JAKARTA: Rescuers battling to save victims of a devastating earthquake on Indonesia’s Sumatra island have a crucial window of about 72 hours to find survivors, emergency experts said on Thursday.
Thousands of people are feared dead and many more trapped in rubble. “Our prediction is that thousands have died,” Health Ministry crisis center head Rustam Pakaya said. Exhausted rescue workers clawed through mountains of rubble with their bare hands in a race to find survivors.
“It depends how serious the injuries are and how strong a person is but, generally speaking, the first 72 hours are the key,” said Seiji Amano, an official at Japan’s Fire and Disaster Management Agency. Dozens of aftershocks followed Wednesday’s quake, including a major one Thursday which the US Geological Survey measured at 6.8 and said struck on land 225 km southeast of Padang, causing more injuries and sparking panic.
The first flights laden with food, medicine and body bags began arriving in the devastated region on Sumatra island.
In pouring rain that hampered rescue work early in the day, overwhelmed police and soldiers clawed through the tangled remains of schools, hotels and the city’s main M. Djamil hospital. As darkness fell on the devastated Indonesian city of Padang, thousands faced a night sleeping rough in rubble-strewn streets with many waiting for news of lost loved ones. Queues formed outside petrol stations as residents stocked up on fuel and food stalls sprang up along roads offering food to the hungry.
Titi Moektijasih, an officer for the UN’s Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on the ground, said that emergency efforts were too small given the scale of the disaster. Japan is sending search and medical teams to Sumatra, the prime minister’s office said. One team is comprised of some 60 people from agencies including the Foreign Ministry, the coast guard and the Japan International Cooperation Agency.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who returned from the United States and flew to Padang, said emergency services should prepare for the worst. The government said it had approved $26 million in cash to help victims and international aid groups dispatched relief teams.
Scientists have warned for years that Padang is a disaster waiting to happen because of strain on a nearby fault-line. After this week’s quake they say worse is still to come.
