Jakarta (VNA) – Some 6,000 children are still living in makeshiftshelters six months after a devastating earthquake and tsunami hit Indonesia’sPalu city.

Atleast 170,000 residents from Palu and surrounding districts are still displaced,and entire neighbourhoods are still in ruins, although life has returned tonormal in other areas of the city.

Monsoon rains have fanned outbreaks of malaria and dengue fever while residentsin hard-hit areas have been forced to navigate open sewers and mounds of sharprubble.

Inaddition, the force of the 7.5 magnitude quake saw entire neighbourhoodsleveled by liquefaction. The Red Cross said recovery has been painfully low andoften complex.

Apart from thedamage to tens of thousands of buildings, the disaster destroyed fishing boats,shops and irrigation systems, robbing residents of their income.       
               
According to Christophe Bahuet, the UN development agency’s Indonesiarepresentative, people in the affected areas need a regular source of income tosustain themselves and regain a sense of normalcy.

The severe earthquake and subsequent deluge razed swathes of the coastal cityon Sulawesi province on September 28 last year, killing more than 4,300 people,injuring 11,000 others and driving 83,000 from their home. Damage bill in Palutopped 900 million USD.

Indonesia is one of the most disaster-prone nations on Earth due to itsposition straddling the Pacific Ring of Fire where tectonic plates collide. Lastyear was a particularly tough, however, with more than 2,500 disasters rangingfrom a series of deadly earthquakes on Lombok island to landslides and volcaniceruptions.-VNA