Immunisation begins for quake survivors

BANTUL, Indonesia - Indonesia began immunising quake survivors against measles today and helicopters swept over disaster sites on Java island to look for isolated victims, but help was still too slow for many.

Indonesian Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari said the government was also evacuating patients from hospitals in the immediate area to more distant cities to relieve overcrowding.

"For now (the hospitals) are starting to get tidy and we have penetrated isolated areas using mobile clinics ... helicopters are dispatching food while airlifting patients," she told Reuters.

Saturday's 6.3 magnitude earthquake, centred just off the Indian Ocean coast near Yogyakarta, the main city in the region, killed 5,846 people and left 130,000 homeless.

Hardest hit was Bantul, where entire villages were levelled and homes reduced to piles of wood, tiles and tin. There were no signs of disease such as measles and malaria, but medicines were being sent to affected areas to prevent any outbreaks.

Some survivors said they still lacked the most basic aid.

"We get aid from private donors, but we haven't received any from the government," said Mohammad Aziz, 35, who managed to save his nephew but lost his 68-year-old father in the earthquake.

Amid a heap of rubble, Aziz retrieved the doors from his house, which he plans to use as a floorboard in his tent.

"When it rains, our tent will be flooded. Because there is no flooring, we will be on wet soil," he said, gazing at the spot where he found his father's body.

Idham Samawi, head of Bantul regency, said the government had allocated 500 million rupiah ($85,724.32) each for two villages, a first step on the road to recovery for Bantul's 75 villages.

"I am optimistic ... the multiplier effect will be remarkable. Those who sold vegetables can sell vegetables again, those who sold eggs will begin to sell eggs," he said.

Some survivors found unusual ways of dealing with the crisis.

About 120 people have taken up residence at the small Karang Turi cemetery in Bantul. With tarpaulin stretched overhead and rugs thrown over graves, they have even managed to get decent sleep and escape nightly rain since the Saturday quake.

"Normally we would be too scared to live here but because of the disaster we have nowhere else to go," said Hernawan. "We are more afraid of the earthquake than living in the cemetery."

In a bid to help ease the trauma, the UNICEF children's agency opened a recreation centre in Bantul. It estimates that 40 per cent of the quake's survivors were children.

But some children pined to return to their homes. "I want my house to be repaired so that I can live there again and be able to play with my brothers again," said fifth-grader Ningrum.

Charlie Higgins, UN team leader in Yogyakarta, told Reuters that Indonesia's government should be able to handle the Java aid situation without the UN taking a leading role -- unlike the situation in Aceh province after the December 2004 earthquake and tsunami that left 170,000 dead or missing there.

Dozens of donors ranging from the European Union, Japan, South Korea and Singapore to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have pledged cash, supplies and personnel. UN agencies and private organisations began sending aid soon after the quake.

The Geneva-based International Organisation for Migration said it was helping patients move back to their home areas from hospitals and had transported 100 tonnes of goods yesterday and loaded a further 38 tonnes today.

US military personnel, including marines, doctors and nurses, set up a hospital on a Bantul football field today.

Despite the various aid operations, residents of Sampangan Kidul village said proper shelter and goods were slow in coming.

"I want to make a hut, because our tents right now do not have proper roofs," said Marsan, 45, who lost his house, one of more than 30,000 structures officials estimate were flattened.

"The government has not given us any tents. We have only received noodles from them ... I really hope that the government will come with aid. "We are all weak, but we try not to feel it because we do not have any choice."

- REUTERS