Thousands feared dead after Indonesia quake

PADANG – Rescue teams struggled yesterday to find scores of people trapped under debris and survivors pleaded for aid after a powerful quake hit the Indonesian city of Padang, possibly killing thousands.

The 7.6 magnitude quake struck the bustling port city of 900 000 people on Wednesday, toppling hundreds of buildings. Telephone connections were patchy, making it hard for officials to work out the extent of destruction and loss of life.’I have been through quakes here before and this was the worst. There is blood everywhere, people with their limbs cut off. We saw buildings collapsed, people dying,’ said American Greg Hunt, 38, who was at Padang airport.A Reuters reporter in the city said rescuers were pulling people from buildings, but there was little sign of much aid being distributed yet. Fuel was also in short supply and there was a report of looting.Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari told reporters at an airport in Jakarta before leaving for Padang that the number of dead could be numbered in the thousands, given the widespread damage. A worker compiling disaster data at the social ministry put the number killed of confirmed deaths at 529.President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who arrived back from the G20 meeting yesterdayy, told reporters the country could coordinate the relief efforts but welcomed help from abroad.A 6.6 magnitude quake hit another part of Sumatra island yesterday, causing fresh panic. The second quake’s epicentre – inland and further to the southeast – was 154 km northwest of Bengkulu, the US Geological Survey said.Elshinta radio reported that 12 people were hurt in Jambi and 60 houses damaged.A Reuters reporter at the partially collapsed Jamil hospital in Padang said there were at least 40 corpses on the ground. Many patients had been evacuated to the hospital’s yard.The reporter, whose own house collapsed, said some medical tents had been set up nearby but that many people who had gathered were still waiting for treatment.A woman clutching her dead baby cried for help: ‘My son is dead. My son is dead.’ TV footage showed troops carrying a woman on a stretcher, blood seeping from wounds on her legs and her body covered in dust.A 9.15 magnitude quake, its epicentre 600 km northwest of Padang, caused the 2004 tsunami that killed 230 000 people in Indonesia and other Indian Ocean nations. – Nampa-Reuters