Earthquake survivors: Aid is sporadic

Survivors just a few miles from aid distribution centres in Indonesia said today they’re still waiting for emergency food nearly a week after an earthquake shattered their homes.

The official death toll rose to more than 6,200 after new reports from remote villages.

A massive international aid effort has picked up pace in recent days and the region’s biggest city, Yogyakarta, has become the main aid dispersal point after the airport and main access roads were repaired and reopened.

But international relief teams had yet to reach some remote areas, and delivery was sporadic in others, villagers and officials said.

“I don’t know why no one has come yet,” said Jemingin, an elder of Topriatan township, where just a few homes were left standing after Saturday’s 6.3-magnitude quake.

“We’re not far from the city but it seems we’re being ignored.”

The village of 140 people – most of whom are now living under tarps to keep off tropical rain showers – is just nine miles from Yogyakarta but has received only one bag of rice from a private donor, he said.

They have been eating rice scrounged from the rubble as well as tapioca, papayas and other fruit that grow widely in the rich volcanic soil of Java island, where the temblor occurred.

“We’re going to run out. That is for sure. By tomorrow or Saturday, we will be hungry,” Jemingin, 46, said today.

Like many Indonesians, he uses just one name.

UN spokeswoman Amanda Pitt said aid was getting to most areas.

“Generally speaking, things are improving,” she said, adding when asked about survivor complaints: “If you’ve lost your house, its always a desperate situation.”

Aid workers have poured into the region, scrambling to provide adequate shelter, food and access to health care to the nearly 650,000 people local officials say were displaced by the earthquake.

Many villagers complained they were not getting the help they needed. Some searched beneath a steady rain for scraps of tin and other materials to rebuild crumbled homes, while others blocked traffic to beg for money.

“We are forced to do this because the only aid we’ve received is a bit of food and some cooking oil,” said Ribut Setyo Pambudi, 17, after stopping a bus. “We don’t have any money to rebuild, to buy petrol or even to go out to try to find work.”

Others placed flower pots and trash cans on streets to slow traffic and beg for donations.

The death toll rose to 6,234 after officials reported 388 more bodies in remote corners of Bantul, said Andi Hanindito, an official at the Social Affairs Ministry.

“We are getting information from areas that were previously inaccessible,” he said, adding that phone lines had been restored and many of the damaged roads and bridges repaired.

The temblor reduced more than 135,000 houses to piles of bricks, tiles and wood in less than a minute, said Bambang Priyohadi, a provincial official.

Many of the displaced are living under plastic sheets close to their former homes, in rice fields or on roadsides, their misery compounded by days of intermittent rain and blazing sun. Others are staying with relatives or friends.

“There are many who are hungry here,” said Warjono, sitting beneath a flimsy canvas tarp. Behind him, was a sign that read: “Wirokerten village desperately needs your help.”

“We got some government aid, but it wasn’t divided equally, and I got very little,” he said.

Health was also a pressing issue, with hospitals crowded with those hurt, most of the with broken bones or crush injuries.

The World Health Organisation today said more medical supplies were needed, but warned against shipping items that may not be needed and could ultimately lead to congestion and distribution hold-ups.

WHO is expected to release a list of needed supplies, such as bed sheets, mattresses and medical equipment, including sterile kits for surgeries, stitching materials and x-ray film.

Indonesia’s president, who moved his office immediately after the quake to the nearby city of Yogyakarta, said he had enough confidence in the relief efforts to return to the capital, Jakarta.

“Certainly, a lot more needs to be done,” said Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, but he noted that roads had been cleared, the Yogjakarta airport’s runway repaired and reopened, and electricity restored in some areas.

Several other foreign militaries are contributing to the relief effort. Japan announced today it was dispatching 140 troops to provide medical assistance, supplies and other humanitarian support.

They were expected to arrive by tomorrow.

Dozens of US Marines were providing care at a portable field hospital on a football field in the town of Sewon – the latest of several American relief missions in predominantly Muslim nations.

The US military also helped in Indonesia’s Aceh province after the 2004 tsunami and in Pakistan after last year’s devastating quake.