Bird flu warning as aftershocks create panic amid chaos of Indonesia quake site

Published on Saturday 3 June 2006 23:58

AFTERSHOCKS rattling Indonesia's quake-ravaged region are spreading panic among thousands of homeless survivors, as aid groups rush to deliver clean water and warn of an increased threat of bird flu.

Several aftershocks, which Indonesia's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said registered about magnitude four, shook the region on Friday night, sending many survivors running from makeshift tents.

"Last night and this morning I felt some quakes. I was sleeping. I just ran away, out of the tent," said 40-year-old Hardady, from Kerten, a village which was badly hit by the quake.

Meanwhile, worried villagers performed rituals aimed at warding off an eruption as activity increased at Indonesia's Mount Merapi, close to the earthquake zone, with repeated bursts of red-hot lava, hot gases and ash.

Subandriyo, an Indonesian government scientist, said: "Merapi continues to increase its activity since Friday."

The World Health Organisation said yesterday that the magnitude-6.3 quake, which flattened villages in Yogyakarta and Central Java provinces at dawn on May 27 and killed more than 6,200 people, had forced some survivors to seek shelter in poultry sheds, increasing the threat of bird flu.

"Is there an increased threat and danger? Yes, it's something we have to be very watchful of," a WHO spokeswoman said. "In Indonesia there's been a high record of human cases and we have to look out for avian flu."

Poultry across Indonesia have died from bird flu, and 36 human deaths have been reported from the disease since late 2003. No human deaths have been recorded in the quake zone.

The WHO is also concerned about the spread of diarrhoea, cholera and viral hepatitis, but said there were no reports of outbreaks.

Aid groups are distributing 65,000 jerry cans with water purification kits, which can provide a family of five with clean water for a month.

"Dirty water is causing skin infections, especially in young children," Korean doctor Hong Kwong Moon said in Kerten. "There are also some cases of diarrhoea here. The water is contaminated, people are washing with it and it infects skin."

The United Nations has unveiled plans for a six-month relief operation to provide aid such as emergency shelter, medical assistance, clean water, sanitation, food and child protection across the quake-devastated region.

Last week's quake reduced more than 100,000 homes to rubble and many in the region are now living in flimsy shelters in front of what used to be their homes.

The government's official quake death toll remains at 6,234. The social ministry's disaster task force has also said 33,231 people have serious injuries and 12,917 people have minor injuries.