BANTUL, Indonesia (AP):
GRIEVING QUAKE survivors scavenged for food and clothes in the debris of their houses yesterday, 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, climbed to more than 4,600 and thousands of injured were still being treated in hospitals overflowing with bloodied patients.
Torrential rain that fell late yesterday added to the misery of the some 200,000 people displaced, most of whom were living in makeshift shelters constructed from plastic, canvas or even cardboard.
"So far no one from the government has shown any care for us," said Brojo Sukardi in a village in hardest-hit Bantul district where almost all houses had been pounded into piles of rubble, wood and tiles. "Please tell people to help us."
Saturday's quake was the fourth destructive temblor to hit Indonesia in the last 17 months, including the monster that spawned the December 26, 2004, Asian tsunami that killed 230,000 people, most of them in Indonesia.
The country is also battling a spiralling human bird flu case load, a spate of terror attacks by al-Qaida linked Islamic militants and the threat of eruption from Mount Merapi, just north of the quake zone.
In addition to raising activity at the rumbling volcano, the temblor caused serious damage to the 9th century Prambanan temple, a United Nations world heritage site.
The area affected by Saturday's quake stretched across hundreds of square kilometres of mostly farming communities to the south of the ancient city of Yogyakarta. Power and telephone service was out across much of the region.
The U.N. World Food Programme started distributing emergency food rations, with three trucks bringing high-energy biscuits to some of the worst-hit districts and two Singapore military cargo planes arriving at Yogyakarta airport with doctors and medical supplies.
Countries across Asia and the world pledged millions of dollars, tons of supplies and hundreds of personnel - and Indonesia said late yesterday it would allocate US$107 million to help rebuild over the next year.
