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A child covers her eyes while waiting for her mother at Sarjito hospital in Yogyakarta. (Reuters)
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YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia – Finding no other place to
go after losing their homes in Saturday's devastating quake, many
Indonesian survivors have found solace and a safe haven in the
cemetery.
"Everyone was completely panicked. They wanted
to move quickly, the danger seemed overwhelming," Bambang Sumbodo,
the curator of a burial ground in the poor Sorosutan area of
Yogyakarta, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Wednesday, May 31.
Some 300 homeless quake survivors have found no
other place to go but cemeteries.
"The people asked me if they could stay here,
and I let them do it," he added.
More than 5,846 people were killed, 22,700 others
injured and thousands went homeless when a 6.3-magnitude quake rattled
Indonesia's island of Java on Saturday, May 27.
The tremor was centered just off the Indian Ocean
coast near Yogyakarta, the former Javanese royal capital, destroying
nearly 49,000 homes and damaging more than 115,000 others.
International humanitarian aid and foreign medical
teams have begun pouring into the disaster zone to offer aid to
thousands of Indonesians were driven homeless by the quake.
Necessary
Spending their first night in close proximity to
dead people, some of the survivors have had horrible nightmares.
"At first, a few people were a bit bothered by
the whole idea," said 48-year-old Mulatsih.
But she said the move was "necessary" due
to the extreme nature of the circumstances.
"We're afraid to go back to our homes. We've
come here because there is no other comfortable place," said Dana
Strietman, a Jakarta native with a Dutch nationality.
"We all know we're going to die someday,"
added the 58-year-old woman who returned to Indonesia 10 years ago.
Many people were terrified of remaining in their
damaged homes after Saturday's powerful quake.
Late Aid
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Indonesian soldiers deliver food aid to quake
victims. (Reuters)
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Indonesian air force and police helicopters have
begun dropping food to people in remote villages, the first aid since
the tremor rattled the world's most populous Muslim nation.
Rice fields billowed as the Super Puma helicopter
lowered itself down near two destroyed buildings after a nine-minute
flight from the air force base in Yogyakarta.
The four-man crew carried more than 200 boxes of
instant noodles.
Without shutting down the engines, they throw most
of the boxes down in less than 10 minutes -- and then lift off again.
"This is the first time," Yusuf Wayu, 30,
shouted over the roar of the still-whirring rotor blades while other
villagers carried off the treasure.
"The situation here is very serious.
Ninety-nine percent of the houses are destroyed and 11 people
died," he added.
Cash
The government has started to hand out cash instead
of food to quake victims, Welfare Minister Aburizal Bakrie said
Wednesday.
"What will be distributed will no longer be
food, but money, so that the local economy can continue to grow,"
he told ElShinta radio.
"There are good and bad survivors. Sometimes
in one place, the food is all snatched up by a few and some do not get
any," said the minister, adding the funds would be distributed
through local and provincial channels.
He said the government would give 3,000 rupiah (33
cents) to each homeless survivor per day for food.
The minister stressed that cash payments were
providing income for food traders -- and proving more practical and
less costly than using government helicopters to transport cheap
foodstuffs.
"Sometimes what is being transported by the
helicopters is much cheaper than the cost of the helicopters,
especially when reaching isolated areas," Bakrie said, adding
that ground transport was also costly.
