Powerful earthquake rocks western Indonesia

OHSheet

30 Sep 09, 21:07

30th SEPTEMBER 2009

JAKARTA, Indonesia – Witnesses and media say a powerful earthquake hit western Indonesia, toppling buildings, cutting electricity and causing at least several injuries.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake had a preliminary magnitude of 7.9, and struck 30 miles (50 kilometers) off the coast of Sumatra. The quake was along the same fault line that spawned the massive 2004 India Ocean tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people.

A tsunami warning for countries along the Indian Ocean was issued after the temblor struck early evening Wednesday and then lifted about an hour-and-a-half later.

Witnesses told local television and radio that hundreds of houses collapsed and that a road to the coastal town of Padang was cut off.

Witnesses reported at least several injuries.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A powerful underwater earthquake rocked western Indonesia Wednesday, triggering a tsunami alert for countries along the Indian Ocean and sending panicked residents out of their houses.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake had a preliminary magnitude of 7.9. An Indonesian television network reported that buildings had collapsed in the coastal city of Padang, in Southern Sumatra province.

Indonesia's meteorological agency said the quake had a preliminary magnitude at 7.6 and hit 30 miles (50 kilometers) off the coast of Padang, along the same fault line the spawned the massive 2004 Asian tsunami that killed more than 230,000 in a dozen countries.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami alert for Indonesia, Malaysia, India and Thailand.

"There is a possibility of a destructive regional tsunami in the Indian Ocean," it said in an e-mailed statement.

There were no immediate reports of a high waves.

It comes a day after a quake with a magnitude of between 8.0 and 8.3 in the South Pacific hurled a massive tsunami at the shores of Samoa and American Samoa, flattening villages and leaving at least 99 dead and dozens missing.

The epicenter of Wednesday's temblor off Indonesia lies several thousand miles (kilometers) to the west, on the other side of Australia.

Witnesses said residents of Padang, and other town and cities, ran out of homes and buildings in fear when the quake hit in the early evening.

"People are panicking. They are running out of the buildings... There are many collapsed buildings," an unidentified witness in Padang told MetroTV.

The shaking could be felt in high buildings in the capital, Jakarta, several hundred miles (kilometers) away. It was also felt in neighboring Singapore and Malaysia.

OHSheet

30 Sep 09, 21:09

ALSO

APIA, Samoa – A powerful earthquake in the South Pacific hurled a massive tsunami at the shores of Samoa and American Samoa, flattening villages and sweeping cars and people out to sea, leaving at least 99 dead and dozens missing.

Survivors fled the fast-churning water for higher ground and remained huddled there hours after the quake struck early Tuesday. Signs of devastation were everywhere, with a giant boat washed ashore lying on the edge of a highway and floodwaters swallowing up cars and homes.

The quake, with a magnitude between 8.0 and 8.3, struck around dawn about 125 miles (200 kilometers) from Samoa, an island nation of 180,000 people located about halfway between New Zealand and Hawaii. It struck about 120 miles (190 kilometers) from neighboring American Samoa, a U.S. territory that is home to 65,000 people.

Four tsunami waves 15 to 20 feet (4 to 6 meters) high roared ashore on American Samoa, reaching up to a mile (1.6 kilometers) inland, Mike Reynolds, superintendent of the National Park of American Samoa, was quoted as saying by a parks service spokeswoman.

Hampered by power and communications outages, officials struggled to determine damage and casualties.

Samoan police commissioner Lilo Maiava told The Associated Press that police there had confirmed 63 deaths but that officials were still searching the devastated areas, so the number of deaths might rise soon.

Hundreds of injured people were being treated by health workers, and people were still struggling into centers seeking treatment, Maiava said.

At least 30 people were killed on American Samoa, Gov. Togiola Tulafono said, adding that the toll was expected to rise as emergency crews were recovering bodies overnight.

"I don't think anybody is going to be spared in this disaster," said Tulafono, who was in Hawaii for a conference.

