The world has responded with speed and compassion to the humanitarian crisis triggered by the earthquake that devastated the area around the central Javan capital of Yogyakarta on Saturday. Five days later, a huge supply of international relief aid and manpower is on the ground. Hong Kong people have again demonstrated uncommon generosity to those who have lost what little they have and need food, shelter and medical help to start over again.
Less than 18 months after the Asian tsunami that killed many tens of thousands in Banda Aceh alone, the quake is a fresh reminder that the sprawling, impoverished Indonesian archipelago is disaster prone. It follows a quake that killed 839 people on the island of Nias off Sumatra just three months after it was lashed by the tsunami. Not far from the quake zone, thousands have been evacuated amid fears of a volcanic eruption as Mount Merapi continues to rumble, belch heat clouds and spew lava down its slopes.
None of these later upheavals of nature can begin to compare with the tsunami. The international relief work in Aceh is far from finished. No country could handle a catastrophe on that scale alone.
The latest quake, however, appears to have exposed some fault lines in Indonesia's capacity to mobilise disaster relief operations of a more predictable nature. According to international agencies, problems continue to dog efforts to distribute the aid - including health care, shelter, water and sanitation. Local officials say that four days after the quake, the operation is still in the emergency phase and distribution is improving.
International aid officials say the local authorities have learned from Aceh and Nias. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and cabinet ministers have been on hand to direct operations. But the Asian Human Rights Commission says the top-level intervention highlights the lack of a national mechanism for disaster management.
The commission rightly points out that in a country geographically exposed to disasters, such a mechanism is essential. Indonesia lies on the Pacific 'Ring of Fire' - a series of fault lines stretching from the western hemisphere through Japan and Southeast Asia. But it is still overly reliant on international help for immediate disaster response. There can be few regions where there is such a clear need for a national disaster agency with operational capacity to mobilise stockpiled emergency resources - such as food, shelter and medical aid - in the event of disaster.
