Earthquake near Jogja
 

From MSN
JAKARTA, Indonesia - A powerful earthquake struck Indonesia's Central Java province early Saturday, damaging buildings and killing at least 10 people, state media and witnesses said.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck at 5:54 a.m. 15 miles southwest of the city of Yogyakarta.

At least 10 bodies of quake victims were at the city's Bethseda hospital, state news agency Antara reported.

A witness in the city told The Associated Press he had seen three bodies under the rubble of two houses and that scores of injured were being taken to the city's hospitals in pickup trucks.

That report couldn't immediately be confirmed with authorities.

Injuries were also reported in the nearby cities of Solo and Bantul.

Police said electricity and communications across Yogyakarta were knocked out.

Shortly before the quake, nearby Mount Merapi, which has been rumbling for weeks, sent out a massive cloud of hot gas and ash. It was not immediately clear if the eruption and the earthquake were linked, or if the eruption had caused any casualties.

Activity at Mount Merapi, one of the world’s most active volcanoes, has picked up in recent weeks and almost all villagers living near the danger zone have been evacuated.

Indonesia, the world’s largest archipelago, is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the so-called Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.

I know Laurie is there and other Fodorites are headed that way. Safe travels to all.

oohh We hope Laurieco was already headed to Thailand.. Safe travels and god bless Javanese people.

Kathie, I just heard on ABC-TV news that at least 2,000 people are dead. Sad to say, but if this had happened in a Western country there'd now be a Fodors thread of 100 or more posts.

up to 3000 on bbc news. how awful. i posted previously on a different thread when i read about it last night, but that side of the world really deserves a break at this point. :(

When I posted this new story last night, it appeared that it was only a moderate quake without a lot of loss of life. Obvously, that initial report greatly underestimated the destruction.

I'm thinking of Lauriie and Eric and the lovely peple of central Java. I'm also going to donate some money to one of the organizations that helps in the wake of natural disasters. The International Red Cross is a good one, and I also give money to the Mercy Corps. www.mercycorps.org

ps The Mercy Corps already has an option on their website to donate directly to the Indonesian Quake.

I was just reading about this and it sounds like it was very devastating to the area. Very sad indeed.