Indonesia: Aid Flow Begins for Java Victims as Death Toll Reaches 5427

Summary: Emergency aid has begun to reach survivors of Saturday's earthquake in Indonesia, after many people spent a third night without shelter.

Donations from around the world are being unloaded into warehouses, and the emphasis is on getting them to remote villages, especially supplies of tents.

The death toll in the 6.3 magnitude earthquake which hit near the city of Yogyakarta has reached at least 5,427. More than 20,000 people were injured in the quake and 200,000 left homeless. More bodies are thought to be trapped under debris, but rescuers say the odds of finding survivors are slim.

Heavy rain

The BBC's Rachel Harvey in Yogyakarta says the skies over the city were filled with the welcome sound of aircraft on Tuesday morning. Yogyakarta airport has reopened to commercial airliners and the UN has set up its co-ordination centre close to the airport to bring order to the flow of goods.

A 40-strong medical team from China has also arrived by plane just north of Yogyakarta province with five tonnes of medical supplies.

The UN's World Food Programme is hoping to fly in 40 tonnes of supplies on Tuesday, including tents, blankets, water treatment units and generators.

But Paulette Song of the aid agency Oxfam told the BBC heavy rain was hampering access to some of the more remote areas. She also said many people in Yogyakarta were choosing to remain outside rather than return to their homes.

Begging

The Indonesian government has promised an initial 12kg of rice per family, 200,000 rupiah ($21) for each survivor to cover clothing and household goods, and compensation for damaged houses.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono also warned he would not tolerate corruption with aid money, saying: "Don't misappropriate one dollar." After visiting affected areas, the president added: "We have to improve co-ordination... I saw in many areas that there are many things that need to be speeded up."

Many areas are still struggling to see aid deliveries and hospitals in the region have been overwhelmed by the injured.

In some areas outside Yogyakarta people could be seen begging for aid from passing motorists. "If we don't, how do we get money?" asked one teenager in Klaten district north-east of the city.

One survivor, Wawan, told Agence France-Presse news agency the three packets of instant noodles the government had given each family was "not enough".

The BBC's Barbara Plett in the badly affected area of Bantul says tents are yet to arrive but that some donated sheets, towels and food were being distributed. A local official told her 600,000 of the 800,000 people in the district needed assistance.

Some 22 countries have given or promised aid to Indonesia. Japan, the UK and Saudi Arabia are among countries each offering several million dollars worth of aid. Other countries have sent rescue and medical teams to help treat the injured.

The UN's top relief co-ordinator, Jan Egeland, told the BBC the task was "enormous" but expected aid to be quicker than for the 2004 tsunami disaster.

Further information

pdf: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/5028500.stm

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