Indonesian earthquake death toll rises above 5,000

Aid trickled in today for survivors of an earthquake that killed more than 5,000 people on Indonesia's Java island, but tens …

Aid trickled in today for survivors of an earthquake that killed more than 5,000 people on Indonesia's Java island, but tens of thousands of homeless still foraged on their own for food and shelter.

Indonesian archeologists survey the damage at the Prambanan Hindu temple complex. Photograph: Reuters
Indonesian archeologists survey the damage at the Prambanan Hindu temple complex. Photograph: Reuters

Many survivors who were injured or whose homes were destroyed by the quake spent a rainy second night in the open on the grounds of hospitals and mosques or in makeshift shelters beside the rubble of their houses.

The 6.3 magnitude quake's official death toll reached 5,136, according to the government's Social Affairs Department, though the governors of the two affected provinces, Central Java and Yogyakarta, put the figure at a lower 4,395.

The tremor early on Saturday was centred just off the Indian Ocean coast near Yogyakarta, the former Javanese royal capital.

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Government figures put the number of injured at 2,155, but the United Nations Children's Fund said there were 20,000 injured and more than 130,000 homeless, of which 40 per cent are children.

Hospital lists of the dead also showed children and old people, who had a harder time scrambling from houses as they collapsed, as disproportionately represented among the victims.

An aerial view of damaged houses in Indonesia's Bantul district today. Photograph: Reuters
An aerial view of damaged houses in Indonesia's Bantul district today. Photograph: Reuters

Many who lost their homes lack even tents, and government and aid agencies say shelter is a top aid priority, along with clean water. The United Nations will ship three, 100-bed field hospitals, tents, medical supplies and generators in the next

three days.

"These are the most pressing needs," said a spokeswoman for U.N. Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland.

Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla announced today that survivors would be given 200,000 rupiah ($21) each for clothes and household items, while families would get 12 kilograms of rice.

People will also be compensated for damaged homes.