More than 85,000 now displaced by Indonesia quake

By Ainur Rohmah

TUBAN, Indonesia

Indonesia’s president traveled to northern Sumatra island Thursday to monitor relief efforts following last week powerful earthquake that left 103 people dead.

A National Disaster Management Agency spokesman told Anadolu Agency that President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo will visit several locations in Pidie Jaya regency during his second trip since the Dec. 7 temblor to Aceh province -- where the number of displaced people has risen to more than 85,000.

Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said that rather than staying at shelters, “most of the displaced build tents around their neighborhood so they can watch their property."

He said figures from the public works ministry, which has accelerated data collection efforts so the government can distribute compensation to homeowners, showed that more than 16,000 residences had been destroyed.

According to Nugroho, all but seven of the fatalities have been identified while 168 of those seriously injured continue to receive treatment -- some of them outside hospital buildings due to trauma and fear of aftershocks.

"They [seven unidentified fatalities] were possibly visiting Pidie Jaya when the earthquake struck and buried them under collapsed buildings," he said.

“The government has made the cost of treatment [for the injured] free," he underlined, adding that aid also continued to flow in from other parties.

During his Dec. 9 visit, Widodo had instructed related stakeholders to give priority to rebuilding mosques and schools.