The West coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra is reeling from 2 consecutive earthquakes that struck over a 48- hour period. On Wednesday, the first quake measuring 7.6 on a Richter scale, struck at 17:15 local time, 57 km offshore, close to the district of Padang Pariaman in west Sumatra province. The second, measuring 6.8, struck an inland area 225 km southeast of Padang city.
The death toll continues to mount as the full scale of the disaster unfolds. According to Indonesian authorities, 467 people are confirmed dead and 420 are seriously injured. These numbers are expected to rise as thousands are feared to be trapped under the rubble of collapsed buildings. In Padang city alone, more than 500 buildings are reported to have collapsed including schools, hospitals and hotels.
“We surveyed the affected area by helicopter and it was like a huge shockwave had come through and flattened houses, schools and mosques for as far as the eye could see”, reports Wayne Ulrich the IFRC’s disaster management coordinator in Padang. “On some of the hillsides it was total devastation; it looked like entire villages had been swallowed up by landslides”.
The Indonesian Red Cross (PMI), has deployed 200 staff and volunteers to the area to help in search and rescue efforts. Close to 100 of these are trained ‘satgana’ (disaster response team) members from PMI chapters in west Sumatra and Bengkulu who are on the ground conducting assessments of emergency needs. Over 40 volunteer doctors and specialist water and sanitation teams have also been sent from neighbouring Red Cross chapters in the provinces of Bengkulu and Riau. This morning a team of 30 volunteers left Bengkulu with trucks carrying 2 field kitchens, 30 bags, tents, and other relief supplies. PMI has also dispatched 400 tents along with 2000 tarpaulins, 5000 blankets, and 5000 sarongs from its warehouse in Jakarta.
Logistical hurdles are hampering the relief efforts. Communications to the affected area have been disrupted but the Red Cross is able to communicate with its branches through its HF radio network. People fleeing the area are causing congestion on the roads and the earthquake has affected an area hundreds of kilometres around Padang which is in a remote area of West Sumatra where infrastructure is poor.
“There is a lot of panic amongst the population” says Bob McKerrow, head of Delegation for the IFRC in Jakarta. “There are going to be a lot of injured people out there – we need to get first aid volunteers into these areas as fast as possible”.
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A man walks amid the rubble of an earthquake-damaged building in Padang on Indonesia's Sumatra island October 1, 2009. Rescue teams struggled on Thursday to find people trapped under debris after a powerful earthquake hit Padang, possibly killing thousands. (Muhammad Fitrah/REUTERS/www.alertnet.org)
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