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Help slow to arrive say victims
Victims of the Indonesian earthquake say that help is slow to arrive and that district officials have yet to visit some of the effected areas.
- Agencies
- Published: 00:00 May 28, 2006
Yogyakarta, Indonesia: Victims of the Indonesian earthquake say that help is slow to arrive and that district officials have yet to visit some of the effected areas.
Desperate and frustrated, survivors are wondering around homeless, without food and supplies. Many have resorted to camping in front of government offices while waiting for officials to appear. So far many have had to rely on the goodwill of neighbouring families to get by.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies stated on its website that the magnitude 6.2 quake had left around 200,000 people homeless and killed more than 3,800 after it struck around the central Java city of Yogyakarta shortly before 6am (2300 GMT) on Saturday.
Many were buried under the rubble of their homes, while those who survived fled to higher ground fearing a repeat of the 2004 tsunami.
Britain said it had immediately made available 3 million pounds ($5.6 million) for the United Nations and its agencies, while a Pentagon spokeswoman said the Defense Department was ready to join any coordinated government assistance effort for Indonesia.
Today two more quakes of similar strength to the one which shook Indonesia rocked the South Pacific nations of Papua New Guinea and Tonga within 15 minutes of each other. Fortunately, there have been no reports of deaths or subsequent tsunamis.
Experts have linked all the activity to the Pacific's volatile "Ring of Fire", an area stretching along the western coast of the Americas, through the island nations of the South Pacific and on through Southeast Asia. Within this area is a series of fault lines, or weaknesses, in the Earth's crust.
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