Thailand Unaffected By Saturday's Quake In Indonesia

[george]

Thailand unaffected by Saturday's quake in Indonesia

BANGKOK: -- 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, more than 60 people reportedly died from the earthquake, measuring 6.2 on the Richter Scale, while hundreds more were injured.

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 2006-05-27

[AsiaWolfie]

now the death toll reached the 2.000-mark already.... I cant believe that..... why this beautiful country has to suffer so much.... I was in Yogya in March 2006 and, as always when I am there, found this city to be the real "land of smile" whereever you went, u were greated with a smile.... from the 6 year old school-girl to the 75-year-old Becak-driver with just 2 teeth in his mouth.... and most of all, a smile that comes from the heart, not just a shallow disguise, like in other such-called "land of smiles"..... really makes me cry to see this country suffer so much all the time.....

[Rinrada]

Bit worse than that and warning of even more casualties......

Indonesia quake toll passes 3,000

More than 3,000 people have been killed and thousands more injured by a strong earthquake that struck the Indonesian island of Java, officials have said.

The quake, measuring 6.2, flattened buildings in a densely-populated area south of the city of Yogyakarta, near the southern coast of Java.

The Indonesian Red Cross estimates some 200,000 people fled their homes after the quake hit early in the morning.

Hospitals are struggling to cope with the injured, a BBC correspondent says.

At least 2,900 people have been seriously injured, and many more are still thought to be trapped under rubble and collapsed buildings.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono called on rescuers to work around the clock, as he visited the area with a team of Cabinet ministers on Saturday.

He has also ordered the military to help evacuate victims.

The Indonesian Red Cross said it had sent rapid response teams to the area, and 21 field hospital units were working at full capacity.

In the worst-hit areas, rescuers worked to pull bodies from the rubble, as residents preparing to bury the dead dug mass graves.

The United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan said a UN disaster response team was ready to help with humanitarian relief, the AFP news agency reported.

Among the many countries promising aid are Malaysia, Japan, Russia and the European Union.

The quake left the dazed and injured scattered in the streets

The BBC's Rachel Harvey in Yogyakarta says the challenge now is to get the right kind of assistance to the right places - but with the city's airport closed because of quake damage, this will not be easy.

The aid effort is also reportedly being hampered as the quake cut electricity and communications in some areas.

Yogyakarta is near the Mount Merapi volcano, which threatened to erupt earlier this month, forcing thousands of people to be evacuated.

Experts were divided over whether the quake would affect Merapi, but there are reports of heightened activity at the volcano. There was an eruption soon after the quake which sent debris some 3.5km (2 miles) down its western side.

Officials said that although the area affected was coastal there was no tsunami resulting from the quake.

The quake hit at 0554 local time (2253 GMT Friday), around 25km (15 miles) south of the city of Yogyakarta, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said.

Yogyakarta, Indonesia's ancient royal capital and one of its biggest cities, is about 440km (275 miles) south-east of the capital, Jakarta.

"The earthquake was felt to be massive - larger than the locals here say they've felt in their lives," said Brook Weisman-Ross, regional disaster co-ordinator for Plan International children's charity in Java.

A wide swathe south of Yogyakarta city, in the Bantul and Kulonprogo regions, appears to be the worst hit.

A government official said nearly two thirds of the deaths caused by the earthquake were in Bantul, the Associated Press reported.

The BBC's Andrew Harding says there are a number of dead bodies by the side of the main road south of the city.

Aftershocks

Local radio said there were not enough doctors to cope with the numbers of injured.

Deadly history of quakes

People were ferried to hospital in lorries and buses, or made the journey on foot, because of a shortage of ambulances.

Aftershocks have forced medical staff to move injured patients outside.

Rachel Harvey says there is a pervading sense of nervousness as buildings already damaged by the quake sway in a series of aftershocks.

As darkness fell on Saturday, thousands of people prepared to spend the night outside damaged homes or in the grounds of mosques, churches and hospitals.

"We are too scared to sleep inside. The radio keeps saying there will be more quakes. We still feel the tremors," Tjut Nariman, who lives on the outskirts of Yogyakarta, told Reuters news agency.

Indonesia is in a zone known as the Pacific "ring of fire", which is prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/5023874.stm