Friday, October 16, 2009

Personal Preparation

To friends who are going for a mission.
i am sharing this with u........

more guides and manual is out there,or u can just ask me.

Always......



Tips on Personal Preparation

The best advice is likely to come from someone doing a similar job to the one that you will be doing. If you can find such a person, even if only via a long conversation on the telephone, do so. It will greatly repay the effort and the cost.

While preparing, you may wish to consider the following:

  • Obtain briefing on the country you will be going to; its culture and customs; the work you will be doing; the security situation; and the history of your organisation's work in that area.
  • What training do you need before you depart? Take experienced and qualified advice on this if necessary. You may need training related to safety or security, and training in aspects of the job you'll be doing.
  • Travel plans: have they been thoroughly prepared? Who will meet you on arrival? What will you do if they do not show up?
  • Medical advice, particularly on malaria prophylaxis and other health precautions.
  • Clothing: appropriate to where you will be and what you will be doing.
  • Putting your personal, family and property affairs in order before you leave.
  • What manuals or handbooks will you find useful?
  • Security-related equipment
  • Mail forwarding arrangements.
more coming

have a good weekend

Khoda Hafez

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Advice for First-Time Aid workers

I found this article from the net.

Its not a complete guide for Aid workers going to the field,but it helps.

Diff NGO's or oganisation have diff SOP's and guideline.

you guys can always search the web or ask me for any info.

Happy reading



Going to the field for the first time as an aid worker? Even if you have extensive experience traveling in developing countries, there is a lot you should do to prepare for your first experience as an aid worker. It's impossible to list absolutely everything you will need to take, and duty stations vary tremendously in terms of security and infrastructure. The author of this page has tried to make a list that includes universal essentials, but you will need to do much more research on your own to prepare for your first placement.

Predeparture

* Do as much research as possible, before you leave, about the country where you will serve (its history, its current political situation, the names of its key leaders, the living standards of its people, cultural aspects, the availability of medicine, the types of food, etc.). If there is a Lonely Planet or Rough Guide for the area, buy it and review it at length (and definitely take it with you!). Also see the latest UNDP Human Development Report and look up the country. The web also provides extensive, useful information.

* Look for blogs by aid workers who have been or are in the area where you will serve. These personal accounts can go a long way in preparing you for your first aid experience.

* If you are a woman, you should do some extra research on cultural aspects of a country; male aid workers often forget or don't notice the particular customs regarding women's dress for the street and the office, and your briefing materials may not be explicit enough in this regard. If possible, try to talk with a woman who has been in the country before, or is there now.

* Find out how you will be paid. Will it be in cash? Will it be via deposit to a local bank? Can part of your pay be directly deposited to your home country bank? Make sure you have all of the information you need about your home country bank for possible money transfers. All the better if you can do online banking via your home country bank.

* Ask for a list of staff members BEFORE you leave your home country for your assignment. If at all possible, make contact via email before you leave with staff members already in-country that you will work with.

* Ask the organization who will pick you up from the airport (if anyone), how you should get from the airport to your housing, the name of your housing accommodations, what paperwork you will need to fill out at the airport, etc.

* Get about 10 passport-sized photos made. You will need them for visas, country ID cards, agency ID cards, and all sorts of surprise reasons. If you are female and going to a country where most women wear head scarves, consider getting some photos made with you wearing such

* Find out what country you would be evacuated to should there be a severe security threat, and if possible, secure your visa for this country before departing your home country.

* Make an electronic copy of the key pages of your passport, and have copies of your contract, security clearance, airline tickets/reservations, emergency information, etc. Put this information somewhere on the Internet where you can retrieve it (for instance, you can mail it to your Yahoo, GMail, Hotmail, or other web-based email account, and retrieve it if you need to after you arrive). You can also have it on a memory stick or CD you carry with you on your person when you arrive. Of course, you should have printed out copies of these as well which you also carry on your person.

* Buy and study a map of the country or the area where you will work.

* Start monitoring the weather before you leave. The web makes that very easy to do.

* Network as much as possible before your departure. Learn what other agencies serve the area and, if there might be a counterpart at any organization doing work similar to you, consider writing these organizations before you arrive to introduce yourself. See AWN's more detailed information on networking

* Consider taking a few *very small*, discreet gifts with you that you could give to people who prove particularly helpful. For instance, in Afghanistan, the author of this advice page brought small bottles of moisturizer and gourmet instant coffee.

* Think about what medicines you might need and pack accordingly – but don't bring so much that it might alarm customs officials.

