Yogyakarta – Nothing remains of Cabean hamlet in Sumbermulyo village, Bantul regency. The only sign that it was a thriving community of farmers is the mosque, which now serves as a mortuary.
The simple wooden homes of the hamlet lay scattered across the ground, alongside the bodies of their owners.
"We've run out of cloth to cover the dead," said resident Warjianto who, along with other survivors, was left with the painful task of removing the bodies of 37 fellow villagers. One of them was his son, Trimulyadi, who died beneath the rubble of their home.
For weeks, residents of Yogyakarta had looked skyward for signs of danger, little realizing that peril would come not from the rumbling Mt. Merapi but from the ground beneath their feet.
In less than a minute, an early morning earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale brought down thousands of houses and buildings, many poorly constructed, turning them into tombs for thousands of people.
The 5.9 reading was provided by the national Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG); other sources measure the quake at 6.2.
A number of hamlets and small villages in Bantul were left in near total ruin; the regency suffered the worst of the earthquake damage.
In the immediate aftermath of the quake, the air was filled with panic and desperation. Mobs of residents fled on foot and motorcycles for higher ground, fearing a tsunami like the one that swept through Aceh in December 2004.
"We had to force our way into the infirmary where the medicine is kept because the keys were lost, but in any event that stock has now run out," Bantul Regent Idham Samawi said.
The confirmed death toll has passed 2,900, including at least 2,000 deaths in Bantul. These figures are expected to rise. Quoting local officials, Antara reported at least 3,800 buildings were destroyed.
Hospitals in the royal city of Yogyakarta quickly filled with the dead and injured. Many patients were laid outside, not only because the wards were full, but also because of the fear caused by the numerous aftershocks that reverberated throughout the city over the course of the day.
The usually busy Jl. Malioboro in the tourism heart of Yogyakarta was mostly deserted.
Governor Hamengkubuwono IX tried to calm residents and made an urgent national appeal for help. "We're setting up emergency aid stations and clinics. Victims are lying in open areas," he said.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono arrived in Surakarta, Central Java, on Saturday afternoon, accompanied by Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari, and immediately made his way to Yogyakarta by car.
Upon his arrival he was mobbed by weeping, sometimes hysterical residents. "Please stay calm, we are doing all we can," he said in response to the pleas. The President will remain in the area for the next few days to help organize relief efforts.
Such was the strength of the quake that struck around 5:55 a.m. that it was felt as far away as Malang, East Java, some 340 kilometers east of Yogyakarta.
"It felt like a big truck passing by," Malang resident Adi Supriyanto told the Post. However, there were no reports of damage in the city.
In Surakarta, the nearest large city to Yogyakarta, several buildings were damaged, including a four-story hospital and the Solo Square mall.
At the Waluyo senior citizens hospital in the city, patients rushed out of the building when the earth began to move. Once outside, nurses began administering oxygen to the patients.
By dusk, aid was beginning to trickle into Yogyakarta through Semarang and Surakarta – the two closest cities with functioning airports. Repairs on the badly damaged runway at Adi Sucipto airport in Yogyakarta were set to commence Saturday night.
The Indonesian Military and the Indonesian Red Cross were among the first to send in rescue teams and assistance. Among the supplies were hundreds of body bags.
For Warjianto, the resident of Cabean hamlet, there is little time for grief as he sifts through the remains of his home, trying to salvage what he can from the disaster. "I want to cry, but there's no point. This is fate."