Indonesia's quake survivors try to pick up pieces

Bukittinggi (Indonesia), Mar 8: Hundreds of Indonesians tried to pick up the pieces of their lives by starting to rebuild their quake-flattened homes today as aid poured in for thousands camping out in tents or open fields.

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.

While 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 accept this as a God's will. I'm lucky to stay alive whereas many people have died,'' said 45-year-old Zulkifli, a farmer from Bukittinggi.

''The earthquake is Allah's reminder to us.'' 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 for 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.'' But many still complained about the slow pace of aid and medical relief in hospitals which were overwhelmed the first day with hundreds of injured people.

''I rushed to see my six-year-old who was in hospital for head injuries. He was covered in blood and no one attended to him,'' said 42-year-old school teacher Nurseha. Her son later got 15 stitches.

RESCUE

On a hillside road in Bukittinggi, about 50 soldiers, policemen and firemen used shovels, water hoses and an excavator to search for an eight-year-boy feared to be 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.

On Tuesday, 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 on a soccer field.

The government has 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.

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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