Manokwari earthquake victims still homeless

Despite its massive natural gas wealth, hundreds of residents of Manokwari, Papua are living in temporary homes made of palm leaves and children, when they are not sick, attend outdoor schools after a earthquake struck last October.

The quake, which measured 7.6 on the Richter scale and killed 15 people and injured dozens of others, left 300 families in Sabri village homeless. Hundreds of others in neighboring villages have received little support from the local and central governments.

The quake was followed by a tsunami, which swept through a number of houses in Wariab village on the regency's coast.

A number of survivors are living in homes made of palm leaves. Children have suffered from various diseases, including diarrhea, chest infections and skin diseases.

Selfianus Mandatjan, one of the victims from Sabri, lives in a makeshift tent with his pregnant wife, two children, his mother and a nephew.

""We've been here for five months with frequent ailments, so all we want from the government are construction materials to build a house,"" Selfianus told The Jakarta Post recently.

He said the evacuees in Sabri had received humanitarian aid once. Since then they had survived on sweet potatoes, bananas and other fruit from their farmland.

Agus Saruni, who lived with 14 other families in Wariab before the quake but now stays at Lapangan Empat, five kilometers from Sabri, appealed to the local administration to provide assistance to help the villagers build homes.

""We can meet our daily needs by growing vegetables and from fishing. After five months, we hope the government will soon supply construction materials, as we've heard that about Rp 1 billion in aid money was set aside for this purpose.""<>