JUMANAK, Indonesia - Search teams lost hope of finding any more survivors under the rubble left by a massive earthquake as torrential rains held up aid delivery yesterday in the remote hills of western Indonesia, where several villages were wiped out.
Rescue teams focused instead on retrieving bodies from the rubble of the magnitude 7.6 earthquake that hit Wednesday in Sumatra island, setting up tents for the tens of thousands of homeless and providing them food and drinking water.
Vice President Jusuf Kalla said there was little hope of finding anyone alive. “We can be sure that they are dead. So now we are waiting for burials,’’ he said.
There is no clear word on the death toll. The United Nations put the figure at 1,100.
“With each passing day, the magnitude of the devastation grows,’’ said Mark Fritzler, head of the Indonesia division of the Save the Children aid group.
“In addition to the threat of aftershocks, heavy rainfall has challenged our efforts, roads are cut off, and we have no power in many areas, but relief workers are reaching families in the hardest-hit areas,’’ he said.
The missing include 644 people who were buried alive in four villages in the hills of Padang Pariaman district that were swept away by landslides caused by the quake. Among the victims were 200 to 300 guests at a wedding party in Jumanak village.
Hordes of aid workers, military personnel, police, and volunteers finally reached the villages yesterday, bringing heavy earth-moving equipment.But a heavy downpour raised fears of fresh landslides, and police ordered people to leave.
