REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA – The 8.5 SR earthquake striking Nangroe Aceh Darussalam yesterday made a 50-meter-deep hole in Banda Aceh prison. “There are some damages in Banda Aceh Prison in class 2a. The wall is broken by 50 meters,” Agung Pambudhy, a photographer from Jakarta who visited Aceh, said.
The warden in Jaya Lambaro Prison, Banda Aceh let the prisoner out of the jail to save themselves in the field.
“When the first quake happened, they still stayed in the jail. After the following quake and early warning of tsunami, the warden decided to take them out to the field,” the spokesman of Aceh Police Department, Gustav Leo, said on Wednesday. On the evacuation, no one got away.
Meanwhile, 53 prisoners in Sigli have not yet come back after the evacuation. The officers asked the police help to capture the escaped prisoners.
The incident happened when the quake made the prisoners panic. Sigli prison is located near the beach. After the early warning, the officers and the prisoners saved themselves.
About 221 prisoners went out for shelter. It was only a few minutes before the officers asked the prisoners to come back. Yet, some of them could escape. “After we count them, it is minus 60 prisoners,” the Head Division of Social in Aceh Local Department of Justice and Human Rights, Jauhar Fardin, said.