Lack of equipment slows rescue effort

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Gunung Sitoli/Jakarta

Two days after a giant earthquake feared to have killed up to 1,000 in northern Sumatra, rescue work and the evacuation of victims was a slow process on Wednesday, mainly due to a lack of heavy equipment and volunteers.

Three hundred and eleven dead bodies had been evacuated as of Wednesday afternoon, since the 8.7-magnitude quake destroyed much of Nias and Simeulue islands on Monday night, officials said.

Thousands of residents in Gunung Sitoli, the capital city of Nias, who escaped to higher ground for fear of another tsunami, headed back to their wrecked homes. Many were seen searching through rubble with their bare hands in the hope of finding their missing relatives.

Nias deputy regent Agus Mendrofa said as many as 311 corpses had been evacuated from construction rubble and more than 400 others were believed to be trapped in collapsed buildings, while dozens of injured survivors received medical treatment.

Agus and other officials said the death toll could soar to over 1,000 people, since hundreds of other people in South Nias and the Banyak islands were still missing.

Several ministers have already visited Gunung Sitoli to coordinate the emergency relief operation in the town and prepare for the planned visit of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Thursday.

In Jakarta, Vice President Jusuf Kalla said the evacuation of all victims would be completed within a week, saying that heavy equipment such as bulldozers, excavators and trucks was on its way to the affected areas.

"Much of the equipment has already arrived in Sibolga and another load is waiting to be transported from Aceh," he said.

Around 1,000 security personnel and equipment, transported by a Navy ship from Belawan in North Sumatra, arrived on Nias on Wednesday evening.

Kalla stressed the government's appreciation of aid offers from Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and the United States, saying there were no political motives behind the humanitarian assistance.

However, Rev. Raymond Laia, a Roman Catholic priest in La Verna monastery near Gunung Sitoli, said more than 50,000 residents taking refuge in high areas of Nias were going hungry as aid was yet to reach them.

Many of them had returned to the town to seek their missing relatives and to salvage what they could, he added.

Agus confirmed that hundreds of people had stormed the Nias regent's office when three trucks arrived to drop relief aid and had become involved in a scuffle over food.

"Today, more than 100 corpses -- which were laid out on a football field and in front of Sint Mary Church -- have been buried, while many survivors suffer fractured bones and have been taken to hospital in Sibolga and Medan," he told The Jakarta Post.

Agus said the quake had destroyed hundreds of houses in Teluk Dalam in South Nias regency, where the death toll remains uncertain as communications and transportation lines were severed in the disaster.

"So far, Gunung Sitoli is still experiencing a power blackout and land transportation to and from the town is paralyzed," he added.

Meanwhile, a man was found alive after being trapped for 33 hours in the ruins of a hotel in the city.

Bawoatalo, the owner of Adalia Hotel on Jl. Diponegoro in Gunung Sitoli, said that 13 of 15 hotel guests escaped while the remaining two were found dead.

"They were asleep when the earthquake struck," he said.

Monday's huge earthquake jostled the west coast of northern Sumatra, just three months after the Dec. 26, 2004, strong quake and tsunamis that killed more than 220,000 in the region.

AFP reported that fires broke out on Wednesday in buildings destroyed by the latest disaster, which spread panic, complicating efforts to help survivors.

The fires in the town of Sinabang on Simeulue island razed dozens of buildings and houses already damaged by the earthquake, as residents tried to douse them with buckets of water and pulled down structures to halt its spread.

"The flames are very tall and widespread. The people are in a state of panic," local official Darmili was quoted as saying, adding that it was not clear if there were any casualties in the fires. The town's two fire trucks were buried under rubble, he said.