Indonesia Independence Day Overshadowed By Deadly Flores Earthquake

by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Chief International Correspondent

JAKARTA/MEDAN (Worthy News) – Indonesia’s 81st Independence Day was overshadowed by grief as the death toll from the weekend’s massive earthquake rose to at least 68 and thousands were still awaiting aid on the hard-hit Indonesian island of Flores.

Christians on the mainly Catholic island and elsewhere in Muslim-majority Indonesia have been praying as the extent of the magnitude 7.7 quake emerged.

Besides the scores killed, more than 200 people were injured and thousands of buildings, including churches and homes, were damaged.

Many residents of Flores, in Indonesia’s East Nusa Tenggara province, spent Monday mourning victims while military teams tried to deliver food, clean water and clothing to communities that remained difficult to reach.

The Saturday morning quake caused widespread destruction, with buildings collapsing onto parked cars, homes shattered and trees and boulders blocking roads.

THOUSANDS DISPLACED

More than 4,500 homes were damaged when the earthquake struck Flores early Saturday, while some 19,000 people were forced into temporary shelters, according to Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency, known as BNPB.

Authorities said 213 people were injured, while the disaster also damaged 122 health facilities, 252 schools and 84 places of worship. The provincial governor declared a 14-day state of emergency.

Thousands of survivors remained outdoors under tarpaulins and makeshift tents, afraid to return to damaged homes because of continuing aftershocks.

“My house is just rubble now,” said Rasyid Jafar, a clothing trader in the village of Reo, the hardest-hit area in Manggarai regency. “We need food, medicine and clean water urgently.”

During Indonesia’s Independence Day ceremony in Jakarta, President Prabowo Subianto asked participants to pray for people affected by disasters in East Nusa Tenggara and other parts of the country.

PRAYERS FOR VICTIMS

He also led a nationwide moment of silence honoring the nation’s independence heroes as Indonesia marked 81 years since declaring independence in 1945.

Yet for families struggling to survive on Flores, about 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) east of Jakarta, the festivities were overshadowed by the struggle to find shelter, food and medical assistance.

Authorities said more than 1,800 military and police personnel had been deployed across the disaster zone, supported by 10 aircraft and several vessels, to distribute more than 100 metric tons of emergency aid.

Nearly 5,400 food packages, medicines, clothing and two field-hospital tents were being delivered to affected communities as difficult terrain and damaged infrastructure slowed assistance to some areas.

Deputy Health Minister Benjamin Paulus Octavianus said the military was preparing an emergency field hospital, while neurosurgeons and orthopedic surgeons were needed to treat people suffering from head injuries and broken bones.

INDONESIA QUAKE AID

Aid workers also reached tiny Palue Island, one of the areas closest to the earthquake’s epicenter, after a difficult journey through landslide-hit terrain.

“The roads are steep and many were blocked by landslides. It was a near-death journey,” said Marselus Yugo Amboro, deputy police chief of Sikka regency, whose team was among the first to reach the island with emergency supplies.

Initial assessments there revealed extensive damage, with one villager killed, two seriously injured and nearly 150 homes destroyed, authorities said.

The earthquake struck shortly before 6 a.m. Saturday at a shallow depth of about 10 kilometers (6 miles), according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

A tsunami warning was issued for several Indonesian provinces, prompting residents to move away from coastal areas, but it was later lifted.

FLORES AFTERSHOCKS CONTINUE

Authorities recorded 1,576 aftershocks through Monday, while a magnitude 5.6 tremor struck the region Monday morning, adding to fears among survivors reluctant to return home.

For many residents, the disaster revived painful memories of a powerful earthquake and tsunami that struck Flores in 1992, killing about 2,500 people.

Amid the mourning, the Franciscan Order called on believers to pray for victims and their families and for “consolation, strength and hope” for affected communities.

Caritas Indonesia mobilized the Catholic Church’s humanitarian network across affected dioceses, with parishes and volunteers assisting evacuations, assessing damage and distributing emergency supplies.

Church officials said dozens of churches were damaged, with reports indicating that more than 50 churches, including Ruteng Cathedral, had been affected. In some areas, religious services were temporarily moved out of church buildings because of safety concerns.

CHURCHES HELP SURVIVORS

Archbishop Paulus Budi Kleden of Ende said faith and solidarity remained visible despite the devastation and appealed for prayers as survivors began what he described as a journey toward healing and recovery.

The earthquake was Indonesia’s deadliest disaster since a 2022 quake in West Java killed hundreds of people.

Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, is prone to earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis because it lies along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a vast arc of active seismic faults and volcanoes.

In 2018, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake triggered a tsunami on Sulawesi that killed more than 4,400 people.

And in 2004, a magnitude 9.1 earthquake off Sumatra unleashed the Indian Ocean tsunami, killing about 230,000 people across a dozen countries, including nearly 170,000 in Indonesia’s Aceh province.

As Flores mourned its dead, rescue teams continued searching affected areas and aid workers raced to reach survivors whose Independence Day was marked not by celebrations but by funerals, prayers and the struggle to rebuild their lives.

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