Thousands in shelters as Indonesia flood death toll hits 60

Yahoo – AFP, Haeril HALIM, Ganis Bungsu, January 4, 2020

Indonesian villagers use inner tubes to deliver supplies across a river at Banjar
Irigasi in Lebak, Banten province (AFP Photo/SAMMY)

Jakarta (AFP) - Indonesian rescue teams flew helicopters stuffed with food to remote flood-hit communities on Saturday as the death toll from the disaster jumped to 60 and fears grew about the possibility of more torrential rain.

Tens of thousands in Jakarta were still unable to return to their waterlogged homes after some of the deadliest flooding in years hit the enormous capital region, home to about 30 million.

In neighbouring Lebak, where half a dozen people died, police and military personnel dropped boxes of instant noodles and other supplies into remote communities inaccessible by road after bridges were destroyed.

"It's tough to get supplies in there... and there are about a dozen places hit by landslides," Tomsi Tohir -- the police chief of Banten province, where Lebak is located -- told AFP.

"That is why we're using helicopters although there aren't any landing spots."

Local health centre chief Suripto, who goes by one name, said injured residents were flowing into his clinic.

"Some of them were wounded after they were swept away by floods and hit with wood and rocks," he said.

Around Jakarta, more than 170,000 people took refuge in shelters across the massive urban conglomeration after whole neighbourhoods were submerged.

Map of Jakarta showing the areas affected by flooding (AFP Photo)

Torrential rains that started on New Year's Eve unleashed flash floods and landslides.

Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency said on Saturday that two people were also killed after flash floods and landslides hit a village in North Sulawesi on Friday.

The agency said Saturday the total death toll had climbed to 60 with two people still missing.

"We've discovered more dead bodies," said National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Agus Wibowo.

'Trauma healing'

Jakarta shelters filled up with refugees, including infants, resting on thin mats as food and drinking water ran low.

Some had been reduced to using floodwater for cleaning.

"We're cleaning ourselves in a nearby church but the time has been limited since it uses an electric generator for power," said Trima Kanti, 39, from one refuge in Jakarta's western edges.

In hard-hit Bekasi, on the eastern outskirts of Jakarta, swamped streets were littered with debris and crushed cars lying on top of each other -- with waterline marks reaching as high as the second floors of buildings.

People wait to get fresh water from a truck in their flood affected village in Bekasi, 

West Java (AFP Photo/REZAS)

On Friday, the government said it would start cloud seeding to the west of the capital -- inducing rain using chemicals sprayed from planes -- in the hope of preventing more rain reaching the city region.

Water has receded in many areas and power was being restored in hundreds of districts.

The health ministry has said it had deployed some 11,000 health workers and soldiers to distribute medicine, disinfectant hygiene kits and food in a bid to stave off outbreaks of Hepatitis A, mosquito-borne Dengue fever and other illnesses, including infections linked to contact with dead animals.

Visiting hard-hit Lebak, Coordinating Human Development and Culture Minister Muhadjir Effendy said the government would help rebuild destroyed schools and construct temporary bridges, while offering assistance to victims.

"We're also asking for NGOs (non-governmental organisations) to help with trauma healing," Muhadjir told reporters on Saturday.

Electrocution, drowning

Around Jakarta, a family -- including a four- and nine-year-old -- died of suspected gas poisoning from a portable power generator, while an eight-year-old boy was killed in a landslide.

Indonesia's disaster agency said the death toll from the heavy flooding had 

climbed to 60 (AFP Photo/BAY ISMOYO)

Others died from drowning or hypothermia, while one 16-year-old boy was electrocuted by a power line.

Jakarta is regularly hit by floods during the rainy season, which started in late November.

But this week marked Jakarta's deadliest flooding since 2013 when dozens were killed after the city was inundated by monsoon rains.

Urban planning experts said the disaster was partly due to record rainfall.

But Jakarta's myriad infrastructure problems, including poor drainage and rampant overdevelopment, have worsened the situation, they said.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has announced a plan to move the country's capital to Borneo island to take pressure off Jakarta, which suffers from some of the world's worst traffic jams and is fast sinking due to excessive groundwater extraction.)

New machine aims to end India's sewer death shame

Yahoo – AFP, 19 November 2018

World Toilet Day is held on November 19 each year and is a campaign to raise
awareness of issues surrounding health and sanitation

Hundreds of "manual scavengers" die each year cleaning out sewers in cities across India but a machine unveiled for Monday's World Toilet Day could help to end that tragic record.

