Indonesian quake survivors huddle in tents; toll rises

Tens of thousands of Indonesians took refuge in flimsy tents in the earthquake-hit region of Java island on Thursday, as officials urged a stop to aid distribution by night to prevent theft and looting.
Rescue workers were still pulling dead bodies from the rubble of the 6.3 magnitude quake, which struck at dawn on Saturday and levelled entire villages around the ancient royal capital of Yogyakarta, reducing homes to piles of wood, tiles and tin.
Estimates of the number of people displaced or left homeless by the quake that killed at least 6,234 people were unclear, but a provincial official said it had destroyed or damaged 130,000 homes.
"At this moment the number of homeless is not clear, but why don't you calculate from the numbers of homes damaged?" Bambang Susanto Priyohadi, Yogyakarta provincial secretary, told Reuters.
Some survivors complained of looting and in remote areas aid vehicles were being given police escort for protection from desperate survivors and thieves. Police have also asked that relief not be delivered at night. Many survivors have constructed shelters from the ruins of their homes and are living in squalid conditions.
Late on Thursday relief efforts were dealt a blow in Klaten, one of the worst affected areas, when more than 40 people from six villages had to be taken to hospital with suspected food poisoning from food aid, local media reported.
Health workers had raised fears of disease due to unhygienic living conditions, but the United Nations said the chances of a public health crisis were slim because the homeless were relatively dispersed.
There were no signs of disease outbreaks so far, but medicines were being sent to affected areas to prevent any epidemic. Survivors were being immunised against measles.
Thousands of injured people are already packed into local hospitals and officials say even people who are healthy and in no need of further medical treatment try to stay there because of lack of shelter, food and clean water in their home areas.
The government has been evacuating patients to more distant cities to relieve overcrowding.
Aid from the Indonesian and foreign governments, the UN, and private agencies has been flowing into the region in increasing amounts, although many survivors still complained they lacked critical help.