid.
wanto, clutching a box a row of warehouses when work to be done, but that use to rebuild homes. They Separately, a volcano
of instant noodles. The the ground shook violently. conditions were improving. carted away corrugated erupted on another part of
63-year-old man, who like He ran to a hill and watched “We are going in phases. metal, wood, piping and seismically active Sulawesi
many Indonesians goes by as the ocean heaved and There are lots of things hap- other items. island, about 940 kilometers
only one name, added: hurled forward. pening related to evacua- They included all ages, (585 miles) northeast of the
“I really haven’t eaten for “I saw the waves come and tion, as aid and fuel are also middle class and poor, uni- disaster zone.
three days.” sweep out everything — coming in,” he said, noting versity students and sullen It sent up a plume of ash
Indonesian authorities have buildings, factories, ware- that 30 people remain bur- young men. more than 6,000 meters
been struggling to get relief houses and some people ied under rubble at the Roa “We have to do this be- (20,680 feet) high. Planes
to survivors who have been who were lost, racing from Roa Hotel in Palu. cause there’s no assistance were warned about the
left without food, water, the waves, some of them The U.N. estimated that from the government,” ash cloud billowing from
fuel and medicine after Fri- women and children,” he some 200,000 people need said Zaitun Rajamangili, 41, Mount Soputan that can
day’s magnitude 7.5 quake said. “Also, warehouse assistance, announcing adding that his home was be hazardous for aircraft
and tsunami that smashed workers who were trapped a $15 million allocation to swept away but his family engines. No evacuations
homes and businesses, under goods, all swept by bolster relief efforts. survived. were ordered in the area.
downed communications the sea. It’s so tragic. It’s so Australia said it will send 50 Rehanna, the student Experts said it’s possible
and made roads impass- scary to remember.” medical professionals as searching the warehouse the quake accelerated
able on Sulawesi. The Sulawesi coastline part of a $3.6 million aid for food, had come from the eruption, but there is
The official death toll rose spreading out from Palu package. The U.N. said the Balaroa, a neighborhood no concrete evidence
to 1,407 on Wednesday, was a surreal landscape Indonesian Ministry of So- of several hundred houses to prove that. Activity at
with thousands injured of debris, beached boats, cial Affairs has asked UNI- in Palu that was turned up- the volcano had been in-
and more than 70,000 dis- overturned cars and the CEF to send social workers side down by the quake creasing since August and
placed, said national di- foundations of obliterated to support vulnerable chil- and where many remain began surging Monday,
saster agency spokesman houses. Wrecked houses dren who are alone or be- buried beneath the rubble. according to the head of
Sutopo Purwo Nugroho. He still standing were spray came separated from their “I’m very angry,” she said Indonesia’s Volcanology
said the number of dead painted with appeals for families. of the lack of aid. “I know and Geology Disaster Miti-
would increase, but that aid. The wall of one dwell- Some homeless residents the assistance is coming, gation Agency.q