Thousands of mostly low-caste Indians are employed in one of the world's dirtiest jobs unclogging human waste from underground pipes.

More than 1,300 have died, mainly suffocated, in the past three years, according to the Sulabh International charity.

The men are called "manual scavengers" because they mainly scrape the waste with their bare hands without any protective gear or masks.

The machine launched by Sulabh injects high pressure water into the tunnels and tanks and then collects the waste with a mechanical bucket operated from ground level.

A remote control inspection camera generates high-resolution images of the sewer system.

Bindeshwar Pathak, the Sulabh International founder, said that forcing humans into the sewers was "demeaning".

"We hear so often the tragic news about sewer workers losing their lives," he said.

"This machine can safely clean the waste matter and it will gradually make manual scavenging redundant.

"With this machine we hope no person will die in the sewers any more."

Indian lawmakers have passed several laws aiming to stamp out the age-old practice of manual scavenging, the latest in 2013. But many scavengers are still used through subcontractors.

In rural areas, women "scavengers" clean out primitive non-flush toilets with basic tools, although the practice is now on the wane.

Pathak also unveiled a giant Indian-style toilet pot to raise awareness about sanitation in a country where some 150 million people do not have home toilets.

Anger grows in Italy as bridge toll hits 39

Yahoo – AFP, Remi BANET and Vincent-Xavier MORVAN, August 15, 2018

The disaster left one driver's green lorry perched precariously close to the precipice.
The 37-year-old driver told Italian media how he had escaped the "hell" of the
bridge collapse (AFP Photo/Valery HACHE)

Genoa (Italy) (AFP) - Italy's government on Wednesday blamed the firm that operated the collapsed Genoa bridge for the disaster in which at least 39 people died, as it announced a state of emergency in the city.

Search operations, meanwhile, were due to enter a second night with rescuers digging through mountains of crushed concrete.

A vast span of the Morandi bridge caved in during a heavy rainstorm in the northern port city on Tuesday, sending about 35 cars and several trucks plunging 45 metres (150 feet) onto railway tracks below.

Children aged eight, 12 and 13 were among the dead, Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said, adding that more people were still missing. Sixteen people were injured.

The driver of a green lorry left precariously close to the edge told Italian media how he had escaped the "hell" of the bridge collapse.

"It was raining very hard and it wasn't possible to go very fast," he told the Corriere della Sera daily.

"When a car overtook me I slowed down... (then) at a certain moment everything shook. The car in front of me disappeared and seemed to be swallowed up by the clouds. I Looked up and saw the bridge pylon fall," he said.

"Instinctively, finding myself in front of the void, I put the van into reverse, to escape this hell," he added.

Three Chileans, who live in Italy, and four French nationals were also killed.

The tragedy has focussed anger on the structural problems that have dogged the decades old Morandi bridge and the private sector firm Autostrade per l'Italia, which is currently in charge of operating and maintaining swathes of the country's motorways.

Deputy prime minister Luigi Di Maio said the tragedy "could have been avoided".

"Autostrade should have done maintenance and didn't do it," he alleged.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte also confirmed that his government would push to revoke the company's contract for the A10 motorway, which includes the bridge, while Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli said the company should be fined up to 150 million euros ($170 million).

The firm, which said the bridge had been undergoing maintenance work, however, released a statement refuting accusations of underfunding of motorway infrastructure.

"In the last five years (2012-2017) the company's investment in the security, maintenance and strengthening of the network has been over one billion euros a year," it said.

'I went down with the car'

Survivors recounted the heart-stopping moment when the bridge buckled, tossing vehicles and hunks of concrete into the abyss.

Davide Capello, a former goalkeeper for Italian Serie A club Cagliari, plunged with his car but was unscathed.

The bridge has been riddled with structural problems since its construction, which 

has led to expensive maintenance and severe criticism from engineering experts

(AFP Photo/Piero CRUCIATTI)

"I was driving along the bridge, and at a certain point I saw the road in front of me collapse, and I went down with the car," he told TV news channel Sky TG24.

As cars and trucks tumbled off the bridge, Afifi Idriss, 39, a Moroccan truck driver, just managed to stop in time.

"I saw the green lorry in front of me stop and then reverse so I stopped too, locked the truck and ran," he told AFP.

