Tuesday, October 13, 2009

2009 Sumatra Eartquake

by: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/10/2009_sumatra_earthquakes.html

About 5:00 pm on September 30th, a magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck just offshore of the town of Padang in Sumatra, Indonesia. The quake toppled buildings and started many landslides, smashing homes and swallowing up entire villages. The following day, As rescue workers arrived and residents tried their best to dig out and help the survivors, another unrelated quake with a magnitude of 6.6 struck less than 1,000 km south of the original epicenter. Each of the two quakes had at least one aftershock greater than 5.0 as well. Over 1,000 people are known to have died, an additional 3,000 still missing. Today, October 5th, officials called off the search for survivors in Padang, and are focusing now on caring for the living and coordinating with international relief agencies. (40 photos total)

See all photos


PADANG, Indonesia — Rescuers rushed back into the rubble Tuesday after a woman's cries for help were reported coming from a collapsed hotel six days after Indonesia's devastating earthquake — but the search was in vain.

Australian experts used specialized voice detection equipment to scour the remnants of the Ambacang hotel in four different places after a worker said he heard a woman's voice. They found no signs of life, said team leader John Cowcutt, and demolition of the building's remnants resumed.

The episode underscored the agony of the families of thousands of people who are missing after last Wednesday's 7.6-magnitude quake collapsed buildings in Padang city and sent landslides crashing down onto villages in the surrounding hills in West Sumatra province.

The official death toll rose Tuesday to 704 and could reach into the thousands, officials said.

"I've been coming here every day for any kind of news," said Firmansyah Blis as he watched backhoes dig chunks of concrete from the wreckage of the hotel, where his wife was last seen. "I doubt she is alive. I think the search crews tried hard to find her. I just want them to find her body."

Betty Diraja, 39, also waited outside the hotel Tuesday in the hope of receiving news about Aswad, her husband and father to their three children.

"It was too early to leave his beloved kids. They still need his guidance as a father," said Diraja, sobbing quietly.

Hotel worker Rizal said he heard a woman's faint cries coming from within the hotel's remnants on Tuesday, even over the roar heavy machines.

"When I walked among the rubble, I heard a weak voice screaming 'Help, help, help!' " said Rizki, who like many Indonesians uses just one name. "I am confident it was from a woman who survived. Her voice was getting weaker and fading away."

Officials called in search crews, though they conceded the chances of finding more survivors is extremely remote.

"We stopped for a moment so that rescuers could check if there really was a voice," said Lt. Col. Haris, an army officer helping in the recovery operation, wondering aloud, "How long can someone survive without food or water?"

Demolition crews had begun knocking down damaged structures around Padang and hauling off debris in trucks. Around six bodies were removed and loaded into waiting ambulances to be taken to hospital morgues.

The broader search for survivors was halted Monday — five days after the 7.6-magnitude quake struck off the coast. Aid workers from at least 20 countries were focused on caring for the hundreds of thousands left homeless.

Six helicopters shuttled instant noodles, blankets, milk and other aid to the isolated hillside villages of the Padang Pariaman district, where landslides buried more than 600 people, said Ade Edward, head of operations control at West Sumatra's Center for Disaster Management.

"We have stopped looking for living survivors and are maximizing the use of heavy equipment," he said. "We hope to clear the rubble in two weeks so we can start reconstruction."

Signs of normal life have returned in some places in the city. Hundreds of children went back to classes Monday in tents supplied by UNICEF. Market stalls were full of food and bustling with residents stocking up on vegetables, fruit and fish.

But the city of 900,000 still resembled a sprawling demolition site with houses, mosques, schools, a mall and hotels brought down.

Emergency workers faced an uphill battle trying to reach remote communities in the hills of Pariaman where whole villages were wiped out by landslides. The force of the quake gouged out mountainsides and dumped tons of mud, boulders and trees, burying hundreds of people alive.

Heavy rain since Sunday and thick wet mud also made it difficult for aid workers to reach the stricken areas, said Gagah Prakoso, a spokesman for the Indonesian Search and Rescue Agency.

