#Newsflash: At Sulawesi quake’s epicentre, survivors struggle to survive with limited aid

A girl eats dry instant noodles inside a temporary shelter in Lende Tovea village at the epicentre of the 7.5-magnitude earthquake that hit Indonesia's Central Sulawesi on Sep 28, 2018. (Photo: Pichayada Promchertchoo)  

LENDE TOVEA, Indonesia: Small children scream with excitement as they run down the dirt track, their little arms flying in the air.

Above them, a rescue helicopter is flying towards their village of Lende Tovea in Donggala, Central Sulawesi. It belongs to the Natural Disaster Management Agency (BNPB).

More help at last, they seem to think.

But as their squinting eyes follow the chopper across the sky, they are hit by the terrible realisation that their wait for food, milk and other relief supplies will drag on. Nothing was dropped from the aircraft. It just passed them by.

It has been nearly two weeks since a devastating 7.5-magnitude earthquake destroyed their homes, killing their friends and family. Still some 2,000 residents of Lende Tovea – one of the few villages at the quake’s epicentre – have received limited help from the Indonesian government.

"Each family has received two eggs, a litre of rice and four to five packs of instant noodles. It’s not enough," said Erwin Tajudin, a resident of Lende Tovea’s Sub-community 1.

Most aid, he added, came from university students and rescue workers who made it to his village via damaged roads and landslides. Pointing at a collapsed mosque, the 54-year-old said almost every building in his community was destroyed, including his home.

"There is nothing left – all gone. So I hope our government will help us."


Source from Channel News Asia