Maumere – More than a month after the earthquake that struck the island of Flores on 15 August 2026 , the emergency is not yet over. Tremors continue, albeit with less intensity, and many families are still spending the night in tents for fear of returning to their homes.
In the Manggarai region, one of the areas hardest hit, the Camillian Missionaries have reached around twenty villages, distributing food parcels to some 400 families and 100 tents to people who have lost or been forced to abandon their homes. “Our initial response focused above all on the most vulnerable families, particularly children and the elderly,” Father Luigi Galvani, MI, a missionary on the island of Kupang, told Fides.
The focus is now turning to reconstruction. “The emergency is far from over now that the initial relief efforts have ended,” the religious priest stressed. The Camillians intend to help around thirty families build homes that are simple but safer than tents and makeshift huts. The project envisages the construction of thirty houses, measuring approximately 3 by 5 metres or 4 by 6 metres, using bricks, cement, sand and metal sheets for the roofs.
Schools, too, continue to suffer the consequences of the earthquake: numerous institutions remain closed, while in some villages tents have been turned into temporary classrooms. In Ruteng, the hardest-hit area, the hospital has been declared unsafe, and patients and the injured are being cared for in a temporary facility set up with tents.
“The path to reconstruction will be long and demanding,” Father Galvani observed. Nevertheless, he added, “the people of Flores continue to look ahead with the strength of their faith and their trust in the solidarity” of those who wish to share in their suffering.
The Camillian Missionaries intend to remain alongside the affected families, supporting them in rebuilding their homes and community life. “Every brick donated, every tent, every food parcel, every gesture of solidarity,” Father Galvani concluded, can help make possible “a new miracle of missionary charity”.
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