Tracking shots past devastated villages Music 00:00
CAMPBELL: Journeying to the centre of the earthquake is like entering Armageddon. There is destruction on a scale almost beyond comprehension. A whole society has been crushed by the vagary of nature. 00:14
Campbell on motorbike visiting Kopensari
Were going to a place that no outside help has reached. With many bridges destroyed, the only way to reach some areas is by helicopter or motorcycle. The village is just an hour from the city of Yogyakarta but the suffering of its people has gone unseen and unrelieved. 00:35
Sri Lestari
SRI LESTARI: When it happened, I grabbed my child and tried to get out, but the part of the building to my left was shaking and started to collapse. I couldnt get out, so I just stood still and held my baby. 01:00
Sri Lestari with remaining belongings
CAMPBELL: This is all Sri Lestari could salvage from the rubble of her house -- a few family documents, school texts and scraps of the Koran. 01:17
Sri Lestari
SRI LESTARI: Im still worried, even now. I panic everywhere I go. I feel my head ache, and my heart rushes. Things are still very tense here. 01:26
Devastation at Kopensari
CAMPBELL: This is Kopensari, just one of hundreds of towns and villages that have been absolutely devastated and were here on day four since the earthquake struck but nobody here has had any help at all from the government or from aid groups. But in this part of the world people accept these disasters as part of the natural order and while they wait for the outside world, the local community is doing whatever it can to try to get them through. 01:45
Ratna dispenses supplies
RATNA AMATSARIE: Here are some gifts for you for bathing. 02:10
CAMPBELL: Ratna Amatsarie and her husband run a small business in the city. Their house withstood the earthquake, but they couldnt stand back as the world around them crumbled. 02:16
RATNA AMATSARIE: We collect our own money and thats very limited and we buy whatever we can buy and give to them and now we are doing fundraising as well. The reason why 02:27
Ratna. we are doing this because we heard from one of our friends that the people in this remote area, they dont have anything and nobody touch them. Nobody visit them. Nobody. Not even the government. Well we can understand because the coverage area, the damage is really big. 02:35
Man sawing wood
CAMPBELL: Miraculously only one person here was killed, a 74 year old man who couldnt escape in time. 02:53
Destroyed houses
Ninety five per cent of the villages houses were destroyed when the earthquake struck at ten minutes to six in the morning as families were dressing their children for school. 03:06
Ratna with Campbell
RATNA AMATSARIE: Another five per cent is not usable. 03:16
CAMPBELL: Right.
RATNA AMATSARIE: People are afraid also to stay inside the house.
CAMPBELL: Yeah, yeah.
RATNA AMATSARIE: Because the building can collapse at any time. 03:23
Villagers build shelters
CAMPBELL: The villagers have used the plastic sheets Ratna gave them to build shelters. 03:30
Injured in shelters
Without medical help, theyve had to tend their injured as best they can. 03:40
Sri cooking
Sri Lestaris family now lives in the open and sleeps under this covering. Her parents, husband and children Umi, Siti and Anwar. 03:53
Sris family 04:03
SRI LESTARI: For me right now, whats important is knowing my children are safe and Im grateful for that. I cant even think about the future, Im too emotionally unstable. 04:06
Ratna interview
CAMPBELL: Whats going to happen now? I mean this village has been here for generations and now its gone? 04:20
RATNA AMATSARIE: Well what can I say? Its its the earthquake and they accept it, we have to accept it, we have to face it and this is life, thats it. 04:25
Children wave goodbye
CAMPBELL: We left them promising to return to see how they fared. Their suffering is just a tiny part of the calamity that has hit Yogyakarta. 04:35
Damaged Yogyakarta temple Music 04:45
CAMPBELL: Indonesias cultural capital, the cradle of Javanese identity has been grievously damaged. 04:53
Supplies being unloaded from plane. But slowly help is coming. Stung by the criticism of its slow response to the tsunami 18 months ago, Indonesias government has been struggling to prove its worth. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono came to Yogyakarta to direct relief efforts and ordered immediate airdrops. 05:03
Captain Tarigan in helicopter
Its a highly personal mission for Captain Ahmad Tarigan who took part in the tsunami relief in Aceh and has now found his own community shattered. 05:30
Captain Tarigan. Super: Captain Ahmad Tarigan Indonesian Armed Forces
CAPTAIN AHMAD TARIGAN: Just like everybody feel, I feel so sorry. Two of my crew have the same problem. They have their home broken. Thats why, even though Ive been here for so long and I have to fly so many hours, it doesnt make me feel exhausted, because of my spirit to help them. 05:41