While around a dozen apartment blocks that stand in the shadow of the viaduct were largely spared the impact of the falling concrete, the Liguria regional government said some 634 people had been evacuated.

Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said the homes would have to be pulled down.

'A tragedy waiting to happen'

The incident is the latest in a string of bridge collapses in Italy, a country prone to damage from seismic activity but where infrastructure generally is showing the effects of a faltering economy.

The Morandi viaduct, completed in 1967, spans dozens of railway lines.

The bridge has been riddled with structural problems since its construction, which has led to expensive maintenance and severe criticism from engineering experts.

On Tuesday engineering website "Ingegneri.info" called it "a tragedy waiting to happen".

Conte also announced after a cabinet meeting Wednesday that a national day of mourning was being planned.

There would also be a 12-month state of emergency in Genoa, he said, with five million euros of funds going into recovery work.

Building site fatalities on Dutch construction projects double in two years

DutchNews, March 22, 2018

The number of job-related deaths on building sites in the Netherlands has doubled in the past two years, according to the social affairs ministry inspectorate SZW. 

In 2017, there were 20 fatalities, up from 16 in 2016, public broadcaster NOS reported on Thursday. 

The increase is attributed to the fact that there are far more subcontractors – independent contractors known as zzp’ers in the Netherlands – working on Dutch building sites in addition to foreign workers who lack knowledge of the Dutch language and unqualified workers. 

‘Previously there was always one major contractor with a safety coordinator, but nowadays there isn’t and this has led to big problems,’ the inspectorate said. 

The building sector leads all others in terms at workplace fatalities. There were 162 deaths on construction sites over the past eight years and that represents 30% of the total.

Engineer warned of cracking in US bridge before deadly collapse

Yahoo – AFP, Leila MACOR, March 17, 2018

The pedestrian bridge that collapsed in Miami had only been installed over
the weekend (AFP Photo/Antoni BELCHI)

Miami (AFP) - The chief engineer of a Florida bridge project warned authorities of cracking in the structure days before it collapsed, killing at least six people, the southern US state's department of transportation said Friday.

Chief engineer Denney Pate left a voicemail on a Florida Department of Transportation employee's landline on March 13, two days before the pedestrian walkway came crashing down on the major road beneath, the department said in a statement.

The voicemail -- which was not heard until Friday because the employee it was left for was out of the office -- mentioned a problem, but did not warn that structural failure was imminent.

There was "some cracking that's been observed on the north end of the span," Pate said, according to a transcript of the call.

"Obviously some repairs or whatever will have to be done but from a safety perspective we don't see that there's any issue there," Pate said.

At least eight cars were trapped when the 950-ton (tonne) bridge suddenly gave way on Thursday, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Division Chief Paul Estopinan said.

The walkway, which connected Florida International University to a student housing area, had been raised less than a week ago but was not expected to be operational until 2019.

Death toll could rise

Miami-Dade county police spokesman Alvaro Zabaleta told reporters that on Friday rescue operations shifted to one of body recovery, with engineers fearing the support structures at either end of the bridge could also come down.

"The entire bridge is in jeopardy," Zabaleta said.

Juan Perez, director of the Miami-Dade police department later told reporters that a team of government prosecutors was on the scene as part of the investigation, but stressed it was too soon to say whether criminal charges would be brought.

Emergency personnel searched for victims at the scene of a bridge collapse in 

Miami (AFP Photo/Miguel GUTIERREZ)

"It is important that we understand, this is a homicide investigation. That's all it is," he said. "That means that somebody died... It does not mean there (are) criminal charges looming or pending or anything like that."

The death toll meanwhile was likely to go up when authorities extracted and identified the remains of victims in vehicles trapped under the rubble, Perez said.

Ten people were taken to hospital after the bridge collapse, Zabaleta said.

Video footage showed the concrete structure suddenly crashing onto the road below.

Police detective Juan Carlos Llera said when the bridge came down, it "sounded like an explosion. A huge bang."

"It looks like a disaster area. It looks literally like a bomb went off," Llera told AFP.

Miami Fire Chief Dave Downey emphasized there was no hope of finding survivors.

Loose cables

The bridge was suspended from cables which came loose, and while they were being tightened the whole thing collapsed, Florida Senator Marco Rubio wrote on Twitter.

The university had just celebrated the walkway's construction, which bridges a busy and dangerous section of highway that students said had been the scene of accidents.

