At least 200 killed, many injured after strong quake
rocks Java
27 May 2006 1049 hrs (SST) 0249 hrs (GMT)
YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia : At least 200 people were killed and
thousands injured when a strong earthquake rocked the
densely-populated southern coast of Indonesia's Central Java on
Saturday, hospitals said.
Hospital officials in the densely-populated city of Yogyakarta
warned that the number would inevitably rise as more dead were
found in the wreckage of collapsed buildings.
"We expect there will be more," Dwi Winarno, an official at the
state-run Sardjito hospital Yogyakarta, around 400 kilometres east
of Jakarta, told AFP.
The 6.2-magnitude quake struck early in the morning near to
simmering Mount Merapi, but seismologists said the quake would not
increase the likelihood of the volcano erupting.
Many houses and buildings collapsed and tremors were felt in
various cities as well as on the north coast of the island.
Hundreds of people were rushed to hospital.
The quake also forced the closure of Adisucipto airport in
Yogyakarta, Detikcom news portal said.
The airport was badly damaged, with the roof of an airport section
collapsing and at least one person trapped, Metro TV
reported.
It showed workers trying to release a person trapped in the rubble
of the building.
It was not known if the person was still alive.
Flights have been diverted to the nearby city of Solo.
Meteorologists said the quake measured 5.9 on the Richter scale,
but both US and Hong Kong monitors registered it at 6.2.
Yogyakarta province police chief Bambang Hari Sampurnojati told
radio that the earthquake was reportedly followed by tidal waves,
striking panic in a nation that was one of the worst hit by the
2004 Indian ocean tsunami.
The police chief did not give further details but the radio report
said thousands of people fled coastal areas for higher
ground.
"We panicked when we heard that there was a tsunami. We were ready
to flee," said Yogyakarta resident Clemon Cilik told the state
Antara news agency.
The quake hit just before 6am (2300 GMT Friday) around 40
kilometres (25 miles) south of Yogyakarta.
An official on duty at the Panti Rapih general hospital in
Yogyakarta said that "hundreds of people are being admitted and
they continue to come."
He said that most had cuts and broken bones and came from areas
south of the city such as Bantul and Gunungkidul.
Witnesses told Elshinta radio that hundreds of houses partially or
entirely collapsed in the Bantul and Kulonprogo districts south and
southwest of Yogyakarta.
A worker at the Muhammadiyah hospital said about 100 were being
treated there, including some outside. "There are fatalities but we
don't know how many," the staffer told AFP.
Temblors were felt in various cities in Central and East Java,
including on the northern coast of Central Java and as far as
Kediri to the east.
Damage was hampering the rescue effort, Sampurnojati said, with
police headquarters in the city cut due to a blackout following the
quake.
"Electricity is out and communication is difficult," he told
ElShinta.
Indonesia sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", where the meeting of
continental plates causes high volcanic and seismic activity.
An official at the meteorological office said the quake was not
related to the Mount Merapi volcano, which has been rumbling in
recent weeks.
Thousands of people living on the slopes of Mount Merapi have been
evacuated after authorities declared code red for the
volcano.
Scientists have warned that although the magma flow that forms a
dome at the Merapi peak appears to be weakening, the structure may
collapse and spew out millions of tonnes of volcanic rock and lava.
- AFP/ch