Inside helicopter
CAMPBELL: We joined his team as they set off to bring food to a village that had not been reached for five days. Even continuous flights by army and civilian helicopters can only reach a small part of the earthquake area each day. While most of the city of Yogyakarta was spared, towns and villages across hundreds of square kilometres have been ruined. 06:11
Villagers run to collect supplies from helicopter
The villagers relief at getting help was overwhelming, but only one village can be reached at a time. As soon as the aid is dropped, they fly back for another load and there are needs even more desperate than food. 06:37
Makeshift hospital unit Many are still sick and injured in the rubble of their villages. Every day more critically ill survivors are being found. Freddy Soetrisno has been coordinating relief for one of scores of aid groups in the worst affected area, Bantul. 06:53
Soetrisno. Super: Freddy Soetrisno Global Rescue Network
FREDDY SOETRISNO: Hundreds of thousand houses collapse and we have over more than five thousand victims. Like this small city, there are sixty thousand inhabitants and 646 were dead and you actually see here around that there are a lot of things to do to help these people. There are still injuries, which we collect from the mountains behind this city where there are victims already days without food there and medical help. 07:10
Loading stretchers onto helicopter
CAMPBELL: But the helicopters can only take two stretchers at a time. This woman was lucky. With massive spinal injury she was given a spot on the one flight out. Others have not been so lucky. 07:41
Roads choked with traffic
The roads still functioning have been grid locked with traffic as cars and trucks try to get aid in or get the injured out. Those evacuated by road can face hours of waiting in the burning sun. 08:09
Overcrowded hospital
Then they pour into Yogyakartas over-stretched and over-crowded hospitals. It took four days for this six year old girl with a broken back to be brought for treatment. 08:26
Dr Cheng with Campbell
DR HENG AIK CHENG: It means that if shes moving her legs, that mean the back, shes not paralysed. 08:38
Dr Cheng tending to patient
CAMPBELL: Dr Heng Aik Cheng is an orthopaedic surgeon with the aid group Mercy Malaysia. His team has been working round the clock shifts to find and treat the earthquake victims. Sometimes they find them too late. 08:44
Dr Cheng
DR HENG AIK CHENG: If you ask me I dont think hes going to make it.
CAMPBELL: Many severe cases like this? 08:57
Super: Dr. Heng Aik Cheng Mercy Malaysia
DR HENG AIK CHENG: There are actually many, many and this chap will be a bit late. He should have been treated within the first 24 to 48, well certainly within the first 24 hours. 09:02
At the rate that we are going and the number of cases that we are doing, personally I would think that emergency phase would be finished by, hopefully, by three weeks time, which is a pretty long time. 09:11
Injured in car park
CAMPBELL: Even when their injuries are treated, many choose to stay, like the hundreds sleeping in this hospital car park. They no longer have homes to go back to. 09:27
Rumbling Mt. Merapi
To add to the misery there is fear of yet another calamity of nature. Behind Yogyakarta is Mount Merapi, one of the worlds most active volcanoes. In the weeks leading up to the earthquake, thousands of people were evacuated from here in fear there would be a massive eruption and even now you can see smoke and lava spewing from the summit. This is the diaster people were preparing for but the Gods had other ideas. 09:40
Theres a strong folklore about the volcano that coexists with the regions Islamic faith. Many believe the earthquake happened because the spirits of the mountain were holding a ceremony of creation. The queen of the sea decided to join them, splitting the ground as she came. 10:13
Mosque 10:31
Mbah Marijan/Men in mosque
Mbah Marijan is the official guardian of the mountain, appointed by the Sultan to commune with its spirits and mediate their disputes. He says theres no need to fear an eruption, the mountain is simply rebuilding itself to show its love for the people. 10:37
Mbah Marijan
MBAH MARIJAN: Its like doing a home renovation or renovating a mosque. It looks like were producing so much damage, but in fact we are making it better. Thats what Merapi does. 10:53
CAMPBELL: Seismologists monitoring the volcanos unusually high activity have urged more people to leave but for now, even after the earthquake, most people are heeding Marijans advice, choosing to stay in the volcanos shadow. 11:26
MBAH MARIJAN: According to me, and Im uneducated, if Merapi is putting on a show, just keep quiet. Everyone likes to show off from time to time. 11:44
Campbell returns to Kopensari and visits Sri Lestari
CAMPBELL: Back at Sri Lestaris village of Kopensari, there was an extraordinary change of mood. 12:00
CAMPBELL: How are you? 12:06
SRI LESTARI: Fine.
