Thousands in Indonesia await aid after quake kills 54, overshadowing Independence Day

REO, Indonesia (AP) — Thousands of people were still waiting for aid on the Indonesian island of Flores as the country celebrated its 81st Independence Day on Monday, days after a powerful earthquake killed at least 54 people, injured dozens and damaged hundreds of homes and other buildings.

Many residents spent the day mourning victims, searching for loved ones and waiting for aid to arrive to communities still cut off by the deadly quake.

More than 1,300 homes were damaged when the quake struck East Nusa Tenggara province on Saturday, with nearly 250 were destroyed on Flores alone. Some 5,000 people were forced into temporary shelters and 135 people were injured, according to the National Disaster Management Agency.

The province's governor declared a 14-day state of emergency on Sunday.

The quake occurred at a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles) shortly before 6 a.m. Saturday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, and residents fled in panic as tsunami warnings were issued and later lifted. Authorities have since recorded at least 995 aftershocks, but only 46 were felt by residents.

Thousands of people on Flores camped outside collapsed homes under tarpaulin tents overnight into Monday, sleeping outside because of the danger of more aftershocks.

An Associated Press photojournalist saw widespread devastation across the island, with fallen trees blocking roads, giant boulders hurled downslope by landslides, and homes left shattered or heavily damaged. Parked cars were crushed when buildings collapsed during the quake.

For many residents, the disaster revived painful memories of a powerful earthquake and tsunami that struck Flores in 1992, killing about 2,500 people.

"My house is just rubble now,” said Rasyid Jafar, a clothing trader in the village of Reo, the hardest-hit area in Manggarai regency, ”We need food, medicine and clean water urgently.”

More than 3,500 military and police personnel have been deployed across the disaster zone and 275 tons of aid have been to the area, though logistical challenges have slowed deliveries to some hard-hit communities.

While some relief has trickled in, survivors say they still need equipment to cook food.

“We have nothing left ... Why isn’t there a public kitchen?" said Mariana Tewu, another villager in Reo.

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,” a horseshoe-shaped arc of seismic faults and volcanoes.

In 2018, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake triggered a tsunami on the island of Sulawesi that killed more than 4,400 people. In 2004, a magnitude 9.1 quake off Sumatra unleashed a tsunami that killed about 230,000 people in a dozen countries, nearly 170,000 in Aceh province alone.