JAKARTA, March 9 (Xinhua) -- The president, ministers, top officials and thousands of people of Indonesia prayed Friday in the biggest mosque in the capital of Jakarta, hoping for the ending of the rampant catastrophes that have claimed hundreds and thousands of lives.

    Led by Imam Nazarudin Umar, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Vice President Jusuf Kalla, Transport Minister Hatta Rajasa, Police chief General Sutanto and other ministers along with ordinary Muslims attended the praying service after the Friday pray.

    "Disasters have ravaged our nation. Oh God, please give us your pardon for the mistakes that we have made," said the imam on the praying.

    The Indonesian government has done with all its strength to cope with the rampant accidents in transport and natural disasters that have occurred since years ago and killed thousands of people.

    In doing so, the government allocated huge resources, resulting in the slowdown of the economic growth of the biggest economy in the Southeast Asia.

    Indonesia is the biggest Muslim country in the world, in which 87 percent of its 240 million populations are Muslims, most of them moderate.

    After hit by series of terrorist strikes and success in some battles against the militant group with Al-Qaeda link in Southeast Asia the Jemaah Islamiyah, the country has been grappling with a string of natural disasters, mass-transport accidents and outbreaks of Severe Acute Respiratory (SAR) and bird flu.

    The loss of Adam Air plane with more than 100 people on board and the sinking of scores of ferries have worsened the record of safety of Indonesian aviation and sea voyage.

    Besides, the unsettle mud-volcano in Siduarjo of East Java province which has displaced thousands of residents also added problems for President Susilo's administration.

    In December 2004, over 170,000 people were killed by the Asian's tsunami triggered by 8.7 magnitude earthquake in Indonesia's Aceh province and leveled coastal areas of the province.

    Afterwards, frequent quakes hit the country, claiming more lives. Indonesia is located on a vulnerable quake hit zone that call "the Pacific Ring of Fire", where continental plates meet causing frequent seismic and volcanic activity.

    Indonesia has been suffering from a series of terrorist strikes since 2000, including the Bali bombings in 2002 and 2005, the blasts in Marriot hotel in Jakarta in 2003, and the Australian embassy bombings in 2004. All the tragedies claimed over 250 of lives.

    The most recent blast in the seaport in Ambon island of Indonesia's Maluku province that wounded 12 people, indicating terrorists are still active in the country.

    The Jemaah Islamiyah has been blamed for the series of the major attacks on Western targets.

    On bird flu, Indonesia has been recorded as the country with the highest fatality as 64 out of 84 contracted people died.

    The huge territory and its traditional farming system of back-yard centered chicken raising and lack of budget, have hampered effort to eliminate the spread of the highly pathogenic H5N1 virusin the country.

Related:

Aids underway as death toll rises to 73 in Indonesia's earthquake

Injured residents receive treatment in a makeshift hospital in Solok, in West Sumatra province March 6, 2007. A strong earthquake and a powerful aftershock hit Indonesia's Sumatra island on Tuesday, killing at least 70 people, and trapping scores more under flattened buildings.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    PADANG, Indonesia, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Relief aids from Jakarta and abroad are underway to the sites of earthquake in Indonesia's Sumatra island that killed 73 people and injured hundreds of others, West Sumatra provincial Disaster Management Agency said on Wednesday.

Indonesia revises death toll of fire plane

An Indonesian Air Force personnel stands guard near the wreckage of a Garuda Indonesia Airways jetliner which caught fire upon landing at Adisucipto airport in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, March 7, 2007. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    JAKARTA, March 7 (Xinhua) -- The Indonesian government revised the number of death toll of the fire plane in Yogyakarta province from 49 to 21, the provincial administration said on Wednesday.