Thousands of kids homeless six months after Indonesia quake-tsunami
Thousands of children are living in makeshift shelters six months after a devastating earthquake and tsunami pounded the Indonesian city of Palu, aid agencies said Tuesday, as authorities wrestle with a “painfully slow” recovery.
The magnitude 7.5 quake and subsequent deluge razed swathes of the coastal town on Sulawesi island last September, killing more than 4,300 people, according to Indonesia’s national disaster agency.
At least 170,000 residents from Palu and surrounding districts are still displaced and entire neighbourhoods are still in ruins, despite life returning to normal in other areas of the city.
“Six months after this disaster we are extremely concerned about the estimated 6,000 children still living in temporary accommodation such as tents, as well as the thousands more that are living in homes that have been damaged,” said Tom Howells of Save the Children.
Salsa, 10, and her parents have lived in a tent with a dirt floor ever since the towering waves tore through their home in Donggala near the epicentre of the quake.
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