Indonesia's quake survivors start to rebuild

BUKITTINGGI, Indonesia, Mar 8 (Reuters) Hundreds of Indonesians tried to pick up the pieces of their lives today by starting to rebuild their quake-flattened homes, but schools turned away children.

Two days after the deadly quakes in West Sumatra province, survivors cleared the debris of their homes, while some men returned to their farms and children returned to school -- only to turn back as there were no teachers.

Two days after the deadly quakes in West Sumatra province, survivors cleared the debris of their homes, while some men returned to their farms.

As some struggled to build their homes, others cooked on firewood and slept on palm leaf mats in temporary tarpaulin shelters outside their flattened homes.

''I cannot wait for the government to come and repair my house,'' said 53-year-old Yulius, as he replaced the metal roof of his home in Bukittinggi town. ''Otherwise my house will be exposed to the rain.'' A spokesman at the main crisis centre in Padang, capital of West Sumatra where the 6.4 magnitude quake and another measuring 6.3 were centred, said the death toll had risen to 85.

The spokesman said more than 430 people remained in hospitals with various injuries.

''Aid has been flowing to various towns for distribution to the victims,'' he said. ''The supplies include instant noodles, rice, tents, diapers and infant milk. The situation is under control.'' Djufri, the mayor of Bukittinggi, said about 500 traumatised people were living in tents in the town as there had been 43 minor tremors, all below a magnitude of 3.0, since the quakes.

''They are still sleeping outside because of the post-earthquake trauma. They are afraid to sleep inside their houses,'' he told Reuters.

On a hillside road in Bukittinggi, about 50 soldiers, policemen and firemen used shovels, water hoses and an excavator to search for an 8-year-boy feared trapped in a home buried under mud.

''I heard a loud bang four seconds after the earthquake and then saw a house next to the 50-metre high hill was covered in a landslide,'' said a 46-year-old woman who lived in a wooden house next to the hill.

The government sent in the military and police to assist with rescue efforts while international aid groups also deployed teams to assist the needy.

''I accept this as God's will. I'm lucky to stay alive whereas many people have died,'' said 45-year-old Zulkifli, another Bukittinggi resident. ''The earthquake is Allah's reminder to us.'' 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.

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