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/ 6 September 2006
A pilot died at the controls moments after landing an aeroplane carrying 100 passengers, the Indonesian National Committee for Transport Safety said on Wednesday. Captain Sutikno (54) died of heart failure on board the Boeing 737-200 aircraft that he had guided onto the runway of Jakarta’s Sukarno-Hatta international airport late on Tuesday.
An undersea earthquake struck near Indonesia’s Moluccas islands on Tuesday but Indonesian officials said it was of moderate strength and there was no risk of a tsunami. The state meteorological agency downgraded its initial estimate of the quake’s magnitude and withdrew a tsunami warning.
Two strong earthquakes shook the west coast of Indonesia’s Sumatra island on Saturday but no casualties or damage were reported, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and local meteorological officials said. The first quake, measured at 6, was centred 364 km south of Banda Aceh, capital of Aceh province, the USGS said. It struck at 3.54am local time with a depth of 10km. The second quake, measured at 5,1, struck at 1:15pm off western Sumatra.
A 16-year-old Indonesian boy has died from bird flu, according to local test results that, if confirmed, would bring Indonesia’s death toll to 43 and make it the world’s hardest-hit country. Normally reliable tests performed at a local laboratory showed that the boy who died late on Monday had the H5N1 virus.
Tens of thousands of Muslims demonstrated in several Indonesian cities on Sunday to protest ongoing Israeli military action, branding Israel and the United States the ”real terrorists”. Hard-line Islamic groups and women’s organisations rallied in several big Indonesian cities, denounced Israeli bombardments in Lebanon.
More than 3 000 villagers have fled the area around a volcano in eastern Indonesia after it started blasting out hot gas and lava, officials said on Friday. Saut Simatupang, a senior vulcanologist, said the alert status for Mount Karangetan on Siau island was now at maximum.
At least 654 people were killed by the tsunami that smashed into the heavily-populated south coast of Indonesia’s Java island this week, the government said on Saturday, raising the toll by 101. As many as 329 remain missing and 978 people were injured after Monday’s tsunami, according to figures compiled by the National Disaster Management Coordinating Agency.
Survivors of the Java coast tsunami tried to return to normal life amidst the rubble of disaster on Thursday despite aftershocks that continued to spread fear and anxiety. Tens of thousands displaced by the disaster were housed in temporary shelters.
Lilianti Bachtiar may abandon the hotel business completely after the tsunami that smashed into Indonesia’s Java coast recently, badly damaging her 26-room hotel. The killer waves slammed into the back of the Grand Mutiara hotel overlooking the beach at Pangandaran, obliterating its kitchen.
The death toll from a tsunami that hit the southern coast of Indonesia’s main island of Java on Monday has reached 525, according to the country’s national coordinating body for disaster management. Rescue workers dug with bare hands on Wednesday in a grim search for more bodies after a second tsunami to strike Indonesia in as many years.
Rescuers on Tuesday desperately sifted through wreckage for survivors of a tsunami that killed more than 340 people and left scores missing when it slammed into Indonesia’s Java coast. In a harrowing reminder of the 2004 disaster that left 220Â 000 dead across Asia, walls of water up to 3m high smashed ashore Monday.
More than 300 people have been killed by a tsunami that smashed into the southern coast of Indonesia’s Java island following an undersea earthquake. About 150 people were also missing after Monday’s huge waves crashed into the coast, washing away buildings, wooden cottages and kiosks lining the shoreline facing the Indian Ocean.
A tsunami triggered by a strong undersea earthquake off the coast of Indonesia’s Java island on Monday killed at least 80 people, swept away buildings and damaged hundreds of fishing boats, officials and witnesses said. News of the disaster spread panic across a region still recovering from 2004’s tsunami disaster.
A tsunami caused by a strong undersea earthquake off the south coast of Indonesia’s Java island killed at least 80 people on Monday, a Red Cross official said. ”Our latest data shows 80 people have died while at least 68 are badly injured,” said Fitri Sidikah, an official at the Indonesian Red Cross disaster centre.
The death toll from floods and landslides in Indonesia’s South Sulawesi province neared 250 on Saturday with another 100 still missing and thousands homeless, police and officials said. The disaster is the latest tragedy to afflict the world’s fourth-most-populous nation in the past few years.
Floods and landslides triggered by torrential rain have killed at least 111 people in Indonesia’s South Sulawesi province and left a further 101 missing, an official said on Wednesday. The disaster, which has hit at least seven districts in the province after two days of torrential rain, is the latest in a series of similar tragedies to hit the world’s biggest archipelago this year.