It was raised using an accelerated modular building method that enabled the bridge to go up in the space of a day.

FIGG Engineering Group, one of the partners involved in the walkway's construction, said it was "stunned" by the bridge collapse, and vowed in a statement to "fully cooperate with every appropriate authority in reviewing what happened and why."

Munilla Construction Management, which was also involved, issued a statement of condolence. Bridge collapses in the United States are rare despite rising risks associated with aging infrastructure.

The deadliest such incident this century was in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 2007, when an eight-lane bridge collapsed into the Mississippi River, killing 13 people.

Italy's deadly flirtation with illegal building

Yahoo – AFP, Ella IDE, August 23, 2017

The Ischia quake measured just 4.0 Magnitude -- on the seismic scale, a modest
event. Yet houses collapsed and two people died. Now experts are pointing the
finger at Italy's chronic problem of illegal construction (AFP Photo/Handout)

Rome (AFP) - As Italy reels from another earthquake, experts warned Wednesday that widespread illegal construction is putting millions across the country at risk of being killed.

The tremor that shook the island of Ischia on Monday, toppling houses and killing two women, has sparked much soul-searching in a country with a weakness for rule-breaking -- particularly when it comes to building or renovating houses.

Geologists insisted that the relatively minor 4.0-magnitude quake should not have killed anyone and the civil protection agency laid the blame on the "many structures built with shoddy and illegal materials" on the island.

Residents there have put in 28,000 requests for amnesties for infringement of building regulations in the last 30 years.

Attempts by the council to tear down illegal constructions have sparked fury, with locals clashing with riot police.

The same battle is waged daily across Italy -- predominantly in the poorer south, the playground of Italy's mafias.

The mayor of Licata in Sicily was ousted this month by councillors infuriated by his campaign against illegal housing.

Italy's national statistic institute (ISTAT) warned last year of a "decisive rise in the level of illegality" in construction, involving nearly 20 new buildings in every 100. That number rose to 60 in every 100 in some regions in the south.

The scale "has no equal in other advanced economies," it said.

Worse, buildings allegedly restored under strict anti-seismic norms collapsed in quakes last year, including schools.

And while some buildings at risk due to poor-quality materials or unlicensed extensions are subject to demolition orders, only around 10 percent of them are carried out.

Corruption, incompetence

The worst offender is the Calabria region, followed by Sicily and the Basilicata in the instep of boot-shaped Italy.

But it is Campania -- encompassing Naples and Ischia island -- which is dubbed the "Russian Roulette of Italy" by experts because of its deadly mix of illegal houses, a high-density population and the active volcano Vesuvius.

There are over 4,500 schools, 259 hospitals and nearly 900,000 buildings in the highest-risk areas of the region.

"For at least the last 20 years the scientific community has been explaining the problem to the institutions, above all pushing for prevention measures," said Stefano Carlino, researcher at the national geographic institute in Naples.

"They are expensive of course, but also fundamental. Unfortunately the issue has not been given the attention it needs," he said.

Geologist Mario Tozzi warns Vesuvius is nothing compared to the activity seen at the nearby volcanic Phlegraean Fields over the last few years, including a rise in the ground-level of 25 centimetres (inches), tremors and ever-hotter gases.

"The Phlegraean Fields is a supervolcano made up of some 30 craters -- gaily occupied today by hippodromes and hospitals -- the eruption of which would spark the permanent exodus of half a million people," he said.

And how to forget Marsili, the undersea volcano south of Naples which is "70 kilometres (43.5 miles) long and 3,000 metres tall (10,000 feet), and just off the Calabrian coast", where an eruption could trigger a tsunami as well as devastate cities and towns.

As Italy marks the anniversary of a 2016 quake in central Italy that killed 299 people, Tozzi insisted it was not nature that buries children alive in rubble but "corruption, political incompetence and our incapability to learn from history".

And sometimes not even a tremor is needed to topple buildings: eight people died in July when an apartment block collapsed near Naples, killing among others the municipal architect in charge of building security checks in the area.

US firm stops sales of Grenfell Tower cladding for high-rises

Yahoo – AFP, June 26, 2017

The June 14 inferno at Grenfell Tower, a residential block in west London, left
79 people presumed dead after the fire spread rapidly up its 24 storeys (AFP
Photo/Niklas HALLE'N)

London (AFP) - The US supplier of the cladding which encased London's Grenfell Tower before it was destroyed by a devastating fire announced Monday it was stopping sales of the material for high-rise buildings.