* Research online groups that might relate to your work in a particular geographic area. This is a great way to network with people at other organizations engaged in the same work as you.


* Check your embassy's web site for the country and see if they have a registration process; it's a good idea for your embassy to know you are going to be in a country, and for how long. Often, they will put you on a contact list to let you know about events or security bulletins.

* Identify books or other publications you think might help you in your work. If you take these, be prepared to leave them, either because you need to evacuate, because you have no room in your luggage when you return or because you feel they would do good staying in the country for use by others.

* If you like to read, consider taking your own books and magazines. But be prepared to leave them in the country when you finish; they will be very much appreciated by other international staff there.

* Equipment needs vary from country-to-country, and depend on your living conditions. Yes, take that Swiss Army Knife (but not in your carry on). Two things the author of this article found most valuable that were recommended by fellow aid workers but not in any guide books: universal sink plug and a head lamp with plenty of batteries (electricity supplies, if not scarce in developing countries, are, at least, unreliable).


How much stuff should you take with you? It depends on how long you are going, what your living conditions will be, and the availability of items there. Just remember that, as you navigate your way through airports and other transport stations, you might have to manage all of your luggage by yourself; that means you don't want to take more than you can manage on your own. Also, consider that, in an emergency situation, you would need to leave the majority of your possessions, so don't take anything so precious that you would be heartbroken to have to leave it behind.

Upon arrival

Many new aid workers are shocked at how much they have to do themselves when arriving at an agency; often, the aid worker his or herself will have to drive the process to get paid, get necessary equipment, meet fellow staff members, etc. Be prepared to take charge in accessing the essential information and materials you will need to do your work:

* Some organizations provide new arrivals with an induction/orientation document. Some don't. Either way, there is a lot of information you need to compile yourself:

o Start immediately making a list of key contacts. This should be everything from people you work with in your job to people whose assistance you may need (IT person, security person, etc.)

o Start making a list of abbreviations to remember. Aid workers and government officials are notorious for talking in acronyms. You will never learn them unless you make a list.

o Get a staff list with key contact info ASAP.

* Find out when the security briefing is. If there is none, ask for one. Don't put this off!

* Get your official identification cards (visas, agency ID card, etc.) as soon as possible.

* No matter what your job, ask for some official documents: policies and procedures, the most recent annual report, the most recent internal program progress report, etc.

* Track all of the payments you are supposed to receive. No matter how well-known, long-established or large your development agency is, make sure you stay on top of all the payments you are supposed to receive, and when those are made.

* If you had a predecessor, ask where that person's files are, so you can go through to see what was done, and if this person left you any guiding notes.

* Ask someone to take you around and introduce you to everyone at the organization that you should know. If no one does, then do it yourself – walk into each and every office and introduce yourself. If no one sends an email around introducing you, do it yourself.

* Network with those at other organizations who do the same job as you. Initiate contact via phone, email, or just stopping by, as appropriate.

* Find out how to back up your computer information. If this isn't done, then do it yourself on CDs or thumbdrive.

* Get business cards as soon as possible.

* Get your computer ID and password ASAP

* Learn project site names and addresses ASAP.

* Arrange to meet key contacts face-to-face. Also, whenever you are at a main office or partner office, drop in and say hi to key contacts, even if you aren't there to see them; they may have information to pass on to you. Otherwise, it just keeps you on their radar screen.

* Staff often "hides" behind email. Back up any important emails you send to staff with face-to-face visits to their office, confirming the information/request you have sent via email. Going into people's offices at least once a week, even if you don't need anything, will help remind people that you are a real person, not just an email address, and that your requests for information are real.

* Go to all debriefings from staff members that you possibly can. It shows your interest in their work, and they often will, as a result, show more interest in yours. You may also find out things that you need for your own job.

* If security allows, take any and all opportunities you can to go into the field and visit work/project, no matter what your job. It will increase your commitment to your work, whatever that is, and remind you of why you wanted to go into development/aid work in the first place.

Thank you aid workers,volunteers,relief workers and humanitarian personnel

Thanking you guys for those who had serve,still serving and coming to serve here in Padang,Sumatera,Indonesia.
Will be sharing more info from time to time.

Those who are coming,we wish you welcome.
Those who are leaving,
till we meet again on the next mission.
Those who are staying.
We can have Padang Coffee soon.

Those who are new in humanitarian world
Please dont be shy to ask for help.
Dont be a hero.
There are ppl who love and care about you back home and out there.


Will be posting some stories,pictures,guides and article with you guys when time and internet permits.

Khoda Hafez

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

ReliefWeb » