As rescue teams ramp up their efforts following Wednesday's devastating earthquake on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, Health Minister Siti Fidilah Supari's appeal to the international community for help has seen rescue teams from around the world speeding to the island in a desperate bid to find survivors trapped in rubble.

 
Listen to a Newsline report by RNW's correspondent Michel Maas:

International crews with specialist machinery are en route from Australia, the UK and South Korea and the first planes carrying supplies such as medicine, food and body bags have landed on the island .

Search dogs
A team from Sweden has already arrived with special search dogs, says Radio Netherlands Indonesia correspondent Michel Maas, who witnessed a survivor being pulled from the wreckage of a hotel earlier today.
 
"The military came in with bulldozers since this morning and now they are really going for it. Out of the rubble they dragged one of the victims alive. No one thought that anyone would come out of the rubble alive...and they are hopeful to find more"
 

Further victims
The number of victims has already passed 1000 according to the UN and numbers are expected to rise further.
 
Wednesday's tremor registered 7.6 on the Richter scale and brought many buildings in the capital of western Sumatra, Padang, crashing to the ground. A second earthquake on Thursday, registering 6.6 on the Richter scale, sparked widespread panic but did not claim any victims.
 

Relief efforts
As much of a priority as finding survivors in the rubble is the provision of relief for the thousands of people who have been left homeless and in need of food, water and medicine.
 
"I have seen only three tents in the entire city of Padang. In some places there is free food and water run by local NGOs and civilians. International relief has not yet reached people."
 
Help is on the way however. The European Union has allocated three million euro towards humanitarian aid. China has allocated $500,000 to the relief effort and the United States government is donating $300,000 towards immediate emergency relief, plus a further 3 million dollars for long-term assistance to the survivors.