By Andi Abdussalam
Jakarta, Oct 1 (ANTARA) - Rescue workers need additional heavy equipment to evacuate the thousands of victims believed still to be trapped under building rubbles in Sumatra's 7.6-magnitude earthquake that shattered Padang city on Wednesday afternoon and killed at least 215 people.
The equipment is also needed to help remove hills of avalanches, rocks and tree trunks which buried some sections of roads in the province, particularly access roads from other provinces to allow the entry of relief aid.
Padang Mayor Fauzi Bahar has earlier instructed his apparatuses to use heavy equipment and machinery to save victims who are still trapped in the ruins of collapsed houses, offices and shops.
Rescue workers have mobilized at least 80 units of heavy equipment to evacuate victims trapped under the ruins of building structures but the number, according to the mayor, is not enough because the number of collapsed buildings reached hundreds.
ANTARA correspondents reported that a number of excavators were used to remove the rubbles of shop-houses in Jalan Pondok in Padang City to lift trapped victims. Nine bodies were found dead under the rubbles of collapsed three-story shop-houses.
The earthquake shattered government offices and buildings such as the offices of Regional Development Board (Bapeda) of West Sumatra, the Social Affairs Services, the City Hall and Bank BNI.
Rescue workers from West Sumatra Disaster Task Force (Satkorlak) and local residents worked together to evacuate victims using heavy equipment, hoes and other manual tools.
At least 11 sub-districts in Padang city all need heavy equipment to save victims who are still hammed-in among ruins of building structures. The number of dead victims is feared to increase because the number of heavy equipment is limited.
The quake also destroyed other infrastructures and facilities, cut off roads and paralyzed communications.
Roads to Padang city through Bukittinggi were cut off due to the landslides in the Padang Panjang section. The only way to get to Padang city is to take other direction through Solok.
Road access to several points which connects West Sumatra with Bengkulu province is also cut off. Relief aid for the time being could be delivered only through certain land access and sea as the airport on Wednesday evening was closed temporarily to allow field checks on its safety use.
Traffic in the southern coastal areas of Padang city is paralyzed as some sections of roads in the area were buried with landslides. The road in Padang City's southern coastal area which leads to Teluk Kabung was cut off.
"In certain points, dunes of rocks and tree trunks piled up on roads obstructing trucks which wanted to pass," Oyon Sudiman (43), a local resident said.
Landslides also buried sections of roads which link Padang Pariaman with Padang Panjang. This also cut off traffic in the area so that the Padang Panjang-Padang Pariaman route could not be covered by vehicles.
"No car can pass the quake-triggered landslide, as the road was totally cut off," public transportation driver on the Pekanbaru-Padang route Rizal Tanjung said Wednesday night. He said he was passing the road when the quake struck on Wednesday afternoon, and he was still stuck there by Wednesday night.
Besides roads, the earthquake also disrupted telecommunications and electricity. "Cellular communication services by voice or short message have been disrupted," Indosat public relations chief Adita Irawati. She said the company kept monitoring service conditions in the field because disruptions on networks as well as traffic would hike.
"We keep monitoring the situation to see if disruptions on communications were caused by networks and traffic hike," she said. PT Telkom's Public and Marketing Communications VP Eddy Kurnia meanwhile said some of the company's fixed-line points could not be reached.
In the meantime, electricity is almost paralyzed. The devastating quake caused the supporting infrastructure such as the main powerhouse, electric poles and the office buildings of the state-run power company PT PLN badly damaged, PLN's technical manager overseeing Riau Islands M Shodiq, said.
"The most serious damage occurred in the city of Padang which was still without electricity. All PLN offices in the region could not be contacted, except by PLN's radio communication," he said.
Fortunately, Padang's Manangkabau International Airport has been reopened for commercial flights to allow aid relief after it was closed on Wednesday evening.
"Beginning this morning, the airport has been able to serve commercial flights," Transportation Ministry Spokesman Bambang S Ervan said when contacted on Thursday.
He said that the international airport was closed on Wednesday evening following a strong earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale which shattered Padang city. Unitl 11 am on Thursday, the number of dead victims has reached 215 people.
"The airport was closed to allow officials to carry out field checks on its facilities and infrastructures to ensure the safety of of flights," Bambang said.
After the field checks were conducted, the airport was declared safe to be operated as of 9.45 pm on Wednesday for non-commercial flights, namely planes carrying relief aid logistics.
Bambang said that other important transportation infrastructure such as the Padang seaport, were affected by the quake. "The port offices, piers and a number of lighthouses were damaged. But he could not yet ascertain whether or not sailing is safe in the area," he said.
Roads to the port were also cut off as they were buried by landslides and avalanches. "We are still in coordination with the Ministry of Public Works in order to cope with this problem so that the access to the port could be opened," he added.***3*** (T.A014/A/H-NG/A/O001) (T.A014/A/A014/A/O001) 01-10-2009 14:13:09
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