"We have not yet found severe damage, however, for the time-being we have calculated one billion rupiah in losses, which could become more," the West Aceh BPBD acting chief, Teuku Ahmad Dadek, said.
Banda Aceh (ANTARA News) - The Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) has said the West Aceh district administration suffered of one billion rupiah in damages after being hit by an earthquake measuring 8.5 on the Richter Scale on Wednesday (April 11).

"We have not yet found severe damage, however, for the time-being we have calculated one billion rupiah in losses, which could become more," the West Aceh BPBD acting chief, Teuku Ahmad Dadek, said in Meulaboh on Thursday.

Further, the West Aceh district administration, Dadek said, has begun checking a number of areas in which public facilities, such as bridges, were damaged.

According to Dadek, the estimated one billion rupiah loss was only assessed from the construction damage of the Cot Malaka bridge in Bubon sub-district that connects the Meulaboh-Banda Aceh road.

In the meantime, the National Agency for Disaster Management (BNPB) said five people have been found dead, while another remains in critical condition, due to injuries sustained during the earthquakes in Aceh on Wednesday afternoon.

"Five of them were reported to have died of heart attacks or shock after the quake," BNPB`s head of data and information, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, said here on Thursday.

He added that another person remains in critical condition after being struck by a falling tree following the quake.

The dead victims were Yatim Kulman (70) from Banda Aceh, a 39 year-old man whose identity was not yet known from Lhokseumawe, Fauziah (60) and M Yusuf (70), who died from shock, from Aceh Besar, and Hatijah Hamid (70) from West Aceh.

The resident who remains in critical condition is reportedly a child from Aceh Singkil whose identity has not yet been disclosed.

"Six people, meanwhile, have been injured, including four victims from Simeulue and two from Aceh Singkil," Nugroho said.

He noted that his office continues collecting information about other possible victims or damage.

Nugroho said most people in Aceh, North Sumatra, West Sumatra and Bengkulu have since returned to their daily activities.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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