In Washington, President Barack Obama declared a disaster for American Samoa. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it was deploying teams to provide support and assess damage.

Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi looked shaken Wednesday on board a flight from Auckland, New Zealand, to the Samoan capital of Apia.

"So much has gone. So many people are gone," he told reporters on board. "I'm so shocked, so saddened by all the loss."

Malielegaoi said his own village of Lepa was destroyed.

"Thankfully, the alarm sounded on the radio and gave people time to climb to higher ground," he said. "But not everyone escaped."

Gov. Tulafono told reporters in Hawaii that a member of his extended family was among the dead in American Samoa.

Because the closeness of the community, "each and every family is going to be affected by someone who's lost their life," he said as he boarded a Coast Guard C-130 plane in Hawaii to return home. The plane, which also carried FEMA officials and aid, was scheduled to arrive at about 7 a.m. local time. (2 p.m. EDT; 1800 GMT)

Authorities in Tonga confirmed at least six additional people dead in the island nation west of the Samoas, New Zealand's acting Prime Minister Bill English said. He said Tongan officials told him that four people were missing after the tsunami swept ashore on the northern island of Niua.

"There are a considerable number of people who've been swept out to sea and are unaccounted for," English said. "We don't have information about the full impact and we do have some real concern that over the next 12 hours the picture could look worse rather than better."

A New Zealand P3 Orion maritime surveillance airplane had reached the region Wednesday afternoon and had searched for survivors off the coast, he said. It was expected to resume searching at first light.

The Samoa Red Cross said it had opened five temporary shelters and estimated that about 15,000 people were affected by the tsunami.

New Zealander Graeme Ansell said the Samoan beach village of Sau Sau Beach Fale was leveled.

"It was very quick. The whole village has been wiped out," Ansell told New Zealand's National Radio from a hill near Samoa's capital, Apia. "There's not a building standing. We've all clambered up hills, and one of our party has a broken leg. There will be people in a great lot of need 'round here."

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told Seven Network in Australia that two Australians had died in the tsunami, including a 6-year-old girl.

The other Australian victim was identified by her family as 50-year-old Maree Blacker.

"This is a tragic day for the people of Samoa," Rudd said.

Mase Akapo, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in American Samoa, reported at least 19 people killed in four different villages on the main island of Tutuila. Officials reported at least 50 injured.

Residents in both Samoa and American Samoa reported being shaken awake by the quake early Tuesday, which lasted two to three minutes and was centered about 20 miles (32 kilometers) below the ocean floor. It was followed by at least three large aftershocks of at least 5.6 magnitude.

The quake came Tuesday morning for the Samoas, which lie just east of the international dateline. For Asia-Pacific countries on the other side of the line, it was already Wednesday.

The Samoan capital, Apia, was virtually deserted by afternoon, with schools and businesses closed. Hours after the waves struck, fresh sirens rang out with another tsunami alert and panicked residents headed for higher ground again, although there was no indication of a new quake.

In American Samoa's capital of Pago Pago, the streets and fields were filled with ocean debris, mud, overturned cars and several boats as a massive cleanup effort continued into the night. Several buildings in the city — just a few feet above sea level — were flattened by either the quake or the tsunami.

Several areas were expected to be without electricity for up to a month.

The dominant industry in American Samoa — tuna canneries — was also affected. Chicken of the Sea's tuna packing plant in American Samoa was forced to close although the facility wasn't damaged, the San Diego-based company said.

The effects of the tsunami could be felt thousands of miles away.

Japan's Meteorological Agency said "very weak" tsunami waves were registered off the island of Hachijojima about 10 hours after the quake. There were no reports of injuries or damage in Japan, which is about 4,700 miles (7,600 kilometers) northwest of Samoa.

U.S. officials said strong currents and dangerous waves were forecast from California to Washington state. No major flooding was expected, however.