"Arconic is discontinuing global sales of Reynobond PE for use in high-rise applications," a company spokesman told AFP.

The firm put the decision down to "issues that have arisen in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy" and differences in building regulations around the world.

The June 14 inferno left 79 people presumed dead after the fire spread rapidly up the 24-storey residential block in west London.

As emergency services continue to search through the ashes of the gutted building, suspicion has fallen on the recently installed cladding with allegations it may have contributed to the ferocity of the blaze.

The Arconic spokesman said the company "will continue to fully support the authorities as they investigate this tragedy".

Sales of the Reynobond PE cladding for use in low-rise buildings will continue.

An estimated 600 tower blocks in England believed to have similar cladding to that used at Grenfell are currently going through tests.

Samples taken from 75 high-rises tested so far have all failed safety tests, communities minister Sajid Javid said on Monday.

"We have witnessed a catastrophic failure," he told MPs, lamenting the slow speed at which samples were being submitted for tests.

Buildings which have already undergone safety checks include four tower blocks in north London which were evacuated on Saturday, with Javid saying inspectors discovered 1,000 fire doors were missing.

The minister also warned unsafe cladding "may not be a problem unique to social housing or tall buildings".

All hospitals have been asked to conduct additional checks and 15 government buildings "require further investigation", he said without giving further details.

Child identified by teeth

As work continues to prevent a repeat of the Grenfell Tower blaze, a London coroner's court heard how a five-year-old victim choked to death on fumes as he tried to escape.

The boy had to be identified by dental records after his body was found on the 13th floor, five levels lower than his home as he family tried to flee.

"It can't really be explained in enough detail how complex an investigation this is in terms of identification and in terms of recovery of bodies on a dangerous site that my team are not allowed to enter because the building is being shored up," Westminster coroner Fiona Wilcox told the court.

So far 18 people have been identified including Khadija Saye, a 24-year-old photographer who had exhibited at the Venice Biennale and lived on the 20th floor.

Saye was discovered on a hallway in the ninth floor and is believed to have died from fumes and burns.

Her mother Mary Mendy, 52, was identified by dental records after being found on the 13th storey. Her sister Betty Jackson said she will "be missed for a lifetime".

"My beloved sister, words can never describe the pain of losing you. I can't believe you are gone," she said in a statement published through London's Metropolitan Police.

Related Article:

Safety fears for thousands of tower block residents after London inferno

Safety fears for thousands of tower block residents after London inferno

Yahoo – AFP, Robin MILLARD, June 22, 2017

Safety fears for thousands of tower block residents after London inferno

London (AFP) - Tower blocks housing thousands of people across England are being urgently tested to check if their cladding poses a serious fire risk following the Grenfell Tower disaster, as the government on Thursday blamed decades of neglect.

Prime Minister Theresa May said the government had arranged to test cladding on "all relevant tower blocks" following the deadly June 14 inferno, with at least three public housing blocks already found to be covered in combustible material.

English local authorities estimate that 600 high-rise buildings have cladding, and the race is on to establish which ones are covered in the same material that enclosed Grenfell Tower in west London.

The figure does not include Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, which have autonomous powers in housing.

The panels have been widely blamed for the rapid spread of the fire which consumed the 24-storey public housing block, leaving 79 people presumed dead.

They may also have produced toxic gases when burning and at least three people injured in the disaster were given an anti-cyanide antidote as a precaution.

Camden Council in London on Thursday said it will remove cladding from five tower blocks over fire concerns, raising questions about the status of the thousands currently living in cladded tower blocks.

"Many others living in tall residential buildings will have concerns about their safety after what happened at Grenfell," May said in a statement to parliament.

"We cannot and will not ask people to live in unsafe homes."

The full terror awaiting firefighters at Grenfell was laid bare on Thursday by footage filmed inside a fire engine as it neared the tower.

Seeing the entire building ablaze, the stunned firemen asked how such an inferno could happen, in the footage obtained by the BBC.

They could be heard saying: "Jesus Christ, that is not a real block with people in it? How are we going get in that?

"That's a whole tower block on fire... Oh my God. There's kids in there. How is that even possible?"

Downing Street declined to specify whether the cladding on the tower block was combustible or not, citing an ongoing investigation.

