http://thejakartaglobe.com/home/chance-of-finding-more-padang-quake-survivors-almost-zero-indonesian-official/333396
October 04, 2009 Indonesians pass a collapsed building on Saturday in Padang, three days after Wednesday's 7.6-magnitude quake that toppled thousands of buildings. (Photo: Kevin Frayer, AP) Chance of Finding More Padang Quake Survivors 'Almost Zero': Indonesian Official The chance of finding any survivors among the thousands of people buried under collapsed buildings by the earthquake that devastated the Indonesian town of Padang on Sumatra's west coast is "almost zero," the national search and rescue agency said. "Life detectors, which detect heartbeat, have shown there isn't anyone alive underneath the rubble of most high-rise buildings in Padang," Gagah Prakoso, spokesman for the Indonesian Search and Rescue Agency, said yesterday, three days after the quake, at an operations center in the city. "We have used detectors, dogs, even bare hands, every means possible to search for any survivors, but I have to say that the chance is almost zero by now." The death toll from the 7.6-magitude temblor that leveled homes, mosques and hotels in the coastal city of about 800,000 was 496 people as of yesterday, Priyadi Kardono, a spokesman at the National Disaster Management Agency in Jakarta, said by phone. "Many thousands more" are trapped under crushed buildings, the United Nations said in a statement on its Web site. The Red Cross estimated more than 2,000 may have died, according to Agence France-Presse. Governments around the world have provided money and other aid such as medicine, tents, food and search teams with sniffer dogs. Still, time, weather and the number of destroyed buildings ensure the death toll will rise significantly. "Realistically it is very, very difficult for anyone to still be alive after being trapped without water and food under the rubble for so long," Prakoso said. There were 125 people, including guests and participants in two seminars, staying at the 140-room Ambacang hotel when it was destroyed in the earthquake, Sarana Aji, the hotel's general manager, said in an interview in Padang. Teams have recovered 29 bodies from the hotel, he said. One survivor was rescued Oct. 2, he said. The smell of decomposing bodies was strong near what used to be the swimming pool on the Ambacang's second floor, now lying shattered on the ground. Five excavating machines moved chunks of broken concrete and steel reinforcing bar that used to form the floors and walls of the destroyed building. "I urge everyone to accept the possibility that the trapped victims may not survive," Aji said. "Our focus remains to find survivors, though the chance is getting slim." Elsewhere in Padang, stores and small restaurants began to resume operations, providing much needed service in the devastated town that has been paralyzed. Some hotels and hospitals were running on electricity provided by their own generators, as power in the city was still unavailable. Long queues formed at filling stations as people hoped to obtain scarce gasoline. Nursim Salam, 55, a teacher at LBA Lia school in Padang, was trapped underneath the collapsed school for three hours. "The earth shook violently," Salam said in an interview. "I quickly told my students to run out of the building when pieces of brick walls started to crumble, but it was too late. There was a loud noise, then the roof collapsed. Everything was dark and it was difficult to breathe." Salam and four students were on the second floor of the school when the building collapsed. "We had to crawl from one empty space to another," Salam said. "Hours later I saw a blinking light coming from the other side so I made my way there and saw someone holding a cell phone. It was a student from another class. With the help from the cell-phone light, we made our way down slowly to the lobby because we were on the second floor, but after everything collapsed we were on the ground." "Eventually we heard some people outside and screamed for help. They gave us drinks and a bit of food and stayed with us until we were rescued about one hour later. My throat feels so dry, even now I have to keep drinking or it gets very dry. It could be the dust." Doctors trying to treat hundreds of injured survivors are running out of medicine, and damage to hospitals has left them without sufficient space to operate. At the M Jamil Hospital, the biggest public hospital in Padang, doctors have been overwhelmed by critically injured people and the bodies of those who didn't survive. "These bodies are not so easy to identify because they aren't complete," Asril Zahari, 57, the hospital's head medical coordinator, said Oct. 2. "We received 92 of them in total. Most of them were claimed by their families already except for these 10. They are from the Ambacang hotel and Aldira Motor," he said, referring to an auto showroom in the town. "We treated 250 patients and operated on 120 of them," Zahari said. "Many of them suffered from broken bones and head injuries. Initially we had enough supplies but there are just too many patients. We are running out of injection liquid, antibiotics, saline drips. Thank God, though, so far I can say that most patients have received treatment." Zahari, who lost an uncle in the quake, said his family is sleeping in the backyard at night because their home collapsed. Bloomberg Related articles 'Miracle' Saves Two Women Buried in Padang Earthquake Debris 1:18 AM 03/10/2009 Indonesian Government to Tap 2010 Budget for Quake Disaster 12:42 AM 03/10/2009 Food Supplies Dwindle in Padang Earthquake Zone 12:12 AM 03/10/2009 After Quake, Indonesian President Calls for Stricter Construction Regulations 11:50 PM 02/10/2009 'I Was Scared': Youngest Sumatra Quake Victims Recount Terror 1:31 PM 02/10/2009 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
