Rescuers search rubble for survivors of Indonesian earthquake

Rescue workers, soldiers and police are combing the rubble of a devastated town in Indonesia’s Aceh province, resuming a search for earthquake survivors that was halted at night by rain and blackouts.

More than 100 people died in the shallow and powerful quake that struck north-east Sumatra before dawn on Wednesday.

Hundreds more were injured and dozens of buildings were destroyed. The worst damage appears to be in Pidie Jaya district near the epicentre.

Scores of rescue personnel are crawling over a market in the town of Meureudu, where many shops and houses collapsed. Some people spent the night outdoors while thousands took refuge in mosques and temporary shelters.

Many were left homeless after the magnitude 6.5 quake destroyed or damaged their homes and others were too scared to return home.

Hajj Yusri Abdullah, owner of a shop in Meureudu, said nearly two dozen bodies were pulled from the market debris on Wednesday, including a group of eight made up of a newlywed couple and family members holding an celebration known as Antar Dara Baro.

Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for the National Disaster Mitigation Agency, said the death toll had risen to 102, spread across three districts in northern Aceh, and the number “probably will increase”.

2004 natural disasters

Killer quakes occur regularly in the region, where many live with the terrifying memory of a giant earthquake that struck off Sumatra on December 26th, 2004. The magnitude 9.1 quake triggered a devastating tsunami that killed more than 100,000 Acehnese.

Aceh’s disaster agency said more than 8,000 displaced people were at shelters in Pidie Jaya. The Indonesian government has declared a two-week emergency period in Aceh and some aid is reaching hard-hit areas.

Humanitarian organisation CARE said it was leading a joint assessment mission of four international aid groups.

“It will take several more days to get a full picture of the impact,” CARE’s Indonesia director Helen Vanwel said in a statement. “We know from experience that after an earthquake of such a scale, people urgently need water, shelter, food and medicine.”

Aid

The Indonesian Red Cross deployed emergency response teams and announced bank accounts for donations.

Its head of disaster management, Arifin Hadi, said five water trucks had been sent into the quake area. Aid, including hygiene kits, tarpaulins, jerry cans, blankets and family assistance kits, is being distributed, with more to be sent from Jakarta, he said.

The International Organisation for Migration sent an assessment team to Aceh.

The US Geological Survey said the earthquake was centred about 19km (12 miles) south east of Sigli, a town near the northern tip of Sumatra, at a depth of 17km (11 miles). The agency had initially placed the epicentre undersea.

The disaster mitigation agency said more than 600 people were injured. The national disaster agency said about 245 buildings were seriously damaged or destroyed in Pidie Jaya and neighbouring Bireuen district, including 14 mosques. The rest were mainly dwellings and shops. Roads also cracked and power poles toppled over.

The world’s largest archipelago, Indonesia is prone to earthquakes due to its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin. The 2004 quake and tsunami killed 230,000 people in a dozen countries.

AP