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Quake landslides bury four villages in Indonesia
As many as 644 people, including a wedding party, are believed to have been buried under mountains of mud and debris, officials said.
- By Gilbert Felongco, Correspondent
- Published: 22:52 October 3, 2009
- Image Credit: EPA
- Rescuers search for survivors and bodies in Padang's Ambacang Hotel on Saturday, watched by hundreds of locals. The hotel was destroyed in the September 28, 7.6-magnitude quake.
Manila/Abu Dhabi: Indonesians on Saturday grappled with the grim discovery of four villages wiped out by landslides triggered by a devastating earthquake, while the Filipinos breathed a sigh of relief as Typhoon Parma blew across the country, causing minimal damage.
As foreign aid trickled into Indonesia and the Philippines, the UAE President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan ordered emergency aid for earthquake and flood victims, WAM reported.
The Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Charity Foundation will dispatch relief assistance and emergency supplies to the victims in Indonesia and Philippines.
The full extent of the damage from the 7.6-magnitude earthquake that rocked Sumatra on Wednesday emerged only after rescue teams turned their attention to the hundreds of villages in the island's western coast
As many as 644 people, including a wedding party, are believed to have been buried under mountains of mud and debris, officials said. The find would raise the toll to more than 1,300. The government's death toll currently is 715, while the United Nations' last estimate was 1,100,
The Philippines emerged largely unscathed after a second storm - Typhoon Parma - pummelled the northern parts of the country. Parma had been expected to pass over Aurora province and Isabela but it later changed course and struck Cagayan province, where it still caused destruction but on a minimal and more manageable scale.
At least 400,000 people were still at evacuation centres across the metropolis and nearby areas hit by floods when Parma struck.
- With additonal inputs from WAM and Agencies
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