From Catholic News Service

Volunteers help Indonesian quake victims

By Regina Linskey, Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Church people and many others who have jumped into action in response to the earthquake in Indonesia represent enormous generosity, said an Australian priest of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate in Indonesia.

"The contributions kept pouring in," Father John O'Doherty said June 6 from Yogyakarta, Indonesia, in a news update posted on the Oblates' Web site. Six tons of rice were unloaded from trucks by local youths who "quickly rallied to our call," he said.

Father O'Doherty said a team of doctors, chemists and nurses from a parish in Jakarta, where the Oblates are working, had sprung into action after news broke about the quake that shook the island of Java, killed more than 5,700 and left more than 500,000 homeless. Just a day after the May 27 quake, the so-called "shock troops" stocked up on supplies and necessary commodities, some of which were priced up to four times the normal rate, and left for Yogyakarta.

Upon the shock troops' arrival, he said, they immediately began searching out the victims and had attended to up to 200 patients in one day, Father O'Doherty said.

Back at the parish, volunteers set up a "command post, or base camp" in the Oblate seminary and collected clothing and food, he said.

"The value of the goods received is quite enormous. Everything is being recorded and when it all calms down we will be aware of just how great was this generosity of people," Father O'Doherty said.

A group of students from the Marine Academy on the island of Nias, which was affected by the December 2004 tsunami, responded by helping quake victims who were "seriously traumatized," Father O'Doherty said.

While the quake "was not on the same scale" as the tsunami in Aceh, "it was big," he added.

"There were more than 40,000 people injured. As if it was not enough that the people were suffering from wounds and trauma caused by the earthquake, a few days later it was reported that there were 300 cases of food poisoning, apparently because of some tainted rice meals," said Father O'Doherty.

Father John McLaughlin, in a May 31 e-mail from Yogyakarta to Father Tom Singer, director for the Oblate Missionary Association, said that the quake "happened very quickly with no forecast and no warning and was over in less than a minute -- just 57 seconds."

Other than needing more doctors and supplies for broken bones and head injuries, Father McLaughlin said emergency lighting, such as hurricane lamps and flashlights, is needed for safety.

"With no electricity, it is pitch black at night and looters are active," said Father McLaughlin. "With patience exhausted, news is leaking out that from the third night people have begun to shoot looters."

The tectonic plates deep underneath Indonesia, located on the so-called "Ring of Fire," have been readjusting since the tsunami, said Father McLaughlin.

Officials evacuated 3,000 people June 7 due to gas and lava from Mount Merapi, located 25 miles from the quake-hit region, reported The Associated Press the same day. Officials had evacuated 11,000 villagers June 6, reported AP. Many have attributed the volcano's increased activity to the quake.

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