Quake toll climbs over 1000

May 27, 2006
MORE than 1000 people were known to have died in an earthquake that shook the area around Indonesia's ancient royal city of Yogyakarta early today, a government official and state media said.

The Antara news agency quoted Yogyakarta's police chief as giving a total death toll of over 1400. Meanwhile Kinta, an official from the Social Ministry, told Elshinta news radio: "For the time being we recorded the total as 1325 people."

She said the figure did not include people still buried or trapped under rubble of collapsed buildings.

Yogyakarta is on Indonesia's main island of Java and near Mount Merapi, a volcano that has been on top alert for a major eruption this month.

A vulcanologist in Yogyakarta said the quake was not caused by the volcano, but Merapi's activity increased after the shock.

"After the earthquake there were more clouds coming out of the crater," Subandrio, head of the Merapi section at the Centre for Vulcanological Research and Technology Department, said.

The epicentre of the quake – which struck just before 6 a.m. (9am AEST) with a magnitude of 6.2, according to the U.S. Geological Survey – was offshore. Jakarta earthquake centre official Fauzi said there was no tsunami.

Yogyakarta is about 25km north of the Indian Ocean coast and 440km east of Jakarta.

Hospital officials said the dead had generally suffered head injuries and broken bones from collapsing buildings.

"Most of them have wounds on their heads. The flow is not going down. The numbers are going to escalate," Subandi from the Bethesda hospital morgue in Yogyakarta said by telephone.

Witnesses said thousands of houses had collapsed in the quake. Office and government buildings were also in ruins.

Hospital patients had been moved outside due to fears of aftershocks. One Yogyakarta hospital alone said it was treating 1500 people injured by the quake.

Yogyakarta's airport was closed with a damaged runway, transportation minister Hatta Rajasa told local radio. Access to the city by road was difficult.

Thousands of residents were taking refuge in Yogyakarta's main square while others sheltered in the compounds of scores of mosques, churches and hospitals throughout the region.

"We're still afraid. We don't want to go home," said Hendra, one of hundreds who took refuge at Yogyakarta's Marganingsih Catholic Church.

Jakarta earthquake centre official Fauzi put the quake's strength at 5.8 and said the epicentre was in the sea about 50km south of Yogyakarta at a depth of 33km.

There was widespread panic in Bantul, where at least 10 people were killed and hundreds hurt, and a desperate need for more doctors and nurses to treat the injured, said Kardi, the information officer for the hospital there.

A witness in Yogyakarta said many people there had fled their homes while thousands from areas near the city were trying to get into it to take refuge, many fearing a tsunami.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who planned to visit the area today to survey the damage, said:

"I heard there has been panic among residents in Yogyakarta due to innacurate information such as a tsunami ... therefore I call on the regional government to continue giving accurate information,"

Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari said medical teams had been sent to the hardest-hit areas where a shortage of doctors and medicines were reported.

"This is very serious ... medical teams are on their way to the south where they need it most," Supari told El Shinta radio.

Yogyakarta's royal palaces and the nearby Borobudur temple complex are prime attractions for domestic and foreign tourists, and many foreigners study the Indonesian language at schools in the city which offer intensive courses.

Indonesia sits on the Asia-Pacific's so-called "Ring of Fire" marked by heavy volcanic and tectonic activity.

Vulcanologist Subandrio said the hot, dense gas clouds, which local residents call "shaggy goats", coming out of Mount Merapi after the quake stretched 4km down the mountainside. They reached 6km before Merapi's last major eruption.

Source; The Australian News

Earth Quakes, In my country 85000+ people died last year. Thanks God my family is safe.
I've read somewhere that earthquakes will be happening more oftenly, coming years.

The latest News report says that more than 3,000 have now died in the Indonesian earthquake. I think that the statistics show that earthquakes are on the increase.

Thailand unaffected by Saturday's quake in Indonesia

BANGKOK, May 27 (TNA) - A strong earthquake which rocked southern Java in Indonesia early Saturday morning has no effect to Thailand, the Meteorological Department has confirmed.

The department issued a statement assuring the Thai public that the latest earthquake in neighbouring Indonesia would not trigger a feared tsunami.

However, nearly 3,000 people reportedly died from the earthquake, measuring 6.2 on the Richter Scale, while more than 1,000 were injured.

One Thai woman was reportedly slightly injured from the quake.

The tremor, located at the 8.2 latitude and 110.53 longtitude, also caused a widespread damage, the department reported.

A massive earthquake measuring 8.9 on the Richter Scale which hit Indonesia's Aceh province in December 2004 led to a tsunami ravaging several countries in Asia and Africa, including southern Thailand, resulting in hundreds of thousands of casualties.

TNA
May 27, 2006