Aid agencies rush to help survivors of deadly Lombok quakes

SUGIAN: Indonesian aid agencies and officials rushed Tuesday to help survivors after the third quake disaster in less than a month on Lombok island, where some 500 people have died and hundreds of thousands are homeless.

The picturesque island next to holiday hotspot Bali was hit by two deadly quakes on July 29 and August 5. On Sunday it was shaken again by a string of fresh tremors and aftershocks, with the strongest measuring 6.9 magnitude.At least 13 people were killed on Sunday on Lombok and the neighbouring island of Sumbawa, mostly by falling debris, according to the national disaster agency.

Drone footage from the village of Sugian, on the hard-hit eastern part of Lombok, showed streets lined with rubble, caved-in roofs and a collapsed mosque.Aid organisations have vowed to step up humanitarian assistance on the island as devastated residents struggle in makeshift displacement camps.

“We are focusing on the basics, provision of shelter materials — tarpaulins, shelter kits, hygiene kits,” said Tom Howells from Save the Children.“We have shipped enough for about 20,000 people over the past two weeks,” he told AFP.

Indonesia’s disaster agency said it was also accelerating efforts to rebuild destroyed homes, hospitals and schools.

However, relief agencies fret that access to food, shelter and clean water is insufficient for some of the more than 430,000 displaced by the disaster. “There has been damage to the water infrastructure, which is already quite poor in Lombok due to a lack of ground supply and drought conditions,” Howells said.Tens of thousands of homes, mosques and businesses across Lombok had already been destroyed by the 6.9-magnitude quake on August 5 that killed at least 481 people.