Sanitation woes follow quake

BANTUL, Indonesia — Many of Indonesia's 650,000 homeless earthquake survivors are living with deteriorating sanitary conditions, forced to wash with dirty water that infects wounds and spreads skin disease, doctors said Sunday.

Another peril loomed from a nearby volcano, which spewed lava and hot gases dozens of times on Sunday.

There was also concern about bird flu in the quake zone, as the number of Indonesia's human deaths from the virus mounted. Some of the homeless have taken shelter in chicken coops that aid workers fear could contain the disease.

Despite the hardships of day-to-day survival, farmers in the quake zone were returning to their fields to pick food, under pressure to earn money for rebuilding their shattered homes. Farming communities were among the hardest hit by the magnitude-6.3 quake that struck last weekend.

Most of the hundreds of thousands left homeless are living in makeshift shelters — often just plastic tarps — with no toilets or running water.

Doctors said wells and streams in many villages have become polluted because of the poor sanitary conditions.

"There are still many who are sick, some with skin diseases because of poor sanitation," said Hendra, a government doctor traveling around the quake zone in a medical van. "The water for washing is dirty and many patients are not taking proper care of their wounds."

The doctor, who like many Indonesians uses only one name, said health personnel still had not reached many villages in hilly areas.

U.N. spokeswoman Amanda Pitt said sanitation and providing clean water to the homeless "remain a key concern."

More than a thousand aftershocks have hit central Java since the earthquake struck May 27, killing at least 6,234 people and injuring 30,000. Officials estimate that 135,000 homes were destroyed.

Indonesia is prone to seismic upheaval because of its location on the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.

Mount Merapi, one of the world's most active volcanos, spewed lava and hot clouds of gas and ash dozens of times Sunday, said Sugiono, a government scientist. The volcano is north of Yogyakarta, the main city in the quake zone.