Twenty one people have died from tetanus in the aftermath of last month’s earthquake in Indonesia’s central Java island, the health ministry said on Friday. They were among 60 people infected with tetanus after they were injured by rubble when the quake destroyed their homes, the ministry said in a statement. Thirty seven of those are still in hospital, it said.
Indonesian scientists on Wednesday again placed Mount Merapi on its highest-alert level a day after the volcano had been downgraded, meaning they believe an eruption is imminent. Potentially deadly heat clouds streaming from Merapi’s peak caused panic among some villagers living around the volcano’s slopes.
Indonesia on Tuesday downgraded its top alert on Mount Merapi volcano as scientists said they no longer believe an eruption is imminent. Merapi — whose name means "Mountain of Fire" — was put on red alert on May 13 and its activity has fluctuated since then. It has declined substantially since Friday when part of a lava dome forming at its peak collapsed.
Indonesia’s Mount Merapi continued to spew lava and searing clouds of gas and ash on Sunday as geologists maintained the top danger alert on the smouldering volcano. Despite losing a huge chunk of the lava dome forming at its peak on Friday, which lessened the danger of a major eruption, geologists said the volcano still posed a threat.
Cramped in a single tent sheltering 41 people, survivors of last month’s Indonesian earthquake at this hamlet complain they receive only one meal a day, with assistance still slow to fully flow here two weeks after the disaster. ”We don’t know how much longer we have to endure this situation,” said a weary looking Endang.
Thousands of Indonesians, already shaken from an earthquake last month, were evacuated from the slopes of a trembling volcano as it threatened to spark a second emergency on Wednesday. More than 15 000 people have been whisked from the slopes of Mount Merapi, which has been on red alert since May 13.
Thousands of people have been evacuated from the slopes of Indonesia’s Mount Merapi as lava flows spread further down the slopes of the volcano on Tuesday, officials said. The volcano alert was put on red on May 13 but residents have been particularly nervous since a deadly earthquake rocked the region 10 days ago.
Officials in Indonesia on Monday revised down the death toll from a strong earthquake in Java to nearly 5 800 as new aid supplies helped survivors move forward on the long road to recovery. The United Nations said distribution of food, medicines and water had greatly improved in devastated areas of central Java island.
With its hazy skies, traffic-clogged streets and fume-belching vehicles, the Indonesian capital Jakarta is poking fun at its constant state of pollution in a bid to clear the air. To mark World Environment Day, authorities on Monday unveiled six giant billboards around Jakarta reading "Welcome to Pollution City", with an illustration of a couple holding their noses.
Putri and her friend Anif have been inseparable since the earthquake. Each day, the little girls come to the giant white tent, grab a handful of crayons and set to work. Five-year-old Putri sketches a mountain with gray smoke snaking from its peak. ”Merapi”, she says, referring to the increasingly active volcano nearby.
Bird flu could threaten survivors of Indonesia’s earthquake, an aid agency warned, after finding people whose homes were destroyed sheltering in dung-smeared chicken sheds. A strong aftershock sent panicked survivors running into the streets early on Saturday.
Nearly a week after the deadly quake in central Indonesia, new patients streamed into area hospitals on Friday, seeking treatment for quake-related injuries, medical staff said. ”We continue to receive new patients injured in the quake,” said Maridi, who works at the Sardjito general hospital in Yogyakarta, the main city in the quake zone.
United Nations said hospitals were still overcrowded and lacked basic supplies to treat the mass of injured. The death toll rose to 6Â 234 while the number of those hurt in the disaster more than doubled to about 46Â 000, with more than 33Â 000 of them suffering serious injuries.
Indonesia on Wednesday defended the earthquake relief effort as aid agencies said survivors are still in desperate need of medical care and water four days after the disaster. The scale of the disaster became clearer as the death toll rose to 5Â 846, the social affairs ministry said on Wednesday.
Thousands of desperate Indonesian quake survivors were still waiting for aid on Tuesday as they prepared for a fourth night under makeshift tents, despite pledges that help would come quickly. The death toll from Saturday’s powerful earthquake had risen to nearly 5Â 700.
An earthquake measuring 6,0 on the Richter scale rocked Indonesia’s easternmost Papua province on Tuesday, causing panic among residents but no reported casualties, meteorologists said. The temblor came just days after a powerful quake left more than 5 400 dead on the central Java island.