Lack of equipment slows rescue effort<\/p>\n
Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Gunung Sitoli\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
Two days after a giant earthquake feared to have killed up to
\n1,000 in northern Sumatra, rescue work and the evacuation of
\nvictims was a slow process on Wednesday, mainly due to a lack of
\nheavy equipment and volunteers.<\/p>\n
Three hundred and eleven dead bodies had been evacuated as of
\nWednesday afternoon, since the 8.7-magnitude quake destroyed much
\nof Nias and Simeulue islands on Monday night, officials said.<\/p>\n
Thousands of residents in Gunung Sitoli, the capital city of
\nNias, who escaped to higher ground for fear of another tsunami,
\nheaded back to their wrecked homes. Many were seen searching
\nthrough rubble with their bare hands in the hope of finding their
\nmissing relatives.<\/p>\n
Nias deputy regent Agus Mendrofa said as many as 311 corpses
\nhad been evacuated from construction rubble and more than 400
\nothers were believed to be trapped in collapsed buildings, while
\ndozens of injured survivors received medical treatment.<\/p>\n
Agus and other officials said the death toll could soar to
\nover 1,000 people, since hundreds of other people in South Nias
\nand the Banyak islands were still missing.<\/p>\n
Several ministers have already visited Gunung Sitoli to
\ncoordinate the emergency relief operation in the town and prepare
\nfor the planned visit of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on
\nThursday.<\/p>\n
In Jakarta, Vice President Jusuf Kalla said the evacuation of
\nall victims would be completed within a week, saying that heavy
\nequipment such as bulldozers, excavators and trucks was on its
\nway to the affected areas.<\/p>\n
\"Much of the equipment has already arrived in Sibolga and
\nanother load is waiting to be transported from Aceh,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Around 1,000 security personnel and equipment, transported by
\na Navy ship from Belawan in North Sumatra, arrived on Nias on
\nWednesday evening.<\/p>\n
Kalla stressed the government's appreciation of aid offers
\nfrom Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and the United States, saying
\nthere were no political motives behind the humanitarian
\nassistance.<\/p>\n
However, Rev. Raymond Laia, a Roman Catholic priest in La
\nVerna monastery near Gunung Sitoli, said more than 50,000
\nresidents taking refuge in high areas of Nias were going hungry
\nas aid was yet to reach them.<\/p>\n
Many of them had returned to the town to seek their missing
\nrelatives and to salvage what they could, he added.<\/p>\n
Agus confirmed that hundreds of people had stormed the Nias
\nregent's office when three trucks arrived to drop relief aid and
\nhad become involved in a scuffle over food.<\/p>\n
\"Today, more than 100 corpses -- which were laid out on a
\nfootball field and in front of Sint Mary Church -- have been
\nburied, while many survivors suffer fractured bones and have been
\ntaken to hospital in Sibolga and Medan,\" he told The Jakarta
\nPost.<\/p>\n
Agus said the quake had destroyed hundreds of houses in Teluk
\nDalam in South Nias regency, where the death toll remains
\nuncertain as communications and transportation lines were severed
\nin the disaster.<\/p>\n
\"So far, Gunung Sitoli is still experiencing a power blackout
\nand land transportation to and from the town is paralyzed,\" he
\nadded.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, a man was found alive after being trapped for 33
\nhours in the ruins of a hotel in the city.<\/p>\n
Bawoatalo, the owner of Adalia Hotel on Jl. Diponegoro in
\nGunung Sitoli, said that 13 of 15 hotel guests escaped while the
\nremaining two were found dead.<\/p>\n
\"They were asleep when the earthquake struck,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Monday's huge earthquake jostled the west coast of northern
\nSumatra, just three months after the Dec. 26, 2004, strong quake
\nand tsunamis that killed more than 220,000 in the region.<\/p>\n
AFP reported that fires broke out on Wednesday in buildings
\ndestroyed by the latest disaster, which spread panic,
\ncomplicating efforts to help survivors.<\/p>\n
The fires in the town of Sinabang on Simeulue island razed
\ndozens of buildings and houses already damaged by the earthquake,
\nas residents tried to douse them with buckets of water and pulled
\ndown structures to halt its spread.<\/p>\n
\"The flames are very tall and widespread. The people are in a
\nstate of panic,\" local official Darmili was quoted as saying,
\nadding that it was not clear if there were any casualties in the
\nfires. The town's two fire trucks were buried under rubble, he
\nsaid.<\/p>",
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