Aid pours into Indonesian earthquake zone as death toll tops 6,200

BANTUL, Indonesia — Medicines, rice, water and tarps were delivered to Indonesia's earthquake disaster zone Wednesday to help about 650,000 displaced people, but many said the international aid was taking too long to get there.

Thousands of women and children lined roads clogged with relief vehicles and curious onlookers, asking motorists for money so they could buy food. Some stood next to a banner that read: "Don't just look. Help."

Saturday's 6.3-magnitude quake on Java island killed 6,234 people and injured more than 30,000, the Social Affairs Ministry said.

The main hospital in hardest-hit Bantul district remained overwhelmed, with patients cramming corridors or sleeping on pieces of cardboard in the parking lot, and doctors complained about a lack of supplies.

The United Nations said the crisis appeared to be easing with the arrival of aid workers from more than 20 countries, and Indonesia's president said he had enough confidence in the relief efforts to return to the capital, Jakarta.

"Certainly, a lot more needs to be done," Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said.

But he said roads had been cleared, the main airport's runway repaired and reopened, and electricity restored in some areas.

The temblor that struck soon after dawn reduced more than 135,000 houses into piles of bricks, tiles and wood in less than a minute, displacing some 647,000 people, said Bambang Priyohadi, a provincial official.

Nearly a third of them now live under plastic sheets close to their former homes, in rice fields or on roadsides, while the rest are staying with relatives, he said.

Their misery has been compounded by days of intermittent rain and blazing sun, with another downfall dousing the region Wednesday.

Getting food and fresh water to survivors remained a pressing concern, with some $5 million needed over the next few months to pay for emergency rations of enriched noodles and high-energy biscuits, the U.N. World Food Program said.

Many villagers complained they were not getting the help they needed.

"All we got today was a half-kilogram (one pound) of rice," said Ratimah, 60, who has a family of four to feed. "It's not enough."