Powerful Quake Kills Over 3,000 In Indonesia

[Capt_Picard 0]

Powerful Quake Kills Over 3,000 In Indonesia

 

May 26, 2006

 

By Associated Press

 

YOGYAKARTA, INDONESIA - A powerful earthquake flattened homes and hotels in central Indonesia on Saturday as people slept, killing at least 3,000 and injuring thousands more in the nation's worst disaster since the 2004 tsunami.

 

The magnitude-6.2 quake struck at 5:54 a.m. near the ancient city of Yogyakarta, 250 miles east of the capital, Jakarta. Thousands of panicked residents fled into the streets, and some feared a tsunami would strike. Hospitals were overwhelmed with victims.

 

The quake's epicenter was 50 miles south of the rumbling Mount Merapi volcano, and activity increased soon after the temblor. A large burst spewed hot clouds and sent debris cascading some two miles down its western flank.

 

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

 

"It will influence the activities of Mount Merapi, particularly in the lava dome," said Dwiyanto, head of the ministry's geological division.

 

Anthony Guarino of the CalTech Seismological Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said Indonesia has the second-highest number of erupted volcanos in historic time, outside of Japan. It has the largest number of volcanos in world - 76.

 

Almost all people had already been evacuated away from the volcano's danger zone, and there were no reports of injuries as a result of the eruption.

 

Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanos and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.

 

Saturday's quake was centered about six miles below the surface, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

 

The strong quake knocked down houses, hotels, a hospital and government buildings, sending hysterical people running into the streets. Many roads and bridges were destroyed, hindering efforts to get taxis and pickup trucks filled with wounded to packed hospitals.

 

In the hardest-hit district of Bantul, rescuers tried to pull bodies from the rubble as residents started digging mass graves.

 

Rows of corpses awaited burial beneath a blazing sun, with village heads recording their names so they could be added to the official death toll.

 

Subarjo, a 70-year-old food vendor, sobbed next to his dead wife, his house destroyed.

 

"I couldn't help my wife ... I was trying to rescue my children, one with a broken leg, and then the house collapsed," he said. "I have to accept this as our destiny, as God's will."

 

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ordered the army to help evacuate victims and arrived in densely populated Central Java province Saturday afternoon with a team of Cabinet ministers to oversee rescue operations. He also told people not to fear a tsunami.

 

Sixteen hours after the quake struck, the number of dead stood at 3,068, Social Affairs Ministry official Sopar Jaya said, adding that two-thirds of the fatalities occurred in devastated Bantul.

 

"The numbers just keep rising," said Arifin Muhadi of the Indonesian Red Cross, adding that more than 3,400 people were hurt.

 

U.S. Embassy spokesman Max Kwak said he did not know of any American casualties, adding that the United States was donating $100,000 for search-and-rescue efforts and emergency care.

 

Yogyakarta is about 18 miles from the sea. In the chaos that followed the quake, false rumors of an impending tsunami sent thousands of people fleeing to higher ground in cars and on motorbikes.

 

The city is 1,390 miles southeast of Aceh province, where 131,000 people died in a December 2004 tsunami triggered by a 9.1-magnitude earthquake under the sea.

 

Civilians carried bloodied survivors, including children, into hospitals, sometimes jumping off flatbed trucks used in construction. Large cracks crisscrossed some roads, while others had collapsed.

 

The quake cut electricity and phone lines in some areas.

 

Doctors were coming into the region from other parts of the country. Japan also said it was sending a seven-person medical team, relief goods and financial aid, the Foreign Ministry said.

 

Neighboring Malaysia said it will send a 56-member search team, doctors and medical supplies, and the European Commission said it would release up to $3.8 million in emergency aid.

 

The World Food Program was sending in a plane carrying 2 tons of medicine and eight truckloads of fortified noodles and biscuits, agency spokeswoman Brenda Barton said in Rome.

 

The Italian government also prepared a plane loaded with 27 tons of tents, blankets, water purifiers, electric generators and other aid, the Foreign Ministry said.

 

UNICEF is sending 9,000 tarpaulins and 2,000 tents to shelter those left homeless, spokesman John Budd told CNN. The agency also is sending health kits and hygiene kits, he said.

 

Budd said a hospital and several health clinics had collapsed, and about 4,000 houses were destroyed.

 

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

 

Relatives read verses of the Quran to the injured.

 

"We need help here," said Kusmarwanto of Bantul Muhammadiyah Hospital, the closest hospital to the quake's epicenter, adding that his hospital alone had 39 bodies.

 

At nearby Dr. Sardjito Hospital, health officials tallied 60 dead, but more bodies were lined up in the hallway and some family members were taking them home before they could be added to the official toll.

 

"We have hundreds of injured people, our emergency care unit is overwhelmed," Heru Nugroho said.

 

The quake cracked the runway at the airport in Yogyakarta, closing it to aircraft until at least Sunday while inspections take place, Transport Minister Hatta Radjasa said.

 

The city is home to the 7th century Borobudur Buddhist temple, one of the world's largest. Officials did not immediately know if it was affected in the quake.

 

Nearby Prambanan, a spectacular Hindu temple to the southeast, suffered some damage but it was not immediately clear how much.

Edited May 28, 2006 by Capt_Picard

[MANVERU 0]

That region hasn't had the best of luck in the past.