CAMPBELL: Outside aid had finally arrived, proper shelters, food and medicine. The injured had been treated or taken to hospital. 12:10
SRI LESTARI: The feeling today is far different from before. Yesterday my spirits were so low I couldnt function. But today I feel so much happier. 12:19
Generator
CAMPBELL: But the trauma theyve been through is just below the surface. On the advice of Mbah Marijan, villagers across the region are planting offerings to ward off further disaster. With Mount Merapi continuing to spout, it may come soon but thanks to Ratnas fundraising, they at least have a generator for the dark times ahead. 12:28
Villagers watch TV
It brought them power, light and first real link to the outside world. Soon theyll face the burden of trying to rebuild their homes and theyll have to help their children cope with what theyve seen and the impoverishment theyll face. 13:05
Children walk over rubble from school
Their school has been destroyed along with their homes, but the human spirit of endurance and revival is already beginning to show giving hope they will survive this latest calamity from the Gods. 13:27
Credits:
Reporter: Eric Campbell
Camera: Dave Martin
Sound: Nathan English
Editor: Dave Martin
Research: Anna Bracks 13:50
CAMPBELL: Journeying to the centre of the earthquake is like entering Armageddon. There is destruction on a scale almost beyond comprehension. A whole society has been crushed by the vagary of nature. 00:14
Campbell on motorbike visiting Kopensari
Were going to a place that no outside help has reached. With many bridges destroyed, the only way to reach some areas is by helicopter or motorcycle. The village is just an hour from the city of Yogyakarta but the suffering of its people has gone unseen and unrelieved. 00:35
Sri Lestari
SRI LESTARI: When it happened, I grabbed my child and tried to get out, but the part of the building to my left was shaking and started to collapse. I couldnt get out, so I just stood still and held my baby. 01:00
Sri Lestari with remaining belongings
CAMPBELL: This is all Sri Lestari could salvage from the rubble of her house -- a few family documents, school texts and scraps of the Koran. 01:17
Sri Lestari
SRI LESTARI: Im still worried, even now. I panic everywhere I go. I feel my head ache, and my heart rushes. Things are still very tense here. 01:26
Devastation at Kopensari
CAMPBELL: This is Kopensari, just one of hundreds of towns and villages that have been absolutely devastated and were here on day four since the earthquake struck but nobody here has had any help at all from the government or from aid groups. But in this part of the world people accept these disasters as part of the natural order and while they wait for the outside world, the local community is doing whatever it can to try to get them through. 01:45
Ratna dispenses supplies
RATNA AMATSARIE: Here are some gifts for you for bathing. 02:10
CAMPBELL: Ratna Amatsarie and her husband run a small business in the city. Their house withstood the earthquake, but they couldnt stand back as the world around them crumbled. 02:16
RATNA AMATSARIE: We collect our own money and thats very limited and we buy whatever we can buy and give to them and now we are doing fundraising as well. The reason why 02:27
Ratna. we are doing this because we heard from one of our friends that the people in this remote area, they dont have anything and nobody touch them. Nobody visit them. Nobody. Not even the government. Well we can understand because the coverage area, the damage is really big. 02:35
Man sawing wood
CAMPBELL: Miraculously only one person here was killed, a 74 year old man who couldnt escape in time. 02:53
Destroyed houses
Ninety five per cent of the villages houses were destroyed when the earthquake struck at ten minutes to six in the morning as families were dressing their children for school. 03:06
Ratna with Campbell
RATNA AMATSARIE: Another five per cent is not usable. 03:16
CAMPBELL: Right.