More than 100 buildings a day can be tested and May urged landlords to send samples for rapid assessment.

She said landlords were expected to provide people with alternative accommodation if buildings were found to be unsafe.

Cyanide poisoning concerns

King's College Hospital told AFP that three of its patients from the disaster were given the hydrogen cyanide poisoning antidote Cyanokit as a precaution.

Manufacturer Celotex stated that the insulation in the cladding would have released "toxic gases" if it caught fire.

The National Health Service said 10 patients were still being treated in hospital, five of whom were in a critical condition.

The cladding was installed for beautification and insulation despite warnings from local residents about fire safety as part of a major refurbishment of Grenfell Tower that was completed last year.

May said "no stone will be left unturned" in a judge-led inquiry she has ordered into the blaze.

She has apologised for the chaotic official response to the fire from local and national government.

The chief executive of the local authority, which owned the tower, quit after fierce criticism over the council's response.

Nicholas Holgate claims he was forced out from his post in charge of Kensington and Chelsea council by the British government's Local Government Secretary Sajid Javid.

However, Javid's office denied involvement, saying it was a matter entirely for the council.

The Justice4Grenfell campaign group welcomed Holgate's departure.

Immigration reassurances

May said there were now around 600 people working by the site to provide support to victims and so far there had been 500 visits to the centre.

Each family whose home was destroyed was receiving a £5,000 (5,700-euro, $6,300) downpayment.

The tower itself contained 120 flats. May said 151 homes had been destroyed and that their occupants were guaranteed new homes on the same terms, within three weeks and as close to home as possible.

"Nobody is being forced to move somewhere they don't want to go," she insisted.

May added that survivors would not be subjected to immigration checks.

"All victims, irrespective of their immigration status, will be able to access the services they need," she said.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan called for an amnesty for any illegal immigrants who survived the blaze.

#UPDATE Hundreds of tower blocks in England have similar cladding to the burnt-out #GrenfellTower https://t.co/qMtsYT5iV5 pic.twitter.com/mDexZHDyaS

— AFP news agency (@AFP) June 22, 2017

Related Articles:

Sixty towers across England found to have unsafe cladding - New
London tower blocks evacuated over fire fears - New

#UPDATE Thousands of residents from 650 London flats evacuated due to fire safety fears after #GrenfellTower blaze https://t.co/P2uZhQQlCr pic.twitter.com/9bdlb1WJ3b

— AFP news agency (@AFP) June 24, 2017

Rescuers scrabble for survivors as Indonesia quake kills 97

Yahoo – AFP, Chaideer Mahyuddin, December 7, 2016

Dozens have died as a 6.5-magnitude earthquake strikes western Indonesia
(AFP Photo/Zian Muttaqien)

Rescuers scrabbled through the rubble of shattered homes, shops and mosques in search of survivors Wednesday after a powerful earthquake struck western Indonesia and killed at least 97 people.

The shallow 6.5-magnitude quake struck Pidie Jaya district in Aceh province at dawn as many in the mainly Muslim region on Sumatra island were preparing for morning prayers.

"So far 97 people have been killed and the number keeps growing," Aceh military chief Tatang Sulaiman told AFP after the army took over responsibility for the search and rescue.

"When we retrieve bodies sometimes there's five, sometimes 10 corpses."

More than 1,000 soldiers and about 900 police have been deployed to the worst-hit areas to set up shelters and evacuation points, he added.

It was the second time in just over a decade that tragedy had struck the province's east coast, following the 2004 tsunami disaster.

Hundreds of houses and shops were levelled by the quake, leaving countless people homeless and in need of basic supplies like food and water, officials said.

"The electricity is still off. Some places have generators, but there are not many," local disaster agency head Puteh Manaf told AFP.

"If it rains there will be disease."

Close-up map showing the area hit by a 6.5-magnitude quake in Indonesia's 

Aceh province on December 7, 2016 (AFP Photo)

'Everything was destroyed'

The sole hospital in Pidie Jaya was quickly overwhelmed, with patients treated on the grass out front or sent to neighbouring districts with better facilities.

The district health office chief Said Abdullah said nearly 200 injured had arrived since the quake, but many would not enter the hospital for fear of aftershocks.

"We are treating people outside. We took the beds out because nobody is daring to enter the hospital," he told AFP.

