Indonesia Battered: 6.3 Earthquake Kills at Least 3,700

Summary

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BANTUL, Indonesia -- Homes began swaying, then jerked violently as most people in this rice-farming town were still asleep Saturday morning. Concrete walls crumbled, tile roofs collapsed and survivors screamed as they tried to escape, some clutching bloodied children and the elderly.

The town of Bantul suffered the worst devastation from the powerful earthquake that struck Indonesia's densely populated Java island at 5:54 a.m. More than 3,700 people were killed, about 2,000 of them in Bantul, and 80 percent of the town's homes were destroyed.

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Extract

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Indonesia Battered: 6.3 Earthquake Kills at Least 3,700

"I was running away from my house trying to help my son, but suddenly I felt something hit my legs," said Bambang Tri Sumarto, 42. "And now doctors say my leg is broken. All our houses were totally destroyed."

With no room inside packed hospitals, Sumarto and hundreds of other victims were forced to lie on plastic, palm leaves or even newsp...

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