The Meteorological and Geophysics Agency warned the region could see strong winds and storms for the next two days.

It was unclear precisely how many people are without shelter, but more than 88,000 houses were flattened, U.N. and Indonesian agencies said, and another 100,000 public buildings damaged.

Government minister Aburizal Bakrie said $600 million was needed to repair infrastructure.

Associated Press writers Sarah Sayekti and Anthony Deutsch in Jakarta contributed to this report.

From: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gCeFe6qrUA2J6TpqBUjMoyp8nthAD9B5G6KO0



05 October 2009

After six days searching for survivors from the earthquake that hit the Indonesian island of Sumatra, rescue workers are shifting their focus from the city of Padang to bring aid to the rural areas where landslides buried entire villages.

A woman amid the rubble of her house which was badly damaged by an earthquake in isolated Limo Koto Timur village, Padang Pariaman, West Sumatra, Indonesia, 04 Oct 2009
A woman amid the rubble of her house which was badly damaged by an earthquake in isolated Limo Koto Timur village, Padang Pariaman, West Sumatra, Indonesia, 04 Oct 2009
Initial rescue efforts concentrated on the city of Padang where more than 500 people died. Most were trapped in tall buildings that collapsed after the earthquake.

Indonesian Search and Rescue Agency spokesman Gagah Prakoso says they are now focusing on relief and reconstruction efforts in the rural areas where landslides may have killed thousands more.

He says they are concentrating on Pariaman, dropping aid from the air to remote areas.

Prakoso says that it is unlikely they will find anyone alive in the landslide areas, where some villages were totally buried. He says they are bringing in heavy construction equipment, but there is still some debate about whether or not to recover the bodies or to leave them in the ground.

He says some leaders say there is no need to dig up the bodies, but there are a lot of people who want their relatives to have a proper burial.

Little aid has reached the rural areas until now because many roads and bridges have been destroyed. Officials are concerned that heavy rains like a storm that occurred Sunday could trigger more landslides and hamper relief efforts.

Description and picture from :

http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-10-05-voa46.cfm


After 7 days 7.6-magnitude earthquake shaken Padang, SAR team from any element still doing evacuated.

Today SAR team heard woman scream from Ambacang Hotel swimmingpool.
SAR team try to find and help her.
Until now we don't know how the woman condition, we hope she at a good condition.

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A strong earthquake has struck near the Indonesian island of Sumatra, say seismologists.

The epicentre of the quake, which had an estimated magnitude of 6.7, was about 120km (75 miles) south-west of the city of Padang, officials said.

There were no immediate reports of damage, but some people fled the coast.

The latest tremor revived fears of a repeat of the 26 December tsunami disaster, which killed an estimated 300,000 people in a dozen countries.

Two-thirds of the deaths occurred in Indonesia.

However, no tsunami warning was issued on Sunday.

Tremor warnings

The latest tremor struck at struck at 1729 local time (1029 GMT) and was felt as far away as Singapore.

Many people were reported to have fled their homes in Padang, after a radio broadcast by city mayor Fauzi Bahar.

"Many people in Padang are panicking," said Yusuf, an official from Indonesia's Geophysics and Meteorology Agency (IGMA).

"People have left their houses, specially those living on the coast," he said, according to the Associated Press news agency.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Honolulu, in the US state of Hawaii, said: "Earthquakes of this size sometimes generate local tsunamis that can be destructive along coasts located within a few hundred kilometres of the earthquake epicentre."

It urged local authorities to "be aware of this possibility and take appropriate action".

Scientists have warned that the Indian Ocean faultline could deliver another major earthquake, and tremors have been felt repeatedly in the area since the 9.3-magnitude jolt that unleashed the 26 December tsunami.

Two weeks ago, an aftershock from that earthquake killed more than 600 people on the Indonesian island of Nias.

On that occasion, rapid response plans put in place after December's disaster were activated promptly.

An integrated tsunami warning system for the region will not be ready until the end of next year, but most countries have a contingency plan.

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