Rescuers Reopen Roads in Quake-Hit Sulawesi

Jakarta Globe August 20, 2012


A search and rescue team was trying to reopen blocked roads in Central Sulawesi on Monday after a 6.2 magnitude earthquake over the weekend.

With two excavators from the provincial public works office, the team cleared a stretch of road at the border between Gumbasa and Kulawi subdistricts in Sigi district to allow relief aid into the villages, Antara state news agency reported on Monday.

The tectonic earthquake damaged hundreds of houses and buildings in the Kulawi, Gumbasa and Lindu subdistricts, leaving four people dead and dozens injured.

Resmin Rase, head of the district’s disaster mitigation agency (BPBD), was quoted as saying he hoped the road could be reopened later on Monday.

“It’s important for vehicles to be able to drive on the road to help the victims,” he said, according to Antara.

He said it was difficult to know how people were faring in the isolated villages because of difficult access and telecommunication constraints.

Amateur radio fans and soldiers with communication facilities were deployed to the area, he was quoted by Antara as saying.

Some 300 personnel from the search and rescue team were also deployed, he added.