Nearly all houses in at least four villages were completely destroyed by Saturday's earthquake that rocked Indonesia's Yogyakarta and part of Central Java provinces as local authorities intensified efforts to evacuate and rescue victims Sunday.

 

In Bantul regency, the tremor has flattened villages in Sewon, Bambanglipuro, Piyungan and Jetis districts.

 

"The quake was so powerful in its first strike we didn't have any chance to leave the house, not even to open the door," 35-year-old Yulianto told Xinhua at a refugee camp set up by the local Red Cross office.

 

"There were no prior warning such as light shock, it was so powerful in the beginning," he said.

 

Field hospital coordinator in Bantul Dr. Wayan Sudana said 1,500 victims were being treated at the Red Cross office which already received medical supplies from Singapore and Malaysia.

 

"Most of the injured are suffering open-bone fractures and head injuries," said Dr. Wayan.

 

Officials with the Indonesian Red Cross put the estimated death toll at 3,500, with Bantul seeing the majority of casualties.

 

The tremor flattened 280 of 290 houses in Nganyan village, Piyungan, some 15 km south of the provincial capital.

 

But Bambanglipuro was considered to be the worst hit by the quake, with nearly all houses were flattened to the ground.

 

Volunteers began to open emergency posts to provide food and medicine for the victims.

 

A powerful earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale struck the Indonesian ancient province of Yogyakarta and part of Central Java province Saturday morning.

 

Some 4,000 houses have been flattened and roads and bridges destroyed in the worst quake in the Southeast Asian country since Dec. 26, 2004, when an earthquake triggered a tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people in countries surrounding the Indian Ocean.

 

(Xinhua News Agency May 28, 2006)