RATNA AMATSARIE: People are afraid also to stay inside the house.
CAMPBELL: Yeah, yeah.
RATNA AMATSARIE: Because the building can collapse at any time. 03:23
Villagers build shelters
CAMPBELL: The villagers have used the plastic sheets Ratna gave them to build shelters. 03:30
Injured in shelters
Without medical help, theyve had to tend their injured as best they can. 03:40
Sri cooking
Sri Lestaris family now lives in the open and sleeps under this covering. Her parents, husband and children Umi, Siti and Anwar. 03:53
Sris family 04:03
SRI LESTARI: For me right now, whats important is knowing my children are safe and Im grateful for that. I cant even think about the future, Im too emotionally unstable. 04:06
Ratna interview
CAMPBELL: Whats going to happen now? I mean this village has been here for generations and now its gone? 04:20
RATNA AMATSARIE: Well what can I say? Its its the earthquake and they accept it, we have to accept it, we have to face it and this is life, thats it. 04:25
Children wave goodbye
CAMPBELL: We left them promising to return to see how they fared. Their suffering is just a tiny part of the calamity that has hit Yogyakarta. 04:35
Damaged Yogyakarta temple Music 04:45
CAMPBELL: Indonesias cultural capital, the cradle of Javanese identity has been grievously damaged. 04:53
Supplies being unloaded from plane. But slowly help is coming. Stung by the criticism of its slow response to the tsunami 18 months ago, Indonesias government has been struggling to prove its worth. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono came to Yogyakarta to direct relief efforts and ordered immediate airdrops. 05:03
Captain Tarigan in helicopter
Its a highly personal mission for Captain Ahmad Tarigan who took part in the tsunami relief in Aceh and has now found his own community shattered. 05:30
Captain Tarigan. Super: Captain Ahmad Tarigan Indonesian Armed Forces
CAPTAIN AHMAD TARIGAN: Just like everybody feel, I feel so sorry. Two of my crew have the same problem. They have their home broken. Thats why, even though Ive been here for so long and I have to fly so many hours, it doesnt make me feel exhausted, because of my spirit to help them. 05:41
Inside helicopter
CAMPBELL: We joined his team as they set off to bring food to a village that had not been reached for five days. Even continuous flights by army and civilian helicopters can only reach a small part of the earthquake area each day. While most of the city of Yogyakarta was spared, towns and villages across hundreds of square kilometres have been ruined. 06:11
Villagers run to collect supplies from helicopter
The villagers relief at getting help was overwhelming, but only one village can be reached at a time. As soon as the aid is dropped, they fly back for another load and there are needs even more desperate than food. 06:37
Makeshift hospital unit Many are still sick and injured in the rubble of their villages. Every day more critically ill survivors are being found. Freddy Soetrisno has been coordinating relief for one of scores of aid groups in the worst affected area, Bantul. 06:53
Soetrisno. Super: Freddy Soetrisno Global Rescue Network
FREDDY SOETRISNO: Hundreds of thousand houses collapse and we have over more than five thousand victims. Like this small city, there are sixty thousand inhabitants and 646 were dead and you actually see here around that there are a lot of things to do to help these people. There are still injuries, which we collect from the mountains behind this city where there are victims already days without food there and medical help. 07:10
Loading stretchers onto helicopter
CAMPBELL: But the helicopters can only take two stretchers at a time. This woman was lucky. With massive spinal injury she was given a spot on the one flight out. Others have not been so lucky. 07:41
Roads choked with traffic
The roads still functioning have been grid locked with traffic as cars and trucks try to get aid in or get the injured out. Those evacuated by road can face hours of waiting in the burning sun. 08:09
Overcrowded hospital
Then they pour into Yogyakartas over-stretched and over-crowded hospitals. It took four days for this six year old girl with a broken back to be brought for treatment. 08:26
Dr Cheng with Campbell
DR HENG AIK CHENG: It means that if shes moving her legs, that mean the back, shes not paralysed. 08:38
Dr Cheng tending to patient
CAMPBELL: Dr Heng Aik Cheng is an orthopaedic surgeon with the aid group Mercy Malaysia. His team has been working round the clock shifts to find and treat the earthquake victims. Sometimes they find them too late. 08:44
Dr Cheng
DR HENG AIK CHENG: If you ask me I dont think hes going to make it.
