Jakarta – Some 4,000 people who escaped a deadly quake on the Indonesian island of Sumatra earlier this week are refusing to return home despite assurances from seismologists, according to police reports.
Relief workers, meanwhile, finally got through to the last three villages cut off by landslides triggered by Monday's quake, which killed four people and damaged hundreds of homes in the remote highland region.
"The road was reopened this morning (Thursday) and relief workers are able to get through," local police chief Rudi Sumardiyanto told AFP in Panyabungan, bordering South and West Sumatra.
Sumardiyanto said while some residents who sought shelter in government buildings had returned home, a lot more were fearful of another quake and were staying put, despite assurances from seismologists that aftershocks would not cause a strong earthquake.
"There are some aftershocks. The locals are suffering from trauma. We will provide counselling and encourage about 4,000 people to return home and resume their normal daily activities," he said.
Seismologists said aftershocks were continuing, but were less frequent.
"There were 60 aftershocks after the quake, but that had fallen to 32 Wednesday," said Budiwaluyo, head of the earthquake information unit with the meteorology office headquarters.
"There is nothing to worry about. It is safe. Residents whose homes were not destroyed can return home," he told AFP.
The 5.7 magnitude quake damaged 860 homes in the mainly agricultural area with a population of about 10,000.
Sumardiyanto said the government would provide some 10 million rupiah (1,000 dollars) to families whose homes were badly damaged.
The Indonesian archipelago sits on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, where continental plates meet causing frequent seismic and volcanic activity.
Indonesia was the nation worst hit by the earthquake-triggered Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004, which killed some 168,000 people in Aceh province on the northern tip of Sumatra.
A 7.7 magnitude earthquake in July on the south coast of the main island of Java also killed more than 600 people.