Earthquake survivors forced to live off stalks and leaves

An Indonesian man smiles after receiving food at the Piyungan district in Bantul, near Yogyakarta. Picture / Reuters

PANJANGREJO, Indonesia - Indonesian officials claimed yesterday that aid was reaching every area affected by last weekend's earthquake in central Java.

They must have overlooked Panjangrejo, where survivors have been living off stalks and leaves for the past five days.

The village, situated off the beaten track in Bantul district, which bore the brunt of the quake, has largely been left to fend for itself.

Its 113 inhabitants squeeze beneath two tarpaulins donated after they spent three nights in the open.

They drink water from a dirty well full of debris and rubble. The children have no milk. Community leaders fear an outbreak of disease.

After an initial delay, the relief effort has swung into action in Java, where 5,846 people were killed and 647,000 displaced, according to latest figures.

Helicopters are supposed to be delivering supplies to remote pockets.

But Panjangrejo, and half a dozen other villages visited yesterday, have yet to receive food or water from the government or international agencies.

In Panjangrejo, locals were boiling up the stalks of taro plants in a battered pot retrieved from the wreckage of one home.

"It's not really edible, but what can we do?" said one woman, Suyatmi. "We're so hungry, and we have to eat whatever we find. It's an emergency." Cassava and papaya leaves were marginally more palatable, she said.

There appears to be a lack of coordination at local level.

Supplies have arrived in Pundong, the sub-district where Panjangrejo is located, but they have not gone out to outlying villages.

In Panjangrejo, enclosed by rice paddies and accessible only via a narrow back road, 99 per cent of houses are flattened or uninhabitable. There is no electricity.

"We need blankets, flashlight and tents," said the community head, Jumikir.

The aid effort is being masterminded from the spacious offices of the district mayor in Bantul town, where boxes of powdered milk, baby clothes and instant noodles were stacked up.

Abu Dzarin, the local official in charge of distribution, shrugged when told that food was not reaching certain villages.

"The people have to be more proactive," said Mr Dzarin, patting his ample stomach.

Asked how the system worked, he waved a piece of paper headed "Demand-Supply Chain".

A flow chart outlined the procedures to be followed - including filling in numerous forms and sending text messages - before aid can be dispatched to a particular location.

This is Indonesian bureaucracy at its worst. But it also requires survivors to request assistance.

Every part of Bantul district is in need, and it would make sense for aid to be distributed systematically.

With many going hungry, the mood in Bantul is turning ugly.

Yesterday youths blocked the main road, forcing cars to stop and aggressively demanding donations.

Local radio reported that an aid truck had been attacked by men wielding machetes.

Valuables have been looted from the rubble of houses and, with the area plunged into darkness at night, motorbikes and cows have been stolen.

Yesterday a queue quickly formed outside a van that stopped on a rural road, with villagers jostling to receive black plastic sacks containing rice, noodles, sugar and biscuits.

In isolated spots, some gaps are being filled by individuals such as the couple who arrived in Panjangrejo with cooked rice yesterday.

On the main road, charitable Javans were handing out food, clothes and tarpaulins. Indonesians have learnt not to rely on their government.

"They're always so slow," said one woman, Sumarsih.

- INDEPENDENT