OIC urges quick aid for Indonesia quake victims

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The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) urged Muslim countries to send quick donations and aid to victims of Indonesia’s deadly earthquake that claimed the lives of more than 3500 people.

"The secretary-general appeals to all the OIC member states and Islamic relief organisations to come to the rescue and lend all their assistance," OIC chief Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said in a statement.

A strong earthquake struck Saturday at 5:54 a.m. near the royal city of Yogyakarta, 400 km east of the capital, Jakarta, destroying homes, hospital and government buildings, and killing more than 3,500 people and injuring thousands more.

This is the country’s worst disaster since the deadly tsunami that killed more than 250,000 people in 2004.

The magnitude-6.2 quake was centered about 10 km below the surface, according to U.S. Geological Survey.

Roads and bridges were also destroyed, which made it difficult for workers, and doctors to deliver aid to the victims.

The hardest-hit area was Bantul, where rescuers are still trying to pull bodies from the rubble and residents are digging mass graves to burry the dead.

Saudi-based OIC, an inter-governmental organization with a Permanent Delegation to the United Nations, is the world's biggest Muslim body, gathering 57 countries with majority Muslim populations around the world.

It unites 57 Muslim nations from the Middle East, North and West Africa, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent and South America. The organisation is dedicated to serving the interests of the Muslim Ummah; nation.

Indonesia, member of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, has the world's largest Muslim population. The country’s 201 million people make it the world's fourth-most populous nation.

AlJazeera