TRINGGADING, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s president traveled Friday to areas of Aceh province devastated by a magnitude 6.5 earthquake and vowed that torn-apart communities would be rebuilt.
Stopping at a collapsed mosque in Tringgading not far from the quake’s epicenter, Joko “Jokowi” Widodo gave out envelopes stuffed with 15 million rupiah ($1,125) — a small fortune in Aceh where the minimum wage is about 2 million rupiah ($150) a month — to people whose family members were killed.
“We will rebuild the mosque as soon as possible. We start tomorrow, but we have to do it together,” he told the crowd.
An earthquake survivor cooks breakfast at the ruin of her home in Pidie Jaya, Aceh province, Indonesia, Friday, Dec. 9, 2016. Humanitarian organizations descended on Indonesia’s Aceh province Thursday as the local disaster agency called for urgent food supplies and officials raced to assess the full extent of damage from an earthquake that killed a large number of people. (AP Photo/Heri Juanda)
More than 100 people were killed in the quake that hit the northeast of Aceh province on Sumatra before dawn Wednesday. Hundreds of people were injured and more than 11,000 buildings destroyed or heavily damaged. Thousands of people are living in temporary shelters.
Killer quakes occur regularly in the region, where many live with the terrifying memory of a giant Dec. 26, 2004 earthquake that struck off Sumatra. The magnitude 9.1 quake triggered a devastating tsunami that killed more than 100,000 Acehnese.
Earlier Friday morning, Jokowi and his entourage visited a hospital in the town of Sigli where the injured are being treated. The damaged hospital in Pidie Jaya district near the epicenter has been overwhelmed and some patients were accommodated in tents on its grounds.
Mohammad Reza, the hospital director, said Jokowi handed out envelopes containing 5 million rupiah ($375) to each of the injured.
“His visit is likely a motivation for the victims to move on,” Reza said.
Earthquake survivor Badruddin who lost his wife and a daughter in the disaster cleans up rubble from the ruin of his house in Pidie Jaya, Aceh province, Indonesia, Friday, Dec. 9, 2016. Humanitarian organizations descended on Indonesia’s Aceh province Thursday as the local disaster agency called for urgent food supplies and officials raced to assess the full extent of damage from an earthquake that killed a large number of people. (AP Photo/Heri Juanda)
An earthquake survivor sleeps on a table at a temporary shelter in Pidie Jaya, Aceh province, Indonesia, Friday, Dec. 9, 2016. Humanitarian organizations descended on Indonesia’s Aceh province Thursday as the local disaster agency called for urgent food supplies and officials raced to assess the full extent of damage from an earthquake that killed a large number of people. (AP Photo/Heri Juanda)
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