Shattered and homeless

Bantul: Grieving quake survivors scavenged for food in the debris of their houses yesterday and pleaded for aid, as the world promised to help Indonesia recover from the latest in a string of deadly natural disasters.

The Indonesian government declared a state of emergency yesterday and pledged to complete "reconstruction and rehabilitation" within a year in the quake-hit region.

By nightfall, the death toll from the 6.3 quake had reached more than 4,600, officials said. Thousands of injured were still being treated in hospitals overflowing with bloodied patients and piles of debris.

Torrential rain that fell late yesterday added to the misery of about 200,000 people displaced, most of whom were living in makeshift shelters constructed from plastic, canvas or even cardboard.

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"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." 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.

"I have to start my life from zero again," said Poniran, whose 5-year-old daughter Ellie was killed in the quake. Poniran dug up his still-breathing daughter from the rubble of her bedroom, but she died in a hospital awaiting treatment along with hundred others.

"Her last words were 'Daddy, Daddy'," he said, as he paused from digging through his home to look for food and valuables. Idam Samawi, the district chief of Bantul, acknowledged the relief effort was slow. "I regret the slow distribution of aid," he said. "Many government officials have no sensitivity to this, they work slowly under complicated bureaucracy while survivors are racing against death and disease."

The UN World Food Programme started distributing food rations, with three trucks bringing high-energy biscuits to some of the worst-hit districts and two Singapore military cargo planes arriving with doctors and medical supplies. Countries across Asia and the world pledged millions of dollars, tonnes of supplies and hundreds of personnel Private aid groups and the UN were also mobilising to get staff and supplies into Indonesia.