Indonesia earthquake kills at least 2,700

[tocqueville]

By IRWAN FIRDAUS, Associated Press Writer
44 minutes ago

YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia - A powerful earthquake flattened buildings in central Indonesia early Saturday, killing at least 2,700 people and injuring thousands more in the country's worst disaster since the 2004 tsunami.

The magnitude-6.2 quake struck at 5:54 a.m. near the ancient city of Yogyakarta 250 miles east of the capital, Jakarta, as most people were sleeping, causing death and damage in many nearby towns.

Houses, hotels and government buildings collapsed, sending hysterical people running through the streets. Many roads and bridges were destroyed, hindering efforts to get taxis and pickup trucks filled with wounded to hospitals overflowing with patients.

In hardest hit Bantul district, rescuers tried to pull bodies from the rubble as residents started digging mass graves.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&u=/ap/20060527/ap_on_re_as/indonesia_earthquake_43

[TriSec]

1. What about the Bird Flu?

I noticed in the news this morning that there is also a cluster outbreak in the Indonesian capital city of Medan. Quite some distance from the earthquake region, but an awful lot of rescuers and relief would be traveling through Medan on the way to Yogyakarta...it wouldn't take too much for influenza to hitch a ride into the earthquake zone, and with thousands of dead and injured and no healthcare suppport.....

Anyway, I'm just sayin. Jeez, I sound like Fox News now, don't I?

[Theres-a]

3. I had similar thoughts

They're already having trouble with birdflu clusters,and now this.Tragic.

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. No, the cluster was on Sumatra, not Java

It's hundreds of miles away, and won't affect the earthquake zone at all.

A young girl stands with her dog outside her house as a chicken walks past in Kubu Simbelang, a village in North Sumatra, Indonesia, where seven of a family of eight succumbed to bird flu.
...
Getting to Kubu Simbelang — the epicenter of the latest bird flu outbreak — is not easy. It's a grueling four-hour drive from Medan, the closest Indonesian city, and most of the route is on bumpy and narrow winding roads.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=2009056&page=1

The capital of Indonesia is Jakarta, on Java, the same island as Yogyakarta.

[Theres-a]

5. West Java had 2 deaths also

Tests show Bandung pair died of bird flu

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, Bandung, Medan, Riau

As local tests showed bird flu was responsible for the deaths of two siblings in West Java, Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari said Friday there was no firm indication human-to-human contact caused an extraordinary outbreak in North Sumatra.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20060527.@01&irec=0

[newyawker99]

6. Hi TriSec!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Warpy]

2. I wonder how many of those people were already evacuees

from Mt. Merapi? I know yesterday the USGS reported a huge cloud of ash from the volcano just prior to the quake and couldn't rule out that the two events were connected.