Death, desolation in ’quake village

Press, 16 July 1976, Page 2

Death, desolation in ’quake village

By

SOEHARJONO,

NZPA-Reuter correspondent

Half-naked mothers with babies strapped to their backs were hacking away at a blood-stained r r of mud as I arrived at the settlement of Bime, Irian Jaya, which bore the full brunt of the killer earthquake on June 28. More than two weeks after the disaster, which swept away 17 mow -!rside settlements and left more than 5000 people dead, there was no hope that anyone would still be found alive. But the women and other survivors from this village that had once 1 :en home for 300 people clawed at the mud, searching desperately for relatives. As I stood and watched, six more dirt-caked bodies were brought out. Lieutenant-colonel Hast jar jo, head of the Coordinating Committee for Relief Operations, said that 450 bodies had so far been recovered from the stricken area and 4600 villagers were missing. He discounted earlier estimates which put the death toll as high as 9000. The village chief told me that most of the survivors had only just returned from the jungle where they fled after the first earthquake which triggered hugh landslides. Looking haggard as they toiled away with the primitive home-made hoes, the villagers neatly piled the bodies into ready-made pits. Each mass grave was filled with 15 bodies.

Only two nights ago another tremor rumbled through the desolate scene and the villagers stayed awake all nigi.t in readiness for another headlong rush into the safety of the jungle. According to the rescue workers, many of the survivors are suffering from pneumonia after living in the open for the past two weeks as drizzle and mist turned the sea of mud and wreckage into a freezing graveyard. Pieces of bark and straw were all that remained of the huts in which the villagers iived. Bime — or what remains of it ■— is sited 1175 m up in the snowcapped Jayawijaya mountain range which divides the province, the western half of the island of New Guinea and 4000 km east of Jakarta.

Many of the inhabitants, who are descended from former head-hunters, have never seen an outsider. But it is on outside help that they must now rely if they are to stay alive. The plane which brought me in was loaded with rice, tinned food, clothing, and malaria pills. After bringing in its precious cargo it took off again in less than half and hour. “I have to do the same mission to other villages,” the pilot said.

Rain and mist which cling to the mountains have hampered relief efforts and pilots have to nip in and out during brief breaks in visibility.

One report from a rescue team at Nalka said that a landslide lad blocked the Airika River causing severe flooding in nearby villages already devastated by the ’quake, which registered 7.1 on the open-ended Richter scale.

Colonel Hastjarjo said that 20,000 villagers would have to be evacuated to safer areas for fear of further landslides. Their journey would take at least a week through dense jungle, criss-crossed with deep ravines. He said that so far nine Cessna light aircraft belonging to the Mission Aviation Fellowship and two helicopters from Pertamina, the Indonesian State-owned oil company, were dropping food and medical supplies. M.A.F., a missionary organisation which runs a light plane service in the area, was the only relief agency in a position to offer much help in the first few days after the ’quake. Mr Dannis Stueesi, a local M.A.F. official, said that one of the greatest problems was trying to contact frightened survivors who refused to coine out of the jungle. Offers of help have come from Britain, West Germany, the United States, and Australia. President Suharto has declared the ’quake a national disaster and has asked for an international relief effort.