 

Poor buggers

[Kor37 9]

Indonesia must have done something to piss God off because its unbelievable how much those people have had to endure in recent years.

[Capt_Picard 0]

Update...

Quake Survivors Scavenge For Food As Death Toll Rises

 

May 28, 2006

 

By Associated Press

 

BANTUL, INDONESIA - Tens of thousands camped out for a second night Sunday in streets, cassava fields and the paths between rice paddies as the death toll from Indonesia's earthquake topped 4,300.

 

Rattled by hundreds of aftershocks, exhausted and grieving survivors scavenged for food and clothes in the brick, wood and tile rubble of their flattened houses. They pleaded for aid, which - despite worldwide pledges of millions of dollars and planes carrying medicine and food - seemed to be coming too slow.

 

Torrential rain late Sunday added to the misery of some 200,000 people left homeless by Saturday's 6.3-magnitude quake, most of them living in makeshift shelters of plastic, canvas or cardboard. Thousands of wounded awaited treatment in hospitals overflowing with bloodied patients.

 

"So far no one from the government has shown any care for us," said villager Brojo Sukardi. "Please tell people to help us."

 

The quake on the island of Java was the fourth destructive temblor to hit Indonesia in the last 17 months, including the one that spawned the Dec. 26, 2004, tsunami that killed 230,000 people across Asia, most of them on this Indian Ocean archipelago.

 

The country also is coping with the bird flu crisis, Islamic militant terror attacks, and the threat of eruption from Mount Merapi. The quake not only raised activity at the rumbling volcano but also damaged the 9th-century Prambanan temple, a U.N. world heritage site.

 

The disaster zone covered hundreds of square miles of mostly farming communities to the south of the ancient city of Yogyakarta. Power and telephone service was out Sunday across much of the region. As many as 450 aftershocks followed, the strongest a magnitude 5.2.

 

The worst devastation was in the Bantul district, which accounted for three-quarters of the deaths. One man dug his 5-year-old daughter out of the rubble of her bedroom only to have her die in a hospital awaiting treatment with hundreds of others.

 

"Her last words were 'Daddy, Daddy,"' said Poniran, who like many Indonesians uses only one name.

 

"I have to start my life from zero again."

 

In Peni, a hamlet on Bantul's southern outskirts, 20 residents searched for a neighbor after finding the bodies of his wife and three children. Villagers set up simple clinics despite shortages in medicine and equipment. Women cooked catfish from a nearby pond for dozens of people huddled under a large tent.

 

The U.N. World Food Program started distributing emergency food rations Sunday, with three trucks bringing high-energy biscuits to some of the worst-hit districts and two Singapore military cargo planes landing with doctors and medical supplies.

 

"I regret the slow distribution of aid," Idam Samawi, the Bantul district chief, told The Associated Press.

 

"Many government officials have no sensitivity to this. They work slowly under complicated bureaucracy, while survivors are racing against death and disease."

 

At least 4,332 people were killed, according to government figures, and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent said at least 200,000 people were left homeless. Most of the dead were buried within hours of the disaster, in line with Islamic tradition.

 

The earthquake hit at 5:54 a.m. as most people slept, 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's epicenter was 50 miles south of the volcano, and activity increased soon after the temblor. A large burst spewed hot clouds and sent debris cascading some two miles down its western flank. No one was injured because nearby residents had been evacuated.

 

Officials said the famed 7th-century Borobudur Buddhist temple, one of Indonesia's famed tourist attractions, was not affected. But Prambanan, a spectacular Hindu temple to the southeast, suffered serious damage, with hundreds of stone carvings and blocks scattered around the ancient site.

 

It will be closed until archeologists can determine whether the foundation was damaged, Agus Waluyo, head of the Yogyakarta Archaeological Conservation Agency, said Sunday. Close to 1 million tourists visit the Borobudur and Prambanan temples every year.

 

International agencies and nations across Europe and Asia pledged millions of dollars in aid and prepared shipments of tents, blankets, generators, water purification equipment and other supplies. The United States promised $2.5 million in emergency aid; the European Union granted $3.8 million. Indonesia said late Sunday it would allocate $107 million to help rebuild over the next year.

 

Indonesia, the world's largest island chain, is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the so-called "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanos and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin. It has 76 volcanos, the largest number in the world.

[Odie 0]

Indonesia must have done something to piss God off because its unbelievable how much those people have had to endure in recent years.

 

I really do not believe God had anything to do with the earthquake. They are simple people who are just trying to make something out of their lives. In addition, they are also very religious. They are either Muslim or Christian, with the highest Muslim population on the planet. Muslims worship the same God that we do. They pray to God five times a day.

 

They live in high tectonic plate activity. It is unfortunate that they live in that area, but this happen in the past and will continue to happen in the future. Saying God is pissed at them will not change that there will be more earthquakes in the future, and that fact will not change.

 

My prayers will be with the families.

Edited May 29, 2006 by Odie

[MANVERU 0]

Indonesia must have done something to piss God off because its unbelievable how much those people have had to endure in recent years.

 

Or in there case...

 

Allah

 

 

 

 

 

B)

 

 

 

 

bah, it's all the same.

 

 

Wait a sec, aren't alot of people in Indonesia Hindu's?

or have their own native religion?