Indonesia cranks up aid, rescue effort after quake

Padang (Indonesia), Mar 7: Aid began to flow today to survivors of deadly earthquakes in Indonesia's West Sumatra province as search and rescue teams stepped up efforts to find victims who may still be trapped beneath the rubble of collapsed buildings.

Officials said between 70 to 100 people were killed by yesterday's two quakes -- also felt in neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia -- but many more were injured and thousands spent a night in the open, frightened of further tremors.

The disaster management agency in West Sumatra province, where the 6.4 magnitude quake and a 6.3 ''aftershock'' was centred, put the confirmed death figure at 72 on Wednesday morning.

As dawn broke today, thousands of people in Sumatra were camped in tents outside their homes or in open fields.

Authorities said dozens were feared still trapped under rubble.

''I cannot predict how many people are still trapped because the process is still on. However, there are many houses collapsed, and I believe that the inhabitants are in them,'' Syamsu Rahim, the mayor of Solok town, said late yesterday.

An official in Padang said today that casualty figures were likely to change because there were still many people trapped and the rescue process would have to be done manuallyas heavy machinery cannot reach some areas.

Hospitals in some areas were overwhelmed with injured. Many people had fled their homes and fears of aftershocks pushed authorities in Padang, the West Sumatra provincial capital, to set up emergency tents at a soccer field.

Rapid Response

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who was scheduled to visit Medan in North Sumatra today to watch a harvest event and meet local community and religious leaders, would go instead to Solok in West Sumatra, state news agency Antara reported.

The government sent in the military and police to assist with rescue efforts while the Red Cross also deployed a rapid response team to assess the damage and needs of victims.

Some residents in three badly hit areas of West Sumatra -- Solok, Tanah Datar and Padang Panjang -- erected tents outside their damaged homes, moved in with relatives or spent the night in schools and mosques.

The government and Red Cross distributed food supplies such as cooking oil and rice, tents and medicine and drinking water.

The ministry of health had prepared six tonnes of food, porridge and biscuits for victims, Antara reported.

United Nations aid agencies said a team of health, sanitation and nutrition experts would arrive in the affected area ''on the first available flight'' to assess the situation.

The United States Geological Survey said the first quake's epicentre, which is later revised to magnitude 6.4, was around 420 km from Singapore. The second, in the same area, was revised to 6.3.

Earthquakes are frequent in Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous country. Its 17,000 islands sprawl along a belt of intense volcanic and seismic activity, part of what is called the ''Pacific Ring of Fire''.

A quake in the Indian Ocean off Sumatra island in December 2004 and the tsunami it caused left about 170,000 people dead or missing in northern Aceh province.

In March 2005, an 8.7 magnitude quake killed hundreds on Nias island, off the west coast of northern Sumatra.

Reuters

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