In Los Angeles, lifeguards said they would clear beaches at about 8 p.m. in response to an advisory for possible dangerous currents.

While the earthquake and tsunami were big, they were not on the same scale of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, said Brian Atwater of the U.S. Geological Survey in Seattle. That tsunami killed more than 230,000 in a dozen countries across Asia.

OHSheet

30 Sep 09, 21:14

OHSheet

30 Sep 09, 21:15

OHSheet

30 Sep 09, 21:16

OHSheet

30 Sep 09, 21:18

nilled............... updates

OHSheet

30 Sep 09, 21:22

Tsunami arrived at 'terrific speed and force'

ARJUN RAMACHANDRAN

September 30, 2009 - 10:10AM

The death toll from a massive South Pacific earthquake and tsunami has risen to at least 28, with a minimum of 14 reported dead in both Samoa and American Samoa, the Red Cross and media reports have said.

New Zealand man Tony Manson saw the tsunami arrive at "at terrific speed and force" off the coast of Samoa.

"We were on the beach waiting for breakfast and felt the shake," he told TVNZ.

"Moments later, within a minute, we saw the water on the outside of the lagoon disappear ... at that point we just ran for the hills.

"There was no warning apart from us seeing the waves which usually break on the reef outside the lagoon, they started breaking before the reef.

"And then there was the enormous rumble of the wave which I would guess was at most a couple of metres but came at terrific speed and force.

"I was looking at a large falet, with concrete foundations, thinking 'That will be safe', and I looked down from the hill moments later and it was completely wiped out."

Mr Manson said the wave took about 30 seconds to get from the beach to the hills, 'before it came through and devastated the village".

"Everyone's lost everything and a lot of people have lost family members," he said.

"Fortunately the village children were in school which is up on the hill so many of their lives were spared."

OHSheet

30 Sep 09, 21:22

'The others were shouting 'tsunami' but we thought it's a joke'

GEORGINA ROBINSON AND ARJUN RAMACHANDRAN

September 30, 2009 - 11:47AM

A Samoan schoolgirl whose village was evacuated to the mountains around Apia says "hundreds" were reportedly killed in the tsunami which hit the island.

Sulu Bentley, who lives in Leauvaa, 15 minutes from the Samoan capital Apia, said local radio was saying hundreds of people were killed when the tsunami hit Lalomanu, a village on Samoa's south-eastern tip.

"They're still looking for other people, missing people, they said hundreds," Ms Bentley said.

"There are no houses, clothes, and stuff is all everywhere."

The 16-year-old was on her way to school in Leauvaa, 15 minutes from Apia, when she was forced to turn around and run to the mountains for safety.

"The others were shouting 'tsunami!' but we thought it's a joke but then when we went down (the hill to the markets) on the bus the police were shouting at us to go to the mountains.

"And then we saw ... the sea level was high, was rising.

"We ran to the mountains where the other people are running."

OHSheet

30 Sep 09, 21:25

nilled for edits

OHSheet

30 Sep 09, 21:34

Joey Cummings works for the radio station 93KHJ in Pago Pago, American Samoa. He was presenting the morning show Samoan Sunrise when the first tsunami wave hit.

Devastation in Pago Pago (image courtesy of Joey Cummings)

The tsunami hit the harbour, and people fled to the hills

My colleague John Raynar called in sick this morning, and I'm so glad he did because otherwise I would have been on the road to work when it hit.

I was sitting in for him on the morning radio show on 93KHJ when the earthquake hit, at about 7:50am. It lasted several minutes.

We immediately sent out an earthquake warning on air, to tell everyone to stay away from possible landslide areas. We also asked schools to initiate their tsunami plans to get kids up the mountains.

We sent a tsunami warning 10 minutes later as we saw the first rising water.

Our building, Pago Plaza, is located in the middle of the harbour, practically at sea level.

We stayed on the air as the water reached three or four feet in the parking lot.

The water stayed at that level for a few minutes, but then it surged to around 15 feet.

