Indonesia has made an urgent appeal to the international community for help following Wednesday's devastating earthquake. Foreign assistance is urgently needed in the rescue operations in western Sumatra. The country needs manpower and machinery to get people out from under the rubble. The extent of the disaster is overwhelming.

Own machinery
Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari says there is a need for experienced rescue workers able to bring their own equipment. Rescuing people who are trapped under the rubble is a major priority. It requires both people and machines. She adds that there is also a great need for medical personnel as any of the people who have been pulled out of the rubble have broken bones. There are too many casualties for the local doctors to cope with.

Number of casualties
According to a UN spokesperson, it is difficult to estimate the extent of the disaster.

"The latest figures we have suggest the death toll has risen to 1,100 already, and that's very much 'stop press'. Obviously many hundreds of injured people as well. And I fear these numbers will rise as more information becomes available and search and rescue continues."

Wednesday's tremor registered 7.6 on the Richter scale. A second earthquake on Thursday, registering 6.6 on the Richter scale, sparked widespread panic but did not claim any victims.

Survivor
There is chaos in the severely hit port of Padang, which has a population of almost a million. Fuel and drinking water are in short supply. Many roads have been destroyed by the earthquake. People are being rescued from under the rubble with small mechanical diggers and manpower. A man who was saved last night says:

"For 30 hours I was thinking I had to say goodbye to the world, and giving thanks to everybody that loved me. And after that I just prayed for a miracle."

There is great concern about the situation in another town, Pariaman. This smaller town is closer to the epicentre than Padang. Last night Radio Netherlands Worldwide managed to get in touch with an eyewitness, who reports that almost 80 percent of the houses have collapsed. There hasn’t been any assistance so far: no tents, no blankets, no drinking water, no medicine. They can probably manage for a day or two, but after that the situation will become critical. Nearly all of the houses have collapsed and are uninhabitable.

Strong and resilient
Foreign assistance is now starting to arrive in Indonesia. The first planes carrying supplies such as medicine, food and body bags have arrived. The European Union has allocated three million euro towards humanitarian aid. The UK is sending a team of 60 rescue workers to Indonesia. Australia is sending a team of 44 rescue workers. China is sending 500,000 US dollars. The United States government is donating 300,000 dollars towards immediate emergency relief, plus a further 3 million dollars for long-term assistance to the survivors.

President Barack Obama, who lived in Indonesia himself when he was young, was very emotional about the earthquake. He said he knows that the Indonesians are strong and resilient, and will succeed in overcoming this challenge.

(Photo: ANP)