Bantul (Indonesia), May 28
Rescue workers dug desperately for survivors today as residents returned to ruined homes on Indonesia’s densely populated Island of Java, a day after a powerful earthquake killed nearly 3,300. Up to 20,000 were injured and more than 100,000 left homeless, UNICEF (the UN Children’s Fund) spokesman John Budd said.
‘’Nobody really knows for sure simply because a lot of people were actually evacuated out ... in order to be treated and a lot of people who are injured have been turned away,’’ he said.
Trucks full of volunteers from Indonesian political parties and Islamic groups, as well as military vehicles carrying soldiers, headed South from the ancient royal city of Yogyakarta to Bantul, hardest hit by the quake, to help in the effort.
“Kopassus (special forces troops) and Indonesian Red Cross volunteers are trying to comb through the rubble because thousands of houses are damaged and people may still be trapped beneath them,’’ Mr Ghozali Situmorang, director-general of aid management for the National Social Department, told Yogyakarta Radio.
A vulcanologist said the quake had heightened volcanic activity at nearby Mount Merapi Volcano experts believe may be about to erupt. Merapi has been rumbling for weeks and sporadically emitting hot lava and highly toxic hot gas.
The official death toll stood at 3,295 by early this afternoon, said the Social Affairs Ministry’s disaster task force.
— Reuters
