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'Please tell people to help us'
28/05/2006 22:05 - (SA)
Bantul - Grieving quake survivors scavenged for food and clothes in the debris of their homes on Sunday, as the world promised to help Indonesia recover from the latest in a string of deadly natural disasters - offering millions of dollars in aid, food and medical supplies.
The death toll from the 6.3-magnitude quake, which has been followed by hundreds of aftershocks, has climbed to more than 4 600.
Thousands of injured were still being treated in hospitals overflowing with bloodied patients.
Torrential rain on Sunday added to the misery of the 200 000 people displaced, most of whom were living in makeshift shelters constructed from plastic, canvas and cardboard.
"So far no one from the government has shown any care for us," said Brojo Sukardi, from a village in hardest-hit Bantul district, where almost all houses have been pounded into piles of rubble, wood and tiles. "Please tell people to help us."
Poniran dug up his still-breathing daughter
Saturday's quake was the fourth destructive temblor to hit Indonesia in 17 months, including the monster that spawned the December 26, 2004, tsunami that killed 230 000 people, most of them in Indonesia.
Saturday's quake affected mostly farming communities to the south of the ancient city of Yogyakarta.
Power and telephone services were out across much of the region.
"I have to start my life from zero again," said Poniran, whose five-year-old daughter, Ellie, was killed in the quake.
Poniran dug up his still-breathing daughter from the rubble of her bedroom. She died in a hospital waiting for treatment.
"Her last words were 'Daddy, Daddy'," he said, as he paused from digging through his home to look for food.
Doctors struggled to care for the injured, hundreds of whom were lying on plastic sheets, straw mats and newspapers outside overcrowded hospitals, some hooked to intravenous drips dangling from trees.
Relief effort is slow
Relatives fanned victims in the heat of temporary shelters, set up in the parking lot and corridors of Yogyakarta's D. Sardjito Hospital
"We have too many patients and they're still arriving," said Aru, a doctor.
He said the hospital had received more than 2 000 people.
Some corpses were pulled from the rubble on Sunday, but villagers said there were few people or bodies trapped beneath collapsed houses, mostly simple brick and wood structures.
Idam Samawi, the district chief of Bantul, acknowledged the relief effort was slow.
"I regret the slow distribution of aid," he said. "Many government officials have no sensitivity to this, they work slowly under complicated bureaucracy while survivors are racing against death and disease."
The United Nations world food programme began distributing emergency food rations.
Countries across Asia and the world pledged millions of dollars, tons of supplies and hundreds of personnel. Indonesia said it would allocate $107m to help rebuild over the next year.
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