Indonesia quake survivors ill due to poor sanitary conditions

Yogyakarta (Indonesia), June 6 (Xinhua) Many survivors of the earthquake in Indonesia's Yogyakarta and Central Java are suffering from various illnesses caused by poor sanitary conditions in their makeshift shelters.

Mohamad Thamrin Hadna, director of PKU Muhammadiyah Hospital in Bantul, which was the most-affected district, said here Monday that many people had come to the hospital in the past two days with various illnesses such as diarrhoea, respiratory problems, typhus and fever.

Most of them were living in makeshift tents, which are exposed to the wet night air, he added.

There was also shortage of clean water at the shelters as well as inadequate sanitary facilities including non-permanent toilets.

He called on the government to immediately set up more non-permanent public toilets at the shelters.

According to Hadna PKU Muhammadiyah Hospital, four to five medical teams were sent out to treat quake victims everyday after the quake took place on May 27.