Sawt Falasteen - Nearly 13,000 displaced by deadly Indonesian quake await aid

The 7.7-magnitude quake early on Saturday killed 68 people, according to an updated toll, and injured more than 100. Rescue officials have said there were no reports of people missing.

The number of people unable to return to their homes had risen to 12,800 by Monday, dispersed among several towns on Flores island, Berton Suar Pelita Panjaitan, spokesman for Indonesia's BNPB national disaster agency, told AFP.

Many Flores inhabitants were preparing to sleep outside for a third night, afraid to go home as more than 1,600 aftershocks have rumbled through the area, according to the BMKG geological agency.

AFP saw several residents of the small town of Mbay, in Nagekeo regency nearest the epicentre, camped out in makeshift tents they had erected using tarpaulins and poles.

"Our houses are no longer liveable, because many have collapsed and are full of cracks, so we can't go inside anymore," Mbay resident Junaidin, 32, said outside a self-made tent that was sleeping about 30 people.

"We only go back home to get water, clothes, pillows, and then we... spend the nights here."

Many Flores residents have traumatic memories of another 7.7-magnitude quake that hit the island in 1992, triggering a tsunami and killing about 2,500 people.

"We're on our own here," said Junaidin, who, like many Indonesians, has one name.

He expressed frustration with a perceived lag in the arrival of aid while the nation celebrated Independence Day with pomp and ceremony in the capital Jakarta.

"As for help from the government, there hasn't been any -- no tents, no medicine, no food, no drinking water, nothing," said Junaidin.

"Please open your eyes, government. We are your people, we are part of you. So please look after us."

- 'We fled with nothing' -

The Indonesian Air Force said it was bringing 13 tonnes of emergency aid in two Hercules planes and a Boeing.

It was also deploying helicopters to bring emergency supplies directly to survivors in isolated communities, the Antara state news agency quoted the commander of El Tari Air Base in Kupang as saying.

The aid included food, clothes, clean water and emergency medical equipment.

The health ministry has sent two field hospitals and emergency medical teams to the stricken region, and the government said more than 1,400 police, soldiers and other personnel have been deployed to assist.

However, the provisions cannot come soon enough for locals.

"We fled with nothing. Just the clothes on our backs. We're victims; we're going through a disaster," said Mbay resident Siti Saudah Daso, a 31-year-old mother of three.

"They said they would give us something, but there's no proof. So honestly, we're a bit upset, disappointed."

Rescuers were still combing the stricken area for victims, search and rescue official Fathur Rahman told AFP.

"We conduct land and air operations from helicopters. There haven't been any reports on missing persons, but we are still scouring the area just to be sure."

The epicentre of the shallow quake was located just off the north coast of Flores, geological authorities said.

The affected areas have few high-rise buildings.

Berton, the disaster agency spokesman, said at least 914 houses on the island were severely damaged and hundreds of others to a lesser degree.

Dozens of public buildings, including educational and health facilities as well as government offices, were also affected.

The NGO Save the Children said more than 8,000 children faced "safety risks and disruptions to their education" following the quake.

Indonesia experiences frequent earthquakes due to its location in the Pacific "Ring of Fire", an arc of intense seismic activity stretching from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.

A devastating 9.1-magnitude tremor in 2004 struck off the coast of Sumatra and triggered a tsunami that killed 220,000 throughout the region, about 170,000 of them in Indonesia.

It was one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history.

Q.Jaber--SF-PST