Maria Florida Nogo Kelen underwent an emergency cesarean section as tremors toppled buildings around her. Doctors operated by flashlight, and the baby survived weighing just 1.3 kilograms.
As the ground shook around her, causing homes, buildings, and bridges to collapse in eastern Indonesia, Maria Florida Nogo Kelen gave birth to her daughter. The 39-year-old woman underwent an emergency cesarean section as a 7.7-magnitude earthquake and a series of aftershocks struck the East Nusa Tenggara region, marking the country's most severe natural disaster since 2022.
Despite the trembling ground and her deteriorating health, she managed to deliver her fourth child, a baby girl named Gempita, after the Indonesian word for earthquake, "Gempa." The birth occurred two months before the expected due date, due to a complicated pregnancy that endangered both mother and child.
Doctors had to operate using flashlights during intermittent power outages, while the hospital building shook violently. According to gynecologist Yona Sare Pardede, delaying the delivery could have been fatal, as Maria risked a deadly epileptic seizure.
"We had no choice. As humans, we were afraid... The operation was difficult because the baby was very small. I prayed to God: 'Please help us. We don't even have a ventilator,'" Pardede said.
Maria, who lives in the Nagekeo area, near the earthquake's epicenter, said she wasn't afraid during the operation because she had to stay healthy for her children.
Gempita was born during the aftershocks, weighing just 1.3 kilograms. The baby has remained stable in an incubator placed on the grass inside an outdoor tent, while the sun blazed down on the Nagekeo area.
Maria, who suffered bleeding after delivery, expressed gratitude for surviving. "I was very grateful to the doctors. Even when the room collapsed, they didn't abandon us," she said.