CAMPBELL: Many severe cases like this? 08:57
Super: Dr. Heng Aik Cheng Mercy Malaysia
DR HENG AIK CHENG: There are actually many, many and this chap will be a bit late. He should have been treated within the first 24 to 48, well certainly within the first 24 hours. 09:02
At the rate that we are going and the number of cases that we are doing, personally I would think that emergency phase would be finished by, hopefully, by three weeks time, which is a pretty long time. 09:11
Injured in car park
CAMPBELL: Even when their injuries are treated, many choose to stay, like the hundreds sleeping in this hospital car park. They no longer have homes to go back to. 09:27
Rumbling Mt. Merapi
To add to the misery there is fear of yet another calamity of nature. Behind Yogyakarta is Mount Merapi, one of the worlds most active volcanoes. In the weeks leading up to the earthquake, thousands of people were evacuated from here in fear there would be a massive eruption and even now you can see smoke and lava spewing from the summit. This is the diaster people were preparing for but the Gods had other ideas. 09:40
Theres a strong folklore about the volcano that coexists with the regions Islamic faith. Many believe the earthquake happened because the spirits of the mountain were holding a ceremony of creation. The queen of the sea decided to join them, splitting the ground as she came. 10:13
Mosque 10:31
Mbah Marijan/Men in mosque
Mbah Marijan is the official guardian of the mountain, appointed by the Sultan to commune with its spirits and mediate their disputes. He says theres no need to fear an eruption, the mountain is simply rebuilding itself to show its love for the people. 10:37
Mbah Marijan
MBAH MARIJAN: Its like doing a home renovation or renovating a mosque. It looks like were producing so much damage, but in fact we are making it better. Thats what Merapi does. 10:53
CAMPBELL: Seismologists monitoring the volcanos unusually high activity have urged more people to leave but for now, even after the earthquake, most people are heeding Marijans advice, choosing to stay in the volcanos shadow. 11:26
MBAH MARIJAN: According to me, and Im uneducated, if Merapi is putting on a show, just keep quiet. Everyone likes to show off from time to time. 11:44
Campbell returns to Kopensari and visits Sri Lestari
CAMPBELL: Back at Sri Lestaris village of Kopensari, there was an extraordinary change of mood. 12:00
CAMPBELL: How are you? 12:06
SRI LESTARI: Fine.
CAMPBELL: Outside aid had finally arrived, proper shelters, food and medicine. The injured had been treated or taken to hospital. 12:10
SRI LESTARI: The feeling today is far different from before. Yesterday my spirits were so low I couldnt function. But today I feel so much happier. 12:19
Generator
CAMPBELL: But the trauma theyve been through is just below the surface. On the advice of Mbah Marijan, villagers across the region are planting offerings to ward off further disaster. With Mount Merapi continuing to spout, it may come soon but thanks to Ratnas fundraising, they at least have a generator for the dark times ahead. 12:28
Villagers watch TV
It brought them power, light and first real link to the outside world. Soon theyll face the burden of trying to rebuild their homes and theyll have to help their children cope with what theyve seen and the impoverishment theyll face. 13:05
Children walk over rubble from school
Their school has been destroyed along with their homes, but the human spirit of endurance and revival is already beginning to show giving hope they will survive this latest calamity from the Gods. 13:27
Credits:
Reporter: Eric Campbell
Camera: Dave Martin
Sound: Nathan English
Editor: Dave Martin
Research: Anna Bracks 13:50