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Oct 3, 2009
QUAKE IN INDONESIA
4,000 buried in quake


Surrounded by a tangled mass of wreckage Japanese disaster relief workers at the site of a collapsed building in Padang. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND LIM

JAKARTA - Up to 4,000 people are still trapped in rubble following the devastating 7.6-magnitude quake that struck Indonesia this week, the UN and Red Cross told AFP Saturday.

#related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} death was pervasive AGAINST a grim backdrop of grief and destruction, rescuers found a reason to cheer: Ms Ratna Kurniasari Virgo, 19, an English major sophomore, and a teacher, Ms Susi Revika Wulan Sari, were found alive under the rubble of their college in Padang, the Foreign Language School of Prayoga.

Ms Sari was extricated at 5.20pm (1020 GMT, 6.20pm Singapore time), almost exactly 48 hours after the college crumbled in the 5.15pm quake on Wednesday. She spent the time pinned down by the rubble among dead bodies of her students. On Friday, she beamed and slapped the hands of the rescue workers as they carried her away. ... more 'We estimate about 3,000 to 4,000 people are still trapped or buried under the rubble,' UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Indonesia El-Mostafa Benlamlih told AFP. Bob McKerrow, head of the Indonesia delegation of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Society, said his estimate was 4,000, based on his tour of the city of Padang and surrounding countryside.
'We're up to 4,000. People don't like those figures out - they don't want the families to be grieving too much,' he told AFP.
Some victims have yet to receive help. In a district north of the hard-hit city of Padang, stricken residents said they'd seen no rescue workers. Most structures there had been levelled, and people were using shovels and their bare hands to clear landslides and dig out bodies.
As the first foreign relief teams made their way to the scene, Indonesian officials said a lack of heavy digging equipment was hampering the search. 'Heavy equipment and rescuers are our priority,' said spokesman Priyadi Kardono of the Health Ministry's national disaster management agency.
Mr Kardono said on Friday that 715 people have been confirmed dead and 2,400 hospitalised. UN spokesman Laksmita Noviera in Jakarta said the United Nations fears the toll could rise to 1,100.
That appeared a conservative estimate. Mr Kardono said nearly 3,000 people may still be trapped under rubble. It is the first confirmed government figure for the missing, suggesting that the final death toll could be in the thousands.
The damage from the undersea quake was believed most extensive around Padang, a coastal town of 900,000 people and the capital of heavily populated West Sumatra province.
But about 80km to the north, in the rural, hilly district of Pariaman, which is home to about 370,000 people, an Associated Press reporter saw virtually no buildings still standing. The region was largely cut off and had received no outside help, leaving many to clear roads of landslides and dig out bodies using shovels and bare hands.
Officials said more than 10,000 homes and buildings had been destroyed there. It was unclear how many had died. -- AP, AFP

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Home > Breaking News > SE Asia > Story
Oct 2, 2009
INDONESIAN QUAKE
60 Aussies unaccounted for


Indonesian soldiers excavate into the wreckage of a building to search for victims and survivors in Padang, Sumatra, on October 1, 2009, following a massive earthquake. -- PHOTO: AFP

SYDNEY - ABOUT 60 Australians are unaccounted for after devastating earthquakes in Indonesia, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Friday, as the country sent emergency aid to the disaster zone. Officials were earlier seeking to contact 100 Australians believed to be in Padang on Sumatra island, popular with surfers, when a 7.6 magnitude quake struck on Wednesday, killing more than 1,000 people. 'I can now confirm that that number has fallen,' Mr Rudd said. 'There remain about 60 Australians still unaccounted for, but I caution these numbers may change as further information comes to hand.

'At this stage, we have no reports of Australians among the casualties or among the injured.' Mr Rudd said a C-130 plane carrying engineering and health teams was on its way to Indonesia to support relief efforts following Wednesday's quake and a 6.8 magnitude tremor in the same region the following day. A 44-member urban search and rescue team would leave later Friday, along with a further airlift of health and medical teams, he said. Australian-owned emergency supplies such as tents, tarpaulins, mosquito nets and water purification tablets already in the country had been released to the Red Cross in Indonesia. The head of Australia's defence force Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston said plans were under way to sent a naval ship equipped with a Sea King helicopter from Sydney to Padang within days to help deliver aid to remote areas. -- AFP

[VastDrura]

They are well knowm for "supermarket of disaster".........