Another regional hospital had suffered serious damage in the quake, along with schools and other key infrastructure, a a national disaster agency spokesman said.

In the hard-hit town of Meureudu, terrified residents rushed outside as their homes buckled and crumbled.

"Everything was destroyed," said Hasbi Jaya, who pulled his two children unconscious from the rubble of their home.

"It was pitch black because the electricity was out. I looked around and all my neighbours' homes were completely flattened."

An AFP correspondent said dazed residents were wandering debris-strewn streets, unable to return to their damaged homes in fear of aftershocks.

Women stand next to the bodies of their relatives, killed in an earthquake in

 Pidie Jaya, Indonesia's Aceh province on December 7, 2016 (AFP Photo/

CHAIDEER MAHYUDDIN)

Some fled to higher ground for fear of a tsunami although no alert was issued.

A huge undersea earthquake in 2004 triggered a tsunami that engulfed parts of Aceh and other countries around the Indian Ocean, killing more than 170,000 people in Indonesia alone.

Indonesian seismologists said the latest earthquake was felt across much of Aceh province, with many aftershocks following the initial tremor.

The US Geological Survey upgraded the magnitude to 6.5 from an initial reading of 6.4 and issued a yellow alert for expected fatalities and damage.

Indonesia experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", where tectonic plates collide.

Aceh lies on the northern tip of Sumatra island, which is particularly prone to quakes.

In June a 6.5-magnitude quake struck off the west of Sumatra, damaging scores of buildings and injuring eight people.

 Women attend a prayer service at Baiturrahman Mosque in Banda Aceh, in

 the northern Sumatra island, on December 25, 2014, prior to the 10th anniversary

 of the tsunami that hit the west coast of Aceh province (AFP Photo/

Chaideer Mahyuddin)

Related Articles:

As world honours the dead, Indonesia begins tsunami memorials

Japan prepares to mark three years since devastating quake

"Current" Events –  Apr 10, 2005 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

“… Mass Human Death

The final one, dear Human, is the hardest one for my partner and the one we wish to leave you with in this channeling tonight. This is the one that my partner doesn't want to even have me talk about. It's the appropriateness of mass death. For you, built in to your very essence is the honor for life, and the sorrow when it passes. It's correct and appropriate that this is there, and never let it be tempered. But the wisdom of understanding is also needed to help you get past some challenges of the Human heart.

"Dear Kryon, was the tsunami really necessary?" Yes it was. Almost 200,000 Human Beings passed over. It's an event that for you is filled with horror, sorrow, emotion, and challenge. Back in 1989, we told you of those that might have to leave the earth en masse, and here it is. Yet even my partner [Lee] asks the questions, "Why the children? Why the poorest parts of the earth? Why the seeming inappropriateness of all this death?"

And I say to you the same thing I said with respect to Terri: Do you understand yet that death is often as precious as life on this planet of many energies and lessons? They are not gone! They're all here [speaking from Kryon's perspective]. They're having a great time! They're joyful! It seems like a moment ago they leaned into the wind of birth with us beside them. We said, "How would you like to participate in an event that will change the compassion factor of the planet so that energies can move forward and provide faster acceleration of vibratory shift? How would you like to help create peace on earth through a consciousness shift within Gaia itself? And they said, "Show us the way!"

Do you understand why we are in love with humanity... that you would love the earth and the Universe so much that you would go through these things? So much of what you see is horrible tragedy, yet you're looking at the heroes of humanity as they deliver a gift that will change the very fabric of Gaia through the compassion created as a wave of humanity responds to their plight.

They knew the potentials and they went through with it. Even the children knew, for they're old souls within their divinity. There was so much compassion created at that time, in that one week, the earth has never seen anything like it in your lifetime. Billions of Humans were involved with a compassion that instantly went to the core of the planet. It went into the earth and it's still there. It changed the actual energy of where you walk and it planted a seeds that will grow that will indeed emerge later in Israel, and those surrounding Israel.

And that's what it's about. Yet some of you didn't want to hear that, did you? But they're here, with me now... and with you as well. How could you fit them all in this room, you might ask? They can fit on the head of a pin! That's interdimensional talk. They can go home in your purse or your pocket! That's interdimensional talk, too. And they've got a message for you that we've given before, but you can't hear it enough: "We did our part - now you do yours, Lighthouse! For the ones who remain are the only ones who can manipulate the tools we have helped create."

