Indonesia: Heavy rain halts search for quake bodies

Search teams lost hope of finding any more survivors under the rubble left by a massive earthquake as torrential rain held up aid in the remote hills of western Indonesia where several villages were wiped out.

The rescue teams instead focused on retrieving the bodies from the rubble of the magnitude 7.6 earthquake in Sumatra island, setting up tents for the tens of thousands of homeless and providing them with food and drinking water.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla said there was little hope of finding anyone alive.

“We can be sure that they are dead. So now we are waiting for burials,” he said.

There is no clear word on the death toll. The United Nations put the figure at 1,100. The government earlier said 715 were dead and 3,000 were missing. But it revised the figure yesterday to 603 confirmed killed and 960 missing, presumably dead.

“With each passing day, the magnitude of the devastation grows,” said Mark Fritzler, Save the Children aid group’s Indonesia head.

“In addition to the threat of aftershocks, heavy rainfall has challenged our efforts, roads are cut off and we have no power in many areas, but relief workers are reaching families in the hardest hit areas,” he said.

The missing include 644 people who were buried alive in four villages in the hills of Padang Pariaman district that were swept away by landslides caused by the quake. Among the victims were 200 to 300 guests at a wedding party in Jumanak village.

The restaurant where the party was being held was damaged but largely intact. A slice of the green wedding cake lay untouched on a plate, covered with flies. The guests were apparently killed when they ran outside as the ground began to tremble but were swept away by the landslide 40 yards away.

Iseh, a 15-year-old boy, said his sister, Ichi, was the bride. She, the groom and most of the guests were killed.

He said Ichi, 19, had come back to the village for her wedding.

“When the landslide came, the party had just finished. I heard a big boom of the avalanche. I ran outside and saw the trees fall down,” Iseh, who like many Indonesians uses only one name, said.

“I tried to get in front of the house with my brothers. We were so afraid. Landslides started coming from all directions. I just ran and then I waited.”

Yesterday hordes of aid workers, military personnel, police and volunteers finally reached the villages, bringing with them heavy earth-moving equipment, relieving villagers who had been digging for bodies with bare hands.

But by early afternoon a heavy downpour lashed the area, raising fears of fresh landslides. Police ordered all residents, aid workers, journalists and volunteers to leave.

The exodus – on motorcycles, cars and trucks – caused a massive traffic jam on the two-lane road to Padang, the provincial capital that was also badly hit.

In Padang, rescuers gave up hope of finding any survivors in the rubble of the 140-room, Dutch-colonial style Ambacang Hotel. Some 200 people were in the hotel when it collapsed. Search teams have found 29 bodies so far, and no one alive.

According to the National Disaster Management Agency, 83,712 houses, 200 public buildings and 285 schools were destroyed. Another 100,000 buildings and 20 miles of road were badly damaged, and five bridges had collapsed.

Save the Children said it had distributed more than 450 tarps and plastic sheets as well as 450 hygiene kits filled with toothpaste, shampoo and bandages to two villages, 30 miles outside Padang.