Businesses reopen after eastern Indonesia earthquake displaced thousands

REO, Indonesia (AP) — Grocery stores, gas stations and other shops reopened on the Indonesian island of Flores Wednesday, four days after a powerful earthquake killed at least 71 people, injured nearly 1,200 others and damaged thousands of homes.

Debris covered streets and searchers continued to dig in the rubble for possible victims, while more than 59,600 people remained in tents, evacuation centers and makeshift shelters, officials said.

The earthquake struck shortly before 6 a.m. Saturday off Flores, a remote island in East Nusa Tenggara province and caused widespread destruction across the island, damaging at least 11,925 homes, 182 health facilities, 653 schools, 184 government offices and 173 places of worship, according to the National Disaster Management Agency and other officials.

The agency said 398 tons (361 metric tons) of aid, including food, family tents, refugee shelters and donations from the public, have been transported to affected communities.

While trucks remained the primary means of delivery, officials said Flores’ mountainous terrain and damaged or narrow roads continued to slow the distribution process. The government has expanded the use of military aircraft, ships and personnel to support emergency operations in the remote areas, disaster agency spokesperson Berton Panjaitan said in a video statement.

Local governments in seven regencies hit by the quake have resumed operations “to accelerate post-disaster recovery and serve the community’s administrative needs,” East Nusa Tenggara Gov. Emanuel Melkiades Laka Lena said.

The earthquake struck at a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles), according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Residents fled in panic as tsunami warnings were issued and later lifted. Authorities recorded more than 3,000 aftershocks through Wednesday, though only 88 were felt by residents.

Thousands of people across the island slept outdoors, fearing aftershocks. The streets remained covered in debris as rescue workers were cleaning up the rubble and mud from a landslide while “anticipating the possibility of discovering more victims,” said Fathur Rahman, the search mission coordinator.

Aid distribution has been complicated by the large number of people sheltering near their damaged homes rather than in centralized evacuation centers to safeguard their belongings and livestock, making it harder for relief teams to identify and reach beneficiaries quickly, Rahman said.

In Maumere, a port city in Sikka regency, markets and gas stations drew large crowds when they reopened. In Reo, a town in the hard-hit Manggarai regency, residents lined up outside a grocery store that only partially opened its doors to limit the number of customers entering.

“Food aid has helped, but it doesn’t cover everything we need for daily life,” said Delvina Panjaitan, who was waiting outside the store. “We still rely on grocery stores and markets, and we need them to be operating again.”

Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, is prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions because of its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire. Flores experienced one of the country’s deadliest disasters in 1992, when an earthquake and ensuing tsunami killed about 2,500 people.