Undated image of Joey Cummings (image courtesy of Joey Cummings)

Joey Cummings was standing in as a Samoan Sunrise presenter

Trees, cars, buses, boats all rushed by in a river of mud just outside my window.

I actually saw that my own car - a new VW Beetle - was surprisingly buoyant when floating on its roof.

We continued broadcasting for the next 5 to 10 minutes, until the batteries on our back-up power system died.

Lots of office staff were panicking, and it was a struggle to keep everyone calm while I was still on the air. When we went off the air, I grabbed a video camera to try to capture some of the action.

The first thing I caught was the second wave, and me and Lupe [another presenter] praying.

All of the staff at the station went outside to the second floor balcony to see what was happening - and the air was filled with screams.

The whole of the ground floor of our building was completely washed out.

The devastation was complete. Tables, windows, jewellery, trophies, DVDs and bottles of water lay strewn across the murky floor.

The villagers immediately started looking for trapped survivors. I dedicated myself and my staff to helping those that were hurt, and gathering food and water.

I hooked up with two guys from the government to survey the damage and look for gas leaks and live power lines.

Debris was everywhere. Broken furniture mixed with old tyres and trees. Children's clothing and road signs were crushed under telephone poles.

Two lesser waves came but they were equally scary.

We screamed for people to run up the mountain but they just ran down the street away from the wave rather than make a sharp left and up the steep mountain just feet away.

We walked down the road only to find that people who weren't trying to help had already begun looting the stores.

When I finally left work, we drove through the area I saw more and more horrible things

Teenagers roamed the area with spray paint, marking buildings and overturned cars with meaningless scribble.

We set up a security barrier around our building, and confirmed with plaza security that no-one was trapped inside.

Then I found my own car about 300 yards down the road, upside down in the middle of a tennis court.

I got a generator from a friend and got one of our programmes back on the air about three hours later, just spreading information.

I watched a group of Taiwanese fisherman trying to get off a 100-ft tuna boat that was leaning against the sea wall.

School buses full of kids were smiling and waving at all the excitement, while behind them there were pick-up trucks with bodies in them - their feet were hanging out over the tailgate.

Everything is so nasty here. When I finally left work, we drove through the area I saw more and more horrible things.

Where I buy my morning snacks is a concrete slab, and the lady who makes the most delicious meat pies there is now badly injured at the hospital.

The new day spa that my girlfriend Moana works at is now tilting precariously on its foundation. The Korean store is gutted. The store where I get my lunch has a truck in it. The Sacred Heart bus has a telephone pole skewering it like some sort of crazy shish kebab.

Gas storage tanks at the fuel stations were leaking. Water mains are probably still gushing. A power generation plant was badly hit too.

But as we got further out of the harbour area, the damage was less and less noticeable. The radio station was ground zero for the worst natural disaster in recorded American Samoa history.

OHSheet

30 Sep 09, 21:34

source:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8282882.stm

QX179R

2 Oct 09, 01:16

All buildings in Singapore structurally safe

In an update, Police say all 234 buildings which experienced tremors as a result of the 7.9 Richter scale earthquake off Southern Sumatra yesterday, are structurally safe.

This follows the completion of inspection by engineers from the Housing and Development Board and the Building & Construction Authority early this morning.

Close to 80 per cent of the buildings inspected were HDB blocks.

Some 30 commercial buildings and 15 private residential buildings also experienced tremors.

The affected buildings, are located mainly in the central, northern and western parts of Singapore.

Police and the Singapore Civil Defence Force received more than 150 calls from the public reporting these tremors.

No reports of injury nor law and order concerns have been received so far.

--938Live

QX179R

2 Oct 09, 01:28

Singaporean reportedly saved from rubble in quake-hit Indonesia

SINGAPORE: A Singaporean man, who was trapped under the rubble of a hotel in earthquake-hit Padang in Indonesia's Sumatra island, has reportedly been rescued and taken to a medical centre.

