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BAWURAN (AFP) - Every night, Sumiarti and her four-year-old daughter leave their recently rebuilt house in Bawuran village in central Indonesia and head for a hut in the yard.

Traumatised by the devastating earthquake that shook the Yogyakarta region one year ago, they cannot bring themselves to sleep inside their home, fearful it will again collapse around them if a disaster strikes.

"We don't sleep in our new house at night. We sleep in a shelter made of wood," says Sumiarti, whose husband was killed in the quake.

"I'm afraid of staying in a concrete house," she says, adding that her daughter still screams hysterically if the ground trembles from passing trucks.

"Only my teenage son stays at home at night but he leaves the front door unlocked. He believes that not locking the door will make it easier for him to get out the house if a quake comes," she says.

Families who survived the 6.3-magnitude quake that struck the region on the main island of Java are struggling to cope with the trauma the disaster has brought.

Almost 6,000 people were killed and another 50,000 injured when the earthquake hit in the morning last May 27 while many were sleeping.

"People are really fearful of more disasters and earthquakes," International Red Cross health worker Anne-Maree Delaney says.

"There's always myths and rumours in the community about Java being a volcano island and exploding and breaking in two," she says.

"People are quite anxious about these myths and they are quite superstitious people, so (after the quake) they are still fearful of their surroundings, and many are still sleeping (by choice) in tents."

Delaney says programmes are being run to encourage families to become more involved in their areas, with murals on walls and areas for gardening, to try to make them feel "comfortable and safe."

"We are trying to get a degree of normality in the community in terms of structure and support," she says.

While many are suffering trauma, others are struggling with permanent injuries from the quake after being hit by falling debris and collapsing buildings.

In the hardest-hit districts of Bantul south of Yogyakarta, and Klaten to the northeast, 6,000 people have been left disabled, including at least 300 with spinal cord injuries.

"The government facilities are really struggling under the load" with aid agencies and private groups filling the gaps for rehabilitation," says Delaney.

Despite the enormity of the tragedy, signs of recovery are emerging.

"They are an extremely resilient people and they have a system called gotong royong, which is community self help, so even from day one, they were starting to rebuild," says Delaney, who works with survivors in the hardest-hit areas.

Heru Dwi Harianto says his three-year-old son has resumed sleeping in a bed, after refusing for months to spend time inside.

"We had to take him outside the house. Then when he fell asleep we would carry him back to the bedroom," Harianto says.
"Usually he slept in the car."

A team of psychiatrists from nearby Yogyakarta has been helping children in his village of Surenwetan and others in Bantul.

"They encouraged my son and the other kids to play together in the village," Harianto says.

"I think by playing with them, it helps my son forget about the things that traumatise him."