Hundreds trapped and likely dead as rescuers struggle to reach sites
By
Salim Osman, Indonesia Correspondent
Soldiers and a rescue team try to pull out bodies from the rubble of a local education centre which collapsed after a powerful earthquake in Padang. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
PARIAMAN (West Sumatra) A happy wedding celebration in the village of Pulau Air came to a horrific end for 400 people when Wednesday's earthquake triggered a landslide.
'They were sucked 30 metres deep into the earth,' said Mr Rustam Pakaya, head of the Health Ministry's crisis centre. 'Even the mosque's minaret, taller than 20 metres, disappeared.'
Pulau Air was one of at least four villages here in the hills outside Padang wiped off the face of the map by quake-triggered landslides as rescuers fanned out yesterday.
Mr Rustam said Lubuk Lawe and Jumena were also wiped out. At a fourth village, Limo Koto Timur, a giant section of a hillside was swept away and the remains of destroyed houses protruded from the mud.
More than 600 villagers in this region alone are believed to have been buried alive by by the 7.6-magnitude earthquake. If all are confirmed dead - as is likely - the death toll in the disaster would jump to more than 1,300. But Indonesian officials fear that the toll could rise as some 4,000 people are still missing.
'From the aerial assessments carried out, the feedback is, yes, Padang city and environs are bad, but once you go outside into the surrounding rural areas, the situation is very seriously grave,' said the operations coordinator in Indonesia for the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Society, Ms Christine South. 'There was talk of complete devastation of some villages, 100 per cent devastation, and 50 per cent in others, obviously huge damage to infrastructure.'
Rescuers are concentrating on the Patamuan sub-district here in the Padang Pariaman regency of almost 400,000 people, said officials at a briefing at the governor's office in Padang yesterday.
The quake destroyed over 13,000 homes in this regency, about 60km from the Padang capital of West Sumatra. Rescue efforts have been hampered by roads either damaged by huge cracks from the temblor or too narrow for large machinery.
'Even the clay and mud was soft and slippery. That made it difficult for our rescue teams to work yesterday. Hopefully, they can do a lot more today,' said Mr Muslim Kassim, the regent of Padang Pariaman, at a briefing yesterday.
But he said that medical supplies and food have begun reaching villages.
Read the full story in today's edition of The Straits Times.
