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Scene of disaster
The task of helping survivors of Saturday's earthquake on the Indonesian island of Java is "a race against the clock", the United Nations has warned.
Emergency workers and supplies are arriving, but the UN's top relief co-ordinator Jan Egeland told the BBC the task was "enormous".

Driving rain is hampering relief work after the disaster which killed at least 4,295 people and injured 20,000.

And activity at nearby erupting volcano Mount Merapi is said to have increased.


See a map of Pacific Ring of Fire
Thousands of people have been evacuated from the area near Mount Merapi, and volcanologists are saying activity at the volcano has increased three-fold since the quake.

"The earthquake has caused instability in the lava dome," Subandriyo, chief of the Merapi volcanology and monitoring office, said. "There is still a chance that a big eruption might occur."

Many have severed limbs, crushed limbs, as in all other earthquakes, and it is a race against the clock to save their lives

Jan Egeland
UN relief co-ordinator

Indonesia is in a zone known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, which is prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity.

Mount Merapi is close to the city of Yogyakarta, which was badly hit when the quake measuring 6.3 struck on Saturday morning.

The BBC's Rachel Harvey in Yogyakarta says the relief effort planned for an imminent volcanic eruption has been diverted to deal with the earthquake.

'Hospitals overwhelmed'

Buildings in and around Yogyakarta were flattened leaving about 200,000 people homeless.




In pictures: Struggling to cope
Yogyakarta: Rich in culture

Heavy rain has forced some to return to their destroyed houses in search of some kind of shelter despite the threat of further building collapses.

"Hundreds of thousands will have been affected here. I would assume that tens of thousands have smaller [and] bigger injuries. So it's a very major disaster, it's the third one that has hit Indonesia in the last 18 months," Mr Egeland told the BBC's World Today programme.

"Hospitals, the whole medical infrastructure, are overwhelmed. It's Day Three after the earthquake, many have severed limbs, crushed limbs, as in all other earthquakes, and it's a race against the clock to save their lives."

Governors of the areas hit by the quake have put the death toll at 4,295 - a lower estimate than that given by the Indonesian government, which released a figure of 5,136 on Monday.

Earlier reports had put the death toll at more than 5,100.

Field clinics

Many bodies are still thought to be trapped under debris and rescuers say the odds of finding survivors are slim.

A major relief operation has swung into motion, with teams from across the country and abroad arriving in the disaster zone.

I have spent the last two days in the hospital, witnessing the desperate need of the people.

Kristy, Yogyakarta


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The town of Bantul, south of Yogyakarta city - where some two thirds of the victims died - has become the centre for this operation, with aid agencies and the military co-ordinating to distribute it to surrounding towns and villages.

However, news agencies also reported local officials saying aid distribution on the ground to outlying areas was slow.

Our correspondent in Yogyakarta says the situation is still desperate in the worst affected region around the city - badly injured people are arriving at hospitals already short of space and hundreds of victims are having to be treated outdoors.

Field clinics are being set up to relieve the pressure on hospitals.

Temples damaged

Yogyakarta is the former Javanese royal capital and home to historic temples and palaces.


Columns crashed to the ground at the Prambanan temple
One of Indonesia's most important temple complexes, the renowned Prambanan Hindu temple, was damaged in the quake.

The tremors sent intricate carved reliefs crashing to the ground and destroyed years of restoration work, although there was better news at the 7th Century Borobudur Buddhist temple, which survived intact.

United Nations aid agencies are holding talks in Geneva to plan humanitarian relief.

The agencies, including Unicef, the World Food Programme, the World Health Organization and the International Red Cross, have already begun distributing some relief supplies but say much more will be needed.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5026680.stm
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