When you go home tonight, you're not going to be in a survival situation - in a tent in a tribe with no lights or clean water, with no food. You're not going to be in sorrow or despair. Instead, you go home to a warm place with plenty of food and friendship and the love of family. That's why you're the Lighthouses, because you have time for it. You've got the intellect for it. You're not in survival mode, as is so much of humanity on the earth. You have the education for it and the intuition for it. Now, do you understand why there are so many Lighthworkers in the western world? It's because your culture has created a situation where there's abundance of these things, and it allows you to lead the way in changing the energy of earth, instead of having all your time spent just trying to survive. Does this help you understand the responsibility of what you have before you?

Strike the light and send it to the Sudanese. Strike light and send it to those dark places with governments where there's corruption. Strike the light and send it to the scientists and researchers who already have the cures for the more virulent diseases on the planet, but can't begin their work due to the barriers of certain leadership and their old ways. Strike the light and send it to Israel and Palestine and get on with this solution! This is why you're here, and this is the agreement you made when you arrived and selected the culture you live in.

Achievable in your lifetime, it is. Peace and compassion will prevail. You shall see. You shall see.

And so it is.

Kryon

"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)

“... Japan

Let us talk for a moment about Japan, and then I'll close the day of messages. There are thousands of souls on my side of the veil and they're just fine, more than fine. We have spoken so often of what happens at the Wind of Birth. I told you, before they even came in, they saw the potential. I looked in their eyes. "You may not last long. You know that, don't you? You're coming into this planet and you may not be here very long. And the passing that you will have with your family will not be pleasant, if any ever are. Why would you come in anyway?" I want to tell you what they said. When a soul has the mind of God, it understands fully what generates peace and what generates energy shift. You can clearly see what generates what the planet needs the most when you are about to arrive. So they said, "We're going to be part of one of the biggest compassion events the planet has ever seen." One earthquake, one tsunami. All of those who left that day will change the earth forever. And it already has. It was the same for the last tsunami as well.

Every single one of them on my side of the veil is getting ready to come back. Many old souls were involved, and just for a moment, if they could give you any information, if they could talk to you right now, if they could speak your language and look into your eyes, they would thank you for your compassion for them and those who are left. And they would say, "Be with those family members who are still alive. Enter their hearts every day and give them peace and keep them from crying, because we're OK."

Nuclear Power Revealed

So let me tell you what else they did. They just showed you what's wrong with nuclear power. "Safe to the maximum," they said. "Our devices are strong and cannot fail." But they did. They are no match for Gaia.

It seems that for more than 20 years, every single time we sit in the chair and speak of electric power, we tell you that hundreds of thousands of tons of push/pull energy on a regular schedule is available to you. It is moon-driven, forever. It can make all of the electricity for all of the cities on your planet, no matter how much you use. There's no environmental impact at all. Use the power of the tides, the oceans, the waves in clever ways. Use them in a bigger way than any designer has ever put together yet, to power your cities. The largest cities on your planet are on the coasts, and that's where the power source is. Hydro is the answer. It's not dangerous. You've ignored it because it seems harder to engineer and it's not in a controlled environment. Yet, you've chosen to build one of the most complex and dangerous steam engines on Earth - nuclear power.

We also have indicated that all you have to do is dig down deep enough and the planet will give you heat. It's right below the surface, not too far away all the time. You'll have a Gaia steam engine that way, too. There's no danger at all and you don't have to dig that far. All you have to do is heat fluid, and there are some fluids that boil far faster than water. So we say it again and again. Maybe this will show you what's wrong with what you've been doing, and this will turn the attitudes of your science to create something so beautiful and so powerful for your grandchildren. Why do you think you were given the moon? Now you know.

This benevolent Universe gave you an astral body that allows the waters in your ocean to push and pull and push on the most regular schedule of anything you know of. Yet there you sit enjoying just looking at it instead of using it. It could be enormous, free energy forever, ready to be converted when you design the methods of capturing it. It's time.

So in closing, do you understand what you're seeing? You're seeing intelligent design, quantum energy and high consciousness. You are seeing changes in Human nature. You're seeing countries putting things together instead of separating. You are seeing those who don't want war and instead want peace, good schools for their children, safety in their streets and a say in their government. We told you it was going to happen this way. I want my partner to teach these things that I have said in his 3D lectures for awhile. Many won't be able to know these things otherwise.  …”