[abe]

Three dead in Indonesia quake

Saturday, May 27, 2006 Posted: 0105 GMT (0905 HKT)

U.S. Geological Survey

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- A powerful earthquake rocked Indonesia's Central Java province early Saturday, flattening buildings and killing at least three people, witnesses and officials said.

Scores of other people were injured.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck at 5:54 a.m. (2354 GMT) 25 kilometers (15 miles) southwest of the city of Yogyakarta.

A witness in the city told The Associated Press he had seen three bodies under the rubble of two houses and that scores of injured were being taken to the city's hospitals in pickup trucks.

Electricity and communications across the city were also down, police said.

Shortly before the quake, nearby Mount Merapi, which has been rumbling for weeks, sent out a massive cloud of hot gas and ash. It was not immediately clear if the eruption and the earthquake were linked, or if the eruption had caused any casualties.

Activity at Mount Merapi, one of the world's most active volcanoes, has picked up in recent weeks and almost all villagers living near the danger zone have been evacuated.

Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanos and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/as...esia.quake.ap/

[Kerrigan]

[wataru]

What a nerd. I read that as "Earthquake 6.2 in Java," as in a program called Earthquake, version 6.2, written in Java.

So far it doesn't sound too bad. I hope the casualties don't increase.

[abe]

Originally Posted by Kerrigan

Don't play politics with people's pain, please.

[abe]

Originally Posted by wataru

What a nerd. I read that as "Earthquake 6.2 in Java," as in a program called Earthquake, version 6.2, written in Java.

So far it doesn't sound too bad. I hope the casualties don't increase.

Sorry. I'm oblivious to much of that computer stuff. Mother nature 'owns' the ultimate rights to the term, "earthquake," I think.

[abe]

Indonesia's Java Hit by Quake; 2,275 Deaths Reported (Update9)

May 27 (Bloomberg) -- A magnitude 6.2 earthquake shook central Java in Indonesia, the U.S. Geological Survey said on its Web site. At least 2,275 people were killed, John Budd, United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) communication officer, said by telephone.

The quake, centered about 26 kilometers (16 miles) south of Yogyakarta, struck at 5:54 a.m. local time, USGS said. Many houses and buildings collapsed and the tremors were felt in nearby cities as well on the north coast of the island, Agence France-Presse said. No tsunami was reported as a result of the quake.

``Ninety-one percent of the victims are in Bantul, the hardest-hit area,'' Budd said. ``Unicef is preparing emergency supplies to be sent to help victims.'' Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is expected to visit the area tomorrow, Detik.com reported, citing presidential spokesman Andi Mallarangeng.

Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, is prone to earthquakes because the country sits along the Pacific Ocean's so-called ``Ring of Fire'' zone of active volcanoes and tectonic faults. Its 18,000 islands have 129 active volcanoes.

The airport in Yogyakarta will be closed until 9 p.m. local time because of damage to the runway and other facilities, Indonesia's Transport Minister Hatta Rajasa said on ElShinta radio. All domestic and international flights are being diverted to Solo, about 60 kilometers from Yogyakarta.

Trains Stopped

Trains headed for Yogyakarta were advised to stop operations for fear of landslides along the way, Rajasa said.

Hospitals in Yogyakarta need more doctors, medical supplies and makeshift tents to provide shelter for around 15,000 patients, who were also being treated in parking lots, state Antara news agency said, citing Budi Mulyono, a spokesman of state-run Sardjito Hospital. Telephone lines to the area were out of order.

Coordinating Minister of Social Welfare Aburizal Bakrie, together with four other state ministers, were to leave for Yogyakarta through Solo at 2 p.m. local time today, said Rusdiawan, a spokesman of the Office of Social Welfare. The ministers will also bring medicine and food.

Several government offices, including the parliament building of the province of Yogyakarta, were damaged from the quake, ElShinta radio reported.

President Yudhoyono also ordered military chief Air Marshal Djoko Suyanto to send in troops to help evacuate victims, AFP said, citing spokesman Mallarangeng.

Japanese Factories

The Japanese embassy in Indonesia was not aware of any Japanese killed or hurt in the quake, spokesman Yoshiharu Kato said. Among 91 Japanese living in Yogyakarta, the embassy had confirmed the safety of at least 50 at 2:30 p.m. local time in Jakarta.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. said its eight factories in Indonesia had suffered no damage. Sanyo Electric Co. said it hasn't yet been able to confirm the condition of its factories in the country.

The earthquake struck an area about 40 kilometers north of Mount Merapi, which has been on the brink of an eruption and for which the authorities raised the alert to the highest level earlier this month. Merapi last erupted in 1994, killing 64 people and displacing 6,000 on Indonesia's most-densely populated island.

The strongest earthquake in 40 years struck the Indonesian island of Sumatra on Dec. 26, 2004, resulting in a tsunami that devastated coastlines in countries including Thailand, Sri Lanka and India, leaving more than 220,000 dead or missing.


To contact the reporters on this story:

Last Updated: May 27, 2006 06:03 EDT

It keeps getting worse.

[Chuckit]

class ConfusingThreadTitle {
public static void main(String[] args) {
earth = new Planet();
earth.quake(6.2);
}
}