VZCZCXRO0991
OO RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHJA #6772/01 1501021
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 301021Z MAY 06
FM AMEMBASSY JAKARTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4960
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS IMMEDIATE
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA IMMEDIATE 9523
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON IMMEDIATE 0857
RUEHPB/AMEMBASSY PORT MORESBY IMMEDIATE 3094
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON IMMEDIATE 0723
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS IMMEDIATE 0877
RUEHTC/AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE IMMEDIATE 3217
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO IMMEDIATE 9829
RUEHVI/AMEMBASSY VIENNA IMMEDIATE 0183
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS IMMEDIATE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RHHMUNA/USCINCPAC HONOLULU HI IMMEDIATE
RUHPSAA/SOCPAC HONOLULU HI IMMEDIATE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 JAKARTA 006772 
 
SIPDIS 
 
AIDAC 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: AEMR ASEC CASC ECON EAID PREF PREL PGOV SENV
SOCI, ID 
SUBJECT: INDONESIA: MAY 30 EARTHQUAKE SITREP - CORRECTED 
VERSION 
 
REF: A. JAKARTA 6658 (SITREP 1) 
 
     ¶B. JAKARTA 6653 (EMBASSY MEETING ON EARTHQUAKE) 
 
JAKARTA 00006772  001.2 OF 004 
 
 
*** CORRECTED VERSION - CORRECTS PHONE NUMBER OF ODC 24-HOUR 
CELL IN PARA 16. *** 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
¶1. (U) The GOI has raised its count of victims from the May 
27 earthquake to 5,427 dead and 7,519 seriously injured.  So 
far, no Americans appear among the dead or wounded.  The GOI 
has begun a needs assessment but will likely focus on 
reconstruction of public facilities, infrastructure, and 
housing, and reviving economic activity.  AID has delivered 
plastic sheeting, water jugs, and hygiene kits to the 
disaster area.  Embassy medical personnel have headed for the 
area; 50 U.S. military personnel have arrived, and three more 
C-130 flights will do so in the evening of May 30, and plan 
to set up a field hospital and begin treating patients no 
later than May 31.  We have seen reports of desperate 
earthquake survivors in the Klaten area attacking passing 
vehicles.  The Ambassador intends to travel to Yogyakarta on 
May 31; in the meantime, he has designated an AID official as 
his representative in the disaster area.  Media coverage of 
U.S. assistance appears accurate and positive.  Volcanic 
activity at nearby Mount Merapi continues.  End Summary. 
 
CASUALTIES 
---------- 
 
¶2. (U) The GOI, on May 30, revised its official count of 
earthquake victims to 5,427 dead and 7,519 seriously injured. 
 U.S., Australian and other western consular officials have 
visited medical facilities in Yogyakarta and Bantul and found 
no injured foreigners.  Press reported May 29 the death of a 
Dutch citizen; if confirmed, he would prove the only known 
foreign victim.  Consular staff in Jakarta and Surabaya 
resolved ten welfare and whereabouts inquiries.  Four 
inquiries remain open, but only two for Amcits thought to 
have traveled to Yogyakarta (Laurie Cohen and her husband 
Eric Suhr, and Brian Wayne Smith). Consular officers from 
Surabaya and Jakarta, and RSO (currently in the area), will 
follow the w/w inquiries. 
 
CIVILIAN RELIEF EFFORTS 
----------------------- 
 
¶3. (U) The GOI announced, May 29, its intention to launch 
recovery and rehabilitation efforts in the coming weeks and 
months.  While the details of specific recovery requirements 
will emerge from a "damage and needs" assessment conducted by 
the GOI over the next two weeks, with assistance from donor 
agencies, the priorities already identified by the GOI 
include: 
 
- Rehabilitation and reconstruction of damaged public 
facilities and economic infrastructure, including schools, 
health facilities, roads, and market places, and restoration 
of government services. 
 
- Reconstruction and repair of housing damaged or destroyed 
by the earthquake. 
 
- Reviving economic activity and restoration of livelihoods 
in the affected areas. 
 
¶4. (U) An Embassy team led by AID/Jakarta Director of the 
Basic Human Services Office, Herbie Smith, has begun 
coordinating relief efforts in Yogyakarta. Office of Foreign 
Disaster Assistance (OFDA) Regional Advisor arrived in 
Yogyakarta, May 30.  OFDA's eight-person Disaster Assistance 
Response Team (DART) should arrive May 31. 
 
¶5. (U) The initial OFDA relief flight arrived in Solo Monday 
 
JAKARTA 00006772  002.2 OF 004 
 
 
evening, May 29, with 150 rolls of plastic sheeting, 10,300 
10-liter water jugs and 5,004 disaster hygiene kits. 
Coordination with the airport authorities and Indonesian 
military has proven good.  IOM and the Indonesia Red Cross 
will coordinate distribution of relief supplies to four 
destinations.  A second flight carrying four World Health 
Organization medical kits (with sufficient medical supplies 
to serve 20,000 people) should arrive in Yogyakarta May 31. 
 
¶6. (U) A team from USAID Environment Services Program (ESP) 
began assessing water and sanitation needs in coordination 
with UNICEF and local water utility officials. 
 
¶7. (U) USAID and DAO visited the Regional Hospital in Bantul 
district.  Although this hospital normally has a capacity 250 
beds, authorities have added another 400; two operating rooms 
will begin functioning by June 1. 
 
¶8. (U) The Embassy's Regional Medical Officer, four doctors 
from the Naval Medical Research Unit - 2 (NAMRU-2), two 
nurses, and an Embassy Medical Unit FSN will leave Jakarta at 
1800 hrs local time to travel to Yogyakarta to assist with 
the medical relief effort. 
 
