Indonesian quake survivors face risk of health problems

Photo: Indonesian quake survivors face risk of health problems

Indonesian quake survivors face risk of health problems

A nearby volcano added to people's worries, shooting out large plumes of ash and sending lava avalanching down its slopes 35 times on Friday.

Nearly a week after the earthquake that killed more than 6,200 people and injured 30,000, aid workers had yet to reach some remote areas, and delivery of food, medicine and tents was sporadic in others.

About 135,000 houses were completely destroyed by the magnitude-6.3 quake, and most survivors were sleeping under plastic sheets or in thin tents. International aid workers said health concerns remained.

Though trucks loaded with humanitarian relief clogged recently repaired roads in some areas, villagers a few kilometers (miles) from aid distribution centers said they had received little or no help.

In Telan, a village in hardest-hit Bantul district, three families were crowded under one tarp.

Their house - like nearly every other in the tiny rice farming community - was turned into rubble by the quake.

Elsewhere, quake survivors ate rice scrounged from the rubble as well as tapioca, papayas and other fruit that grows in the rich volcanic soil of Java island, while others blocked traffic to beg for money from passing motorists, the AP reports.

The United Nations said that while conditions were improving, the "emergency phase will continue for another one to two weeks," and survivors will still need help for months to come.