On Sunday morning July 29, 2018, an earthquake measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale at 06:47 WITA occurred. This earthquake occurred in the depths of the epicenter less than 10km which shook the island of Lombok, especially in East Lombok which was severely affected. The people of Sumbawa Island and Bali Island felt this great shock that is also felt by people in parts of East Java.
This earthquake caused many houses to collapse, at least the last number reached 17 people died. School children are traumatized and do not want to go to school even though on August 2 it has been announced as the first day back to school. They want to wait until the following Monday. No teachers dare to teach at this time. People prefer to sleep in brugak (a type of pavilion that is very thick in typical Lombok culture).
An old man was rescued from the ruins of his house and received medical treatment with various stitches on his head, upper lip and left ear. He currently lives in a tent that has been set up across the street in front of his house. ADRA team approached this old man who was sitting next to the emergency tent that had been distributed by ADRA Indonesia. His son explained the condition of his father while talking and his father seemed slow to respond to the questions given to him. Could it be due to the impact of being hit by a collapsed wall during an earthquake? We were invited to enter the house to see the location of the wall that had fallen on the old man. We pray and hope that the condition of this old man and hundreds of other injured victims can gradually recover after receiving health care and trauma healing treatments.
On August 3, 2018, ADRA Indonesia partnered with the Sukadana Youth Forum in distributing 712 humanitarian aid, 16,452 meters of rope, 274 kg of nails, and 548 hammers to 548 families in Sukadana Village, Bayan District, North Lombok Regency, Nusa Province West Southeast (NTB). At the end of the distribution, the ADRA Team went around to meet with the refugees who started to build emergency tents from this tarpaulin. Hopefully, ADRA Indonesia’s assistance can ease the burden of the refugees and provide warmth and protection from the cold, rainy night winds and the hot sun during the day.
This report was written by Kyriakos Erlan, ADRA Logistics Indonesia Lombok Earthquake Response