¶9. (U) The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian 
Affairs (UNOCHA) has convened daily coordination meetings in 
Yogyakarta.  USAID and DAO participated in the first meeting. 
 Sector-level coordination meetings will also occur on a 
daily basis.  USAID will participate in meetings on water and 
sanitation, health, and psycho-social sectors. 
 
¶10. (U) We anticipate that the next meeting of the 
Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI) planned for June 14, 
will focus primarily on discussion of the damage and needs 
assessment and initial pledges of international assistance 
for recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction programs in 
Yogyakarta.  The media quotes Vice President Jusuf Kalla 
saying that the GOI expects half of the one trillion Rupiah 
(approximately 108 million USD) budget for emergency relief 
and reconstruction to come from foreign aid. 
 
¶11. (U) Dino Djalal, President Yudhoyono's senior foreign 
policy advisor, told the press on May 30 that the GOI had 
received aid from 34 countries, including from Iran's Red 
Crescent; he claimed that 100 Cuban doctors would arrive 
soon.  Dino also said some facilities (water purification, 
mobile hospitals) will move from Aceh - site of the December 
2004 earthquake/tsunami - to Yogyakarta. 
 
REPORT OF SURVIVORS ATTACKING VEHICLES 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶12. (U) Embassy's RSO reported from the Yogyakarta area that 
in one of the most affected regencies, Klaten, survivors have 
lined the road to beg for food from passers-by.  He reported 
that individuals attacked two passing vehicles with rocks May 
29; on May 30, they attacked three vehicles with rocks and 
sticks, broke windows and robbed the occupants, all 
Indonesian. 
 
U.S. MILITARY ACTIVITY IN EARTHQUAKE AREA 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶13. (U) Five Embassy military personnel have arrived in the 
Yogyakarta area.  Four KC-130 flights (one on May 29, three 
on the morning of May 30) have brought a total of 45 other 
military personnel to Yogyakarta.  This includes personnel 
providing an initial trauma surgical capability, their 
support element, and an eight-person airfield assessment 
team.  We expect three more C-130 flights with military 
medical personnel and supplies in the evening of May 30. 
 
¶14. (U) The offloading of equipment at the airfield appeared 
smooth; the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) remains cooperative 
but has limited assets.  We plan for our personnel to set up 
 
JAKARTA 00006772  003.2 OF 004 
 
 
a field hospital and begin treating patients no later than 
the morning of May 31, but this will depend on movement of 
equipment to the hospital site and the ability of the TNI to 
provide support.  According to RSO, TNI has agreed to provide 
50 soldiers for force protection for the estimated 100 U.S. 
military personnel arriving in Yogyakarta. 
 
¶15. (U) The Embassy Country Team has worked with PACOM, GOI 
civilian officials, and the TNI to examine additional 
capabilities the U.S. military might provide in support of 
relief efforts. 
 
¶16. (U) The Embassy's Office of Defense Cooperation (ODC) 
will establish a 24-hour logistic-focused operational cell on 
the evening of May 30, tel: (62)(21) 3435-9623. 
 
AMBASSADOR HEADING TO YOGYAKARTA 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶17. (U) The Ambassador intends to travel to Yogyakarta on May 
31, to meet the Sultan of Yogyakarta and other local and 
national Indonesian figures.  In order to avoid possible 
confusion among USG personnel on the ground, the Ambassador 
has designated AID officer James Hope as his representative 
in the earthquake area. 
 
MEDIA COVERAGE 
-------------- 
 
¶18. (U) Weekend coverage of the U.S. response to the 
earthquake proved positive and accurate in all media outlets 
in Indonesia.  All major print and broadcast outlets used 
Embassy-issued press releases, accurately covered the U.S. 
announcements of assistance, and quoted President Bush's 
statement offering condolences -- although none picked up the 
May 29 AP wire story on PACOM deployment of 100 medical 
personnel.  Embassy and Surabaya Consulate Public Affairs 
Section officers and staff will arrive in Yogyakarta the 
evening of May 30 to work with local, national, and 
international media to assure extensive coverage for stories 
on U.S. relief activities.  Public Affairs Section staff 
updated the Embassy's public website to carry warden messages 
and information about our relief activities. 
 
MERAPI VOLCANO UPDATE 
--------------------- 
 
¶19. (U) As of May 29, volcanologists reported a significant 
increase in pyroclastic flows (ash, debris, and gas) and a 
slight decline in rockfalls, but otherwise a seismic record 
similar to that of recent days.  Thin coats of ash have 
fallen on areas as far as 60 kilometers west of the volcano - 
reportedly not life-threatening but a substantial nuisance. 
The U.S. Geological Survey expert monitoring Mount Merapi 
departed the area on May 30.  He will continue communicating 
with the Indonesian Volcanology Center and could return if an 
increase in volcanic activity occurs. 
 
ECONOMIC IMPACT 
--------------- 
 
¶20. (U) According to 2004 data from the GOI's Central Bureau 
of Statistics, the Yogyakarta special district contributed 
approximately 1.1 percent of Indonesia's GDP; 20 percent of 
Yogyakarta's economy came from tourism.  Yogyakarta, which 
contains the Borobudur temple, among other attractions, had 
become second only to Bali as a tourist destination in 
Indonesia.  Economic Coordinating Minister Boediono told 
foreign diplomats on May 29 that Yogyakarta's productive 
capacity remained largely intact. 
 
¶21. (U) Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KADIN) 
issued an appeal for donations and formed a special team May 
29 to coordinate disaster relief actions by various business 
chambers.  Western business chambers, including AmCham, 
 
JAKARTA 00006772  004.2 OF 004 
 
 
participate via the International Business Chamber, an 
umbrella group of Chambers of Commerce. 
 
PASCOE