2009-03-09
Emergency Relief for Earthquake in Manokwari, West Papua province, Indonesia

An earthquake, measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale, struck on Jan. 4th '09 at 04:43:51 local time with an epicenter 150 kilometers west-northwest of Manokwari and about 170 km east-northeast of Sorong in Indonesia's West Papua province. Immediately after the earthquake, disconnected electric wires caused blackouts. The runway of Manokwari's Rendani airport was cracked resulting in the cancelation of commercial flights. Death toll from this earthquake was four people. Although the number of death toll was not so big considering the scale of earthquake, a lot of people were injured due to collapsed buildings.

AMDA Indonesia in collaboration with Hasanuddin University decided to dispatch the emergency medical mission including two surgeons, one internist, one anesthesiologist, two nurses. The team conducted medical relief activities for fifteen days from Jan. 4th to Jan. 19th '09. During the relief activities, the team faced difficulties in reaching the victims because of the destroyed roads. They used the Indonesian navy boats to go through the sea and jeeps to pass dirt road. 115 patients were examined in total and twenty surgeries were performed; three broken leg, two elbow fracture, one head injury, six femur fracture, five cruris fracture and three radial fracture. (Reported by Dr. Husni Tanra, AMDA Indonesia chairperson)

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