INDONESIA: Rescuers find bodies after landslide buries village in Sumatra earthquake

Record ID: 791299

  • Title: INDONESIA: Rescuers find bodies after landslide buries village in Sumatra earthquake
  • Date: 6th October 2009
  • Summary: KEPALA KOTO, PATAMUAN, WEST SUMATRA PROVINCE, INDONESIA (OCTOBER 5, 2009) (REUTERS) LANDSLIDE AREA EXCAVATORS CLEARING LAND RESCUE AND EMERGENCY PERSONNEL AT SITE RESCUE AND EMERGENCY PERSONNEL LOOKING ON EXCAVATOR ON SITE EXCAVATOR CLEARING TREE (SOUNDBITE) (Bahasa Indonesia) LOCAL VILLAGER, JUMAHADI SUTAN, SAYING: "I know that no one could have survived when the landslide happened. The village homes were completely buried." EXCAVATOR CLEARING LAND LANDSLIDE AREA JAPANESE SEARCH AND RESCUE TEAM MEMBERS WALKING WITH SEARCH AND RESCUE DOGS DOGS (SOUNDBITE) (Bahasa Indonesia) CHIEF OF LOCAL RESCUE OPERATIONS, SYARIFUDDIN, SAYING: "At that time, there was a wedding happening here. Maybe more than one hundred people came to attend the wedding. In total, perhaps five hundred people were buried by the landslide in this village." DEBRIS OVER LANDSLIDE AREA DAMAGED VILLAGE HOME DEBRIS CLOTHES AMONG DEBRIS
  • Embargoed: 21st October 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Indonesia
  • Country: Indonesia
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes
  • Reuters ID: LVA5Z8B8QEHREQXE23CFVW0NS3YH
  • Story Text: The hunt for bodies intensifies in villages buried by landslides, following the Padang earthquake in Indonesia's Sumatra island.
    Excavators and emergency personnel were working overtime on Monday (October 5) in rural villages buried by landslides in the aftermath of last Wednesday's (September 30) earthquake in Indonesia's western port city of Padang.
    In the Kepala Koto village, more than 60 kilometres from the Padang city centre, rescue personnel and villagers said a massive landslide caused by the earthquake had buried more than 500 people alive during the earthquake.
    Military and civilian rescue groups were still combing the area for bodies three days after they started their operations here on October 2 (Friday).
    The rainy weather since Sunday (October 4) has made their search for bodies even more difficult, as the land in the area turned muddy.
    A local villager said the landslide happened so fast that there was no chance anyone in the village located at the foot of a hill would have survived it.
    "I know that no one could have survived when the landslide happened. The village homes were completely buried," said Jumahadi Sultan.
    A Japanese rescue team was at the site with three rescue dogs to help in the effort to locate the bodies. Many bodies were believed to have been buried deep inside the earth as excavators intensified their efforts to clear the earth and debris around the area.
    The chief of local rescue operations, Syariffudin, said about five hundred people were in area when the landslide occurred.
    He added local villagers were having a wedding party on the day the earthquake occurred, with more than a hundred guests from outside the village attending the festivities.
    "At that time, there was a wedding happening here. Maybe more than one hundred people came to attend the wedding. In total, perhaps five hundred people were buried by the landslide in this
    village," he said.
    In the more remote rural areas around Padang, the scale of the disaster was still becoming clear, with at least five villages swallowed by torrents of mud and rock when the 7.6 magnitude quake hit the region.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register