BANGKOK, Oct 30 (AlertNet) - Fresh landslides threaten 3,000 to 4,000 people displaced by a recent earthquake and subsequent landslides in Indonesia's West Sumatra, with close to a fifth living in cramped conditions, aid agencies said on Friday.
Two powerful earthquakes on Sept. 30 set off landslides that crushed many villages in the area, including those around the Lake Maninjau in Agam district north of Padang, the city that bore the brunt of the disaster. Local media reports have put the total rehabilitation and reconstruction costs at $745 million.
The scenic, oval-shaped crater lake with sheer cliffs is home to fishing communities who, according to the United Nations in Indonesia, have been forced to move in with relatives and friends or to government-funded displacement camps.
Â?During the earthquake and the consequent rain, the vegetation broke away. Some went down and destroyed villages Â? and a lot of this rubble, dirt, stones and silt are sitting up on the edge of the hills,Â? Wayne Ulrich, Red Cross operation manager for the earthquake, told AlertNet.
Â?These families are in a high-risk, high-vulnerable state. These rocks and boulders and vegetation, with the rain, could easily slip down and wipe out their villages,Â? he added.
During the day, the families tend to their fish farms, coming back to the camps at night for a safer place to sleep. However, the United Nations has expressed concerns about overcrowding at Sungai Batang camp which houses more than 700 people.
In its latest situation report, the United Nations said that up to eight people are living in four-person tents. According to generally accepted humanitarian standards on emergency shelter, each person should have 3.5 square metres of space - currently, two families are living in a tent of about 12 square metres, it said.
Ulrich said part of the problem is the lack of available land in the area, which makes it difficult to put up tents.
It is not only the communities living around Lake Maninjau that are bearing the brunt of landslides and mudslides.
In Paramancu, a village in the district around Padang, 76 people died when a huge mudslide engulfed them. Nearly 150 people were also killed in two other villages nearby, Red Cross said, adding that it was concerned over possible fresh landslides.
Â?I was I the field when the earthquake struck, I ran back to my village only to see a big hole where my house used to be,Â? Red Cross quoted Sudir from Paramancu as saying. Nine of his family members were killed.
Â?We have received some assistance from the Red Cross and some other national agencies. But there is no irrigation system for the rice paddy fields. I fear there will be no harvest. I just canÂ?t think anymore, my family is gone and I donÂ?t know what to do,Â? he said earlier this week.
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