The China Mail - 'Another chance to live': Flores residents recall quake panic

Melania, 56, recounted how she prayed as she fought to get her family to safety.

"The four of us -- my husband, our two children, and I were on the bed," when the 7.7-magnitude rattler stuck just north of Flores island at around 5.30 am on Saturday.

"The bed almost flipped over. Tables and all the things on the tables and on top of the cupboards all fell and scattered everywhere," she said.

"We were panicking. When the shaking eased a little, we immediately pushed his bed and took him outside."

Her husband Basianus Cak was being treated on the hospital's third floor for a heart and lung condition and diabetes.

Melania said debris partly blocked the evacuation route, but they made their way out with the help of others.

"I just prayed: 'God, if you still give us the chance to live, please open a way for us'," she said.

"Thank God, he has given us another chance to live."

The epicentre of the shallow quake was just north of Flores island in eastern Indonesia.

The area hardest hit was Nagekeo, some 200 kilometres (124 miles) east of Ruteng.

About 2,000 Flores inhabitants evacuated as authorities issued an initial tsunami warning that was later lifted.

Many stayed outside overnight as dozens of aftershocks threatened to bring down compromised buildings.

- 'Things were falling everywhere' -

Dozens of patients were moved Saturday to tents erected outside the Ruteng hospital, many with their loved ones by their side.

Tonsianus Sambang was visiting his mother, being treated for a ruptured blood vessel in her brain, when the quake struck.

"So, we all started to panic; some people jumped out of windows, and some ran outside," the 31-year-old barber told AFP as he stroked his mother's leg under her hospital blanket.

"Things were falling everywhere, so our main priority at that moment was how to evacuate the patients and get them out of that room. The walls were collapsing, debris was falling, and objects were scattered across the floor."

Tonsianus said he was "very worried" about aftershocks and about his mother and other patients having to sleep outside.

He made an appeal to the government to bring medical supplies and other aid as quickly as possible.

The hospital also has to deal with an influx of people injured in the quake, like Yoktafiana Sinar whose house came down on top of her.

"The wound on my head is getting better, but my leg still hurts. It was broken when the house collapsed on me," the restaurant worker, 40, told AFP.

"It was at six in the morning. I was about to take a shower and get ready for work when the earthquake struck.

"My grandchild was outside, so I ran to save them. I shielded my grandchild under my stomach, and I was the one who was hit when the house collapsed," said Yoktafiana.

Emergency officials said nearly 160 houses, dozens of educational and health facilities and other public buildings were damaged when the earthquake struck the popular tourist island.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said preparations were underway to bring aid to some 2,000 people in temporary shelters.

The government sent 50,000 aid packages weighing a total of 275 tonnes to the area, and European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen offered help from the bloc's Copernicus Earth observation satellites.

Y.Parker--ThChM