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An epidemic of malaria has infected at least 137 people in western Indonesia, in Lombok, after a series of earthquakes in recent months, a Sunday official said.
Earthquakes and aftershocks since July have killed about 500 people and forced hundreds of thousands of people into evacuation shelters or tents.
As a result, the number of malaria cases is twice as high as at the same time last year, prompting the West Lombok government to declare a health emergency.
Among the 137 infected people are babies and pregnant women.
The government has taken measures to prevent the spread of the disease, for example by taking blood samples, distributing mosquito nets and fogging.
Amaq Aniyah, 65, was diagnosed with malaria after a week of illness.
His house was destroyed by an earthquake measuring 6.9 at the beginning of August and since then he has been living in a tent. The paramedics gave him a mosquito net.
"Ideally, we should give nets to everyone, but as we have only a few, we have to be selective," said Farlin Ambulance, who, as many 39, Indonesians, only one.
The head of Lombok-West regency, Fauzan Halid, told AFP that they had only 3,000 mosquito nets, but needed about 10,000.
The declaration of a health emergency will enable West Lombok to obtain 3.4 billion rupees ($ 230,000) from the provincial and central government to help with the crisis.
The rainy season in Indonesia is expected to begin next month, raising fears that mosquitoes with malaria will breed in stagnant waters.
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