According to CNN journalist Mark Philips, the Singaporean was in the foyer of the hotel when the quake struck the city on Wednesday. A video on CNN's website showed the journalist talking to the man.

According to the report, the man was trapped for nearly 24 hours. He told the journalist to call his two daughters in Singapore.

Earlier, Singapore's Foreign Affairs Ministry said it was trying to ascertain with the Indonesian authorities if the Singaporean was trapped in the rubble of Hotel Mariani.

- CNA/ir

QX179R

3 Oct 09, 00:33

Singapore organisations raise funds for Indonesian quake victims

SINGAPORE: Some organisations in Singapore are stepping up efforts to help quake victims in Indonesia, with several of them initiating fundraising programmes.

A four-member team of Singapore's humanitarian organisation Mercy Relief has arrived in Padang and is expected to stay there for a week to help Indonesia's earthquake victims.

"We can see a lot of buildings which have collapsed, and we are outside the M Jamil General Hospital where the Singaporean survivor John Lee was warded. We are now in the midst of procuring food supplies and also milk – UHT milk for children," said Hassan Ahmad, CEO, Mercy Relief.

"There is also rationing for fuel for each vehicle, so it is very difficult for us to move around to get in the food supplies, clean drinking water and clean water supply for sanitation," he added.

Mercy Relief's efforts are being supported by religious groups as well.

The Rahmatan Lil 'Alamin Foundation, with support from Singapore's mosques, has started collecting funds for the quake victims during Friday prayers. The foundation has already raised some S$50,000 for quake victims in West Java and people hit by Typhoon Morakot in Taiwan.

Meanwhile, the Singapore Soka Association will rally some 3,500 of its members for a fundraising drive on Sunday. Members can make their donations at three of its centres located in Tampines, Telok Blangah and Bukit Panjang.

All proceeds from the mosques and Soka will be forwarded to Mercy Relief, in support of its humanitarian mission in Padang.

Malaysian bank CIMB, which has offices in Singapore, has rolled out the "CIMB-The Star Padang Relief Fund" and is rallying customers and the public in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia to support the fund.

The bank has already contributed close to S$50,000 (RM100,000) to the fund.

All contributions to the "CIMB-The Star Padang Relief Fund" should be made before Sunday, 18 October 2009. Those who wish to donate can contact the bank at +65 6333 7777.

- CNA/sc

Arapahoe

3 Oct 09, 14:31

why did they took so long to accept singapore help?

QX179R

3 Oct 09, 20:22

Singapore's Sumatra quake victim warded at SGH

SINGAPORE: Singapore's only victim in the earthquake in West Sumatra has returned home.

Businessman John Lee, 55, was pulled out alive on Thursday from the rubble of a five-storey hotel after being trapped for 30 hours. He was subsequently hospitalised in Padang.

Back in Singapore, Mr Lee is presently warded at the Singapore General Hospital. His wife said he was calm when they last spoke and he would be getting further examination in the hospital.

"He can stand, so his leg is not fractured. It is probably just numb from being trapped under the rubble for too long. Now, he has to check if any vessels or nerves were damaged," she said.

- CNA/so

QX179R

4 Oct 09, 22:11

Frantic search as Indonesia quake toll tops 1,000

Rescuers are digging feverishly through the rubble of a school and other buildings toppled by an earthquake in the Indonesian port of Padang, but few victims have been found alive two days after the tremor.

The United Nations says more than 1,000 have been killed in the port city.

Meanwhile, in the South Pacific, grieving Samoans have buried their dead in beachside graves as the gruesome task of recovering bodies from villages destroyed by four tsunamis continued, and an aftershock shook the region.

The US Geological Service said a fresh, smaller quake of magnitude 6.3 rattled the region south of Tonga today.

Tonga is west of the international dateline and a day ahead of Samoa.

The confirmed death toll from Tuesday's tsunamis stood at 149 in Samoa, 31 on American Samoa and nine on Tonga.

--938Live

QX179R

5 Oct 09, 15:23

Indonesia's 'unlucky' president takes quake blame

JAKARTA (AFP) - – Some superstitious Indonesians are blaming a supposedly "unlucky" president -- and not shifting tectonic plates -- for the latest earthquake in this disaster-prone country.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, popularly known by his initials SBY, has long been burdened by murmurs that he carries with him the shadow of cosmic misfortune.

A string of disasters both natural and man-made since his election in 2004, including the Indian Ocean tsunami that killed 220,000 across Asia, has seen quips that SBY stands for "Selalu Bencana Ya", roughly meaning "Always A Disaster".

The latest catastrophe, believed to have killed upwards of 1,100 people with another buried 4,000 under rubble, is viewed by many in this Muslim-majority country of 234 million as yet more proof that SBY's stars are crossed. Related article: Disaster leaves villages buried

"SBY, because of his birth date, will always attract disasters to this country, according to the Primbon (a Javanese almanac of mysticism)" Permadi, a veteran politician from the opposition Gerindra party and practising shaman, told AFP.

"Just look at the numbers of his birth date -- the ninth of the ninth, '49 -- that's unlucky. The more he holds on to power, the more great disasters will happen," he said.

If Yudhoyono stays president, "a much bigger disaster will strike Jakarta for sure," Permadi said, referring to the Indonesian capital.

"If SBY had a big heart, he would step down."

Not everyone believes this theory -- and many see SBY's birthday as enviably lucky -- but such talk of supernatural misfortune has deep resonance in Indonesia, where Islam and Christianity are for many merged with older traditions of Hinduism, Buddhism and animism.

The criticism has been long-standing enough that Yudhoyono lectured local government heads in the quake-hit region of West Sumatra two years ago that they should blame the region's volatile geology, and not him.

"Magma doesn't move because SBY has become president. It's malicious to link it to me being president," he was quoted as saying at the time.

Even the Jakarta Post, one of the top-selling English dailies, suggested a link between the disaster and the extravagance of politicians in a Sunday editorial entitled "The Gods Must Be Angry".

"Whether you subscribe to the theological or secular explanation, the 7.6-magnitude quake that killed more than 1,100 people came on the eve of the multi-billion-rupiah inauguration ball for newly elected members of the House of Representatives and the Regional Representative Council in Jakarta," it said.

Political analyst Bima Arya Sugiarto said that while some, particularly opposition politicians, try to paint the president as a spiritual liability, there are benefits for him in Indonesians' gaze beyond the physical world.

Criticism of the often slow aid response, and the poor planning that allowed shoddy buildings to spring up in the first place, has been muted by fatalism and a widespread belief that the disaster is God's will, Sugiarto said.

"The mystical perspective or the religious perspective is more dominant than public criticism of government policies," he said.

Indonesian media have carried accounts of divine symbols in the aftermath of the quake, including a ring-shaped sun surrounded by a rainbow and God's name inscribed in Arabic calligraphy in the clouds.

In the devastated city of Padang, a commonly heard refrain has been that the quake is a test, or a punishment, ordained by God.

"I think the quake happened because many of the youths in Padang commit sins, especially during Ramadan," chicken-feed factory worker Yasrizat, 36, said near a mosque in the city.

"They've been engaging in sinful activities by the beach. I think God is punishing us with this quake."

QX179R

5 Oct 09, 21:56

Indonesia calls off search for missing survivors

PADANG, Indonesia – Rescue workers called off the search Monday for life under the rubble left by a massive earthquake, focusing instead on bringing aid to survivors in the towns and hills of western Indonesia, despite being hampered by torrential rains.

"After all this time I consider, from various experiences, it will be difficult to find more people alive," Ignacio Leon, the head of the U.N.'s humanitarian agency in Indonesia, told The Associated Press.

"I don't want to cut the hope of the people, but the focus will shift and we are supporting the government now more in the relief side," he said.

The death toll from Wednesday's temblor in Sumatra island is expected to be in the thousands once the missing people are declared dead. The U.N. has said 1,100 people died, while the government puts the toll at 603.

Leon would not categorically say the search and rescue operation was called off, but other teams confirmed that was the case.

Hiroaki Sano, head of the Japan Disaster Rescue Team, told the AP that officials of the U.N. and the Indonesian government discussed international assistance and "agreed no further assistance is needed for search and rescues."

"We got here quickly but we haven't found any survivors. The first 100 hours are crucial," he said.

International search and rescue teams were winding up operations and preparing to go back home as there was little hope of finding any survivors, he said.

"They believe we should switch from emergency searches to the rebuilding stage," Sano said. International aid teams will continue to provide food and other humanitarian assistance, he said.

Government minister Aburizal Bakrie told reporters that $600 million was needed to repair homes, schools, mosques, roads and other basic infrastructure damaged by the magnitude 7.6 earthquake.

It had initially said $400 million was needed, but raised the estimate after the scale of the disaster became clear.

The undersea quake devastated 10 districts in the Western Sumatra province including the capital, Padang, a city of 900,000 people where scores of tall buildings, including hotels, a mall, mosques and schools came down crashing. In addition, the quake triggered huge landslides in the hills of Pariaman district where entire villages were wiped out.

Little aid has reached the remote communities as many roads and bridges were destroyed. Landslides also blocked many of the roads leading to villages and an AP crew saw aid workers scrambling to clear the road of dirt, boulders and trees.

One road ended at Kampung Dalam village. The rest of the way had caved in, forcing rescue teams from South Korea, France and Germany to camp there. Villages further up the road were now accessible only by foot.

Heavy rain since Sunday night threatened to trigger more landslides and hamper delivery of aid as most aid teams were forced to stay put in Padang.

Sano said the rain hasn't affected the operations too much in the city but was more of a factor in the surrounding areas.

"If it continues it would definitely affect the lives of the victims and make it for the Indonesians to conduct operations," he said.

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

"People who live around the hills should remain alert for potential landslides, due to the high intensity of rain," said the agency's spokesman, Hari Tirto.

It was unclear precisely how many people were without shelter Monday, but more than 88,000 houses and 285 schools were flattened in 10 affected districts, according to the U.N. and Indonesia's Disaster Management Agency.

Another 100,000 public buildings and 20 miles (31 kilometers) of road were damaged.

In Padang, hundreds of children went back to class Monday in schools set up in tents as authorities tried to restore normalcy. UNICEF provided tents and basic supplies for schools in three of 10 affected districts.

The resumption of classes was largely symbolic, giving just a few hundred children an opportunity to meet with teachers and receive counseling to process the trauma of recent days, including the deaths of relatives and being made homeless.

"The government has called for classes to resume as soon as possible so they can create some normalcy," said Amson Simbolon, a UNICEF education officer, as math classes began for around 300 students at one badly damaged school in Padang.

The agency has provided 15 tents, each with room for 50 to 60 children, and is shipping another 220 by boat from the capital of Jakarta, he said.

--AP

QX179R

6 Oct 09, 10:02

Quake survivor John Lee speaks about his ordeal

SINGAPORE: John Lee, the Singaporean who survived the earthquake in Indonesia's Padang, has spoken to MediaCorp about his ordeal.

The 55-year-old businessman was pulled out alive from the rubble of a five-storey hotel after being trapped for 30 hours.

Mr Lee said that when the hotel crumbled under the 7.6-magnitude quake, he was trapped in a space the size of a "pigeon hole".

"The space covering me is more or less made to measure to my size, 90-centimetre width, about 1.6-metre in length. I can't, totally can't move at all. Of course, the pain was there, plus limited air circulation. I sweat a lot. With that condition, I only prepared myself for the worst," he said.

- CNA/ir