Bantul (Indonesia): Bird flu could threaten survivors of Indonesia's earthquake, an aid agency warned, after finding people whose homes were destroyed sheltering in dung-smeared chicken sheds.
A strong aftershock sent panicked survivors running into the streets early on Saturday.
British medical aid agency Merlin warned that some of the 647,000 people left homeless were taking shelter in chicken sheds, risking possible infection from bird flu.
Most survivors are living in makeshift shelters, often just plastic tarps to ward off tropical downpours and the hot sun, with no toilets or running water.
More than 100 people were staying in six large poultry sheds in Pundong in Bantul district, some with chicken droppings remaining on the bamboo slats, Merlin said.
''We are concerned that people using poultry sheds as shelter are at risk from avian flu and possibly salmonella infection,'' a doctor from the group, Dr. Bayugo, said in a statement. She appealed for more tents for survivors.
Indonesia has had a surge of bird flu cases in the past month, and some have been reported in districts surrounding the quake zone.
The head of Bantul district, Idham Samawi, said he would instruct the local village chief to order the villagers out of the chicken sheds.
Saturday's aftershock was one of more than a thousand that have hit the region since a 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck before dawn exactly one week earlier, killing at least 6,234 people and injuring 30,000 more.
Officials estimate that 135,000 homes were destroyed. Most aftershocks have been weak, but this one jolted survivors awake.
''I picked up my nephew and ran out of the house. It was very strong,'' said a resident of Bantul, Yudi. There were no immediate reports of damage from the quake, which measured at magnitude 3.4.
Thirty more U.S. military medical personnel arrived on Saturday on a transport plane, and were to be followed by a 135-member medical team from Cuba with two field hospitals.
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