Students prepare for exams amid ruins, aftershocks

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Sun, 06/04/2006 1:59 PM

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A strong aftershock jolted survivors Saturday evening as thousands prepared to spend their eighth night in makeshift shelters, with the additional worries of an eruption from Mount Merapi -- and exams scheduled for Monday for sixth graders.

From the worst hit area of Bantul regency, Antara news agency reported students of the Wirokerten elementary school were joining a study class organized by the charity program run by Republika daily.

Although officials have raised the possibility of the local exams being delayed, organizers of the study class in the Banguntapan district said preparation was important nevertheless.

""The most important thing for them is mental recovery to be able to follow the upcoming exams,"" said Veldy V. Armita of the ""Dompet Dhuafa Republika"".

""The children need encouragement to continue studying,"" he said, adding that they were not too affected by their parents' trauma.

The program includes playing and singing before studying in the tents set up on the school field.

Local exams, which students sit before national exams, are scheduled for Monday for schools which can manage to organize them, while the remainder of students can sit for the exams on June 12.

Also from Bantul, the British medical aid agency Merlin was quoted by the Associated Press as saying it was concerned the villagers could catch bird flu or salmonella infections, and appealed for more tents for survivors. Dozens of families have opted to stay in chicken coops. Flies were buzzing around and children played barefoot on bamboo slats encrusted with chicken droppings, AP reported.

The Agence France Presse reported although new casualties continued to stream in, the World Health Organization said the backlog of patients was being cleared. Foreign medical teams have set up field hospitals to ease the burden on local facilities.

""The situation is much better,"" the WHO's Lara Guarenti told AFP at Bantul general hospital.

""The main concern now is infection prevention control. There is a huge number of elderly people who have very bad fractures,"" she added.

Antara also reported Saturday the local administration was completing the listing of damaged homes, after which compensation would be arranged.

Yogyakarta administration spokesman Alex Syamsuri said compensation ranged from Rp 250,000 to Rp 750,000 per square meter -- up to a maximum of 40 square meters -- or a total of Rp 30 million to Rp 10 million for each home owner.

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