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Rescuers race against time
28/05/2006 17:41 - (SA)
Bantul - Rescue workers dug desperately through rubble on Sunday for survivors of Indonesia's earthquake as weeping relatives buried victims of the disaster which killed more than 4 600 people.
Thousands of troops and emergency rescue teams joined volunteers who clawed at debris with their bare hands at the scene of Saturday's quake in Central Java, but power blackouts and heavy rain at dusk hampered efforts.
In hard-hit Bantul district south of the provincial capital Yogyakarta, the stench of bodies filled the air as soldiers used a backhoe to dig through the rubble in one neighbourhood that was completely levelled by the temblor.
The top priority in the flattened district was to "evacuate victims still trapped in the rubble, using heavy equipment", said a provincial health official.
Bodies were still being pulled from the wreckage of homes as grieving families hurriedly buried their dead in makeshift graves in simple ceremonies as they read verses from the Qur'an.
Indonesia appealed for foreign aid as hospitals struggled to cope with thousands of injured, many of whom spent the night outside.
Relief workers rushed food and medical supplies to some of the 200 000 people left homeless.
The lack of adequate shelter, combined with heavy rain, set the stage for a grim second night in the open air for many displaced by the quake.
More than 470 aftershocks shook parts of Java, further terrifying residents who were afraid to return to their homes.
Adding to the fear, Mount Merapi - a volcano north of the quake's epicentre - continued to simmer after weeks of spewing lava and heat clouds that saw 20 000 people evacuated from their homes amid a major eruption alert.
The quake was Indonesia's third major disaster in 18 months, following the 2004 Asian tsunami catastrophe which killed 168 000 in Sumatra and another quake that killed more than 600 people in Nias in March last year.
- AFP
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