Disaster in Indonesia
October 3, 2009
The German rescue organization International Search and Rescue (I.S.A.R.) based in Duisburg has sent 24 rescue experts, paramedics, and doctors as well as four rescue dogs to the disaster zone. Five volunteers from the Technisches Hilfswerk (THW) - Germany's disaster relief organization - have also signed up.
Officials said virtually nothing remained Saturday of four villages on a hillside on the Padang Pariman district in West Sumatra.
Media reports say a lack electricity, fuel shortages and telecommunication outages were complicating the relief operations.
Since the earthquake struck on Wednesday, rescuers have been scrambling to recover any survivors and prevent the spread of disease, as witnesses report a strong stench of decomposing bodies, which are lying in the rubble of collapsed buildings.
Entire villages have been destroyed and as many as 4,000 people are believed to be trapped.
Hope of finding survivors
"I think there could still be survivors," Yoshiaki Shimazu, the leader of a specialist team from Japan told AFP. "The way the building fell, there could be voids."
According to the United Nations, at least 1,100 people have died in the quake that struck Sumatra's west coast, northwest of Padang on Wednesday. The Indonesian government has so far reported 777 deaths, but says it expects the final death toll to be much higher.
Experts said that with specialized crews now arriving, there was some chance of continuing to find survivors so long as their injuries were not too serious.
In addition to Germany, countries supplying rescue teams include Japan, Australia, Switzerland, South Korea, and Singapore. Other nations have sent money, medicine, tents and food to meet Indonesia's call for foreign aid.
The European Commission said in a statement that it had donated 3 million euros to help deal with initial humanitarian needs.
Geologists have long warned that the low-lying city of Padang risks being wiped out by a Tsunami if an earthquake of a similar magnitude that caused the 2004 tsunami were to hit. The last earthquake in Padang occurred in 2007 and killed dozens of people.
vj/AFP/dpa/epd/reuters
Editor: Sonia Phalnikar