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'I was scared when quake hit'
30/05/2006 08:03 - (SA)
Yogyakarta - International
relief efforts picked up on Tuesday for survivors of a weekend
earthquake that killed more than 5 000 people on Indonesia's
Java island, with over a score of countries now involved.
Planes carrying vital supplies from abroad reached the
stricken region, while the airport at the ancient royal capital
of Yogyakarta re-opened to commercial traffic despite a heavily
damaged terminal.
But serious problems remained on Tuesday.
While the patient load had subsided at hospitals in
Yogyakarta, the main city in the affected region, corridors
were still crowded with patients, some lying on the floor.
Relatives fanned them with pieces of cardboard to keep them
cool in the stale, unpleasant air.
Suparjinah, holding her four-week-old unnamed baby daughter
while waiting for the baby's injuries to be checked, said the
girl had been struck by debris when the family's house fell in
as the 6.3 magnitude quake struck just after dawn on Saturday.
"I'm very traumatised and shocked. I was scared when the
earthquake happened. My house collapsed and my neighbour died,"
she said.
The quake's official death toll had reached 5 427 as of
Tuesday morning, according to the government's Social Affairs
Department, and it had left more than 130 000 homeless by one
estimate, many without shelter and short of food.
In one example of the effort being made to deal with the
crisis, a plane carrying a 40-member Chinese medical team as
well as five tonnes of medical supplies landed early on Tuesday
at Solo, some 60 km (40 miles) north of Yogyakarta province,
Xinhua news agency reported.
Government and aid groups say shelter and clean water are
key. The United Nations is shipping three 100-bed field
hospitals, tents, medical supplies and generators this week,
and UN officials say more than 22 countries have now
responded to Indonesia's call for help with aid or pledges of
assistance.
The tremor early on Saturday was centred just off the
Indian Ocean coast near Yogyakarta, the former Javanese royal
capital.
President warns against graft
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who moved
his office temporarily to Yogyakarta, vowed late on Monday all
relief funds would be spent on quake victims and said he had
warned government officials against pocketing aid themselves.
"I have asked (officials), and this has been implemented,
that we must maintain transparency and accountability. Don't
misappropriate one dollar ..." he told reporters in Yogyakarta.
Indonesia is notorious for endemic corruption.
Vice-president Jusuf Kalla has said survivors would be
given 200 000 rupiah ($21) each for clothes and household
items, while families would get 12kg of rice. People
will also be compensated for damaged homes.
Up to 35 000 homes and buildings in and around Yogyakarta
were reduced to rubble.
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