01 October 2009

Sumatra earthquake: Rescuers in race against time

PADANG - A big search is underway in Sumatra to rescue victims of yesterday’s strong earthquake.

A second quake hit Sumatra at 8.52am local time this morning, hampering rescue efforts.

Indonesian authorities fear that the death toll will surge amid the ruins of scores of buildings.

At least 200 people are confirmed dead and thousands are trapped under rubble.

The coastal city of Padang, capital of West Sumatra province, is among the areas hardest hit. It has a population of 900,000.

Authorities last night reported about 200 guests at Hotel Ambacang are still unaccounted for, and are assumed to be trapped under the hotel’s ruins.

Priyadi Kardono, a spokesman for Indonesia's National Disaster Agency, said some 100 to 200 people had died in Padang and more than 500 houses and buildings had collapsed.

Buildings, including at least two hospitals, were brought down by the 7.6 magnitude quake, centred off the coast of Sumatra. The quake struck just after 5pm local time.
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A tsunami watch issued by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in the wake of the Indonesian quake has been lifted.

Indonesia's vice president Jusuf Kalla, quoted by AFP news agency, said, "People are trapped, hotels have collapsed, schools have collapsed, houses have collapsed and electricity has been cut off."

Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari said the quake was one of the biggest in Indonesia in recent years.

"This is a high-scale disaster, more powerful than the earthquake in Yogyakarta in 2006 when more than 3,000 people died," he said.

Reports said the shaking could be felt in high buildings in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, and was also felt in Singapore and Malaysia.

The quake was along the same fault line that spawned the 2004 Asian tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people in a dozen countries.