Quake survivors plead for help

Thousands of exhausted and grieving survivors dug through their crumpled homes today searching for clothes, food and valuables after a powerful earthquake hit central Indonesia, killing more than 3,700.

The magnitude-6.3 quake struck early on Saturday and injured thousands more in the heart of densely populated Java island, in the country’s worst disaster since the 2004 tsunami. It also triggered fears that a nearby rumbling volcano would erupt and caused serious damage to the world-famous 9th century Prambanan temple.

The disaster zone stretched across hundreds of square miles of mostly farming communities in Yogyakarta province. The worst devastation was in the town of Bantul, where more than 2,400 people were killed and 80% of the homes were flattened.

“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, but she died in a hospital awaiting treatment along with hundreds of others.

Tens of thousands of people spent Saturday night sleeping in any open space available – on streets, in fields, even on the narrow paths between rice fields. Power and telephone service was out across much of the region, adding to the terror of aftershocks.

About 450 aftershocks had shaken the region as of midday today, with the strongest measuring magnitude 5.2, said an official at the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency.

Survivors searched the ruins of their homes for anything still usable and complained that they hadn’t received any aid.

“We’re short of everything – clothes, food, water, all are gone. We are poor people, but our lives still matter,” said Budi Wiyana, 63, whose house was destroyed.

Doctors struggled to care for the injured, hundreds of whom were lying on plastic sheets, straw mats and even newspapers outside overcrowded hospitals, some hooked to intravenous drips dangling from trees.

Bloodstains littered the floor at Yogyakarta’s Dr Sardjito Hospital, along with piles of soiled bandages and used medical supplies.

Relatives fanned victims in the heat in temporary shelters set up in the car park and corridors.

“We have too many patients and they’re still arriving,” said Aru, a doctor, adding that the hospital had received more than 2,000 patients.

The earthquake hit at 5:54 a.m., caving in tile roofs and sending walls crashing down. Survivors screamed as they ran from their homes, some clutching bloodied children and the elderly.

The quake was the latest in a series of disasters to hit Indonesia – including the 2004 tsunami that ravaged Aceh province, terrorist attacks, a widening bird flu outbreak and the threat of eruption from nearby Mount Merapi.

Bambang Dwiyanto of the Energy and Mineral Ministry could not say whether the quake caused the volcanic activity afterwards but warned that it could trigger a larger eruption.

International agencies and other nations pledged millions of dollars of aid.

At least 3,765 people were killed in the quake, said command post officials from the affected districts. The only foreigner reported killed or injured was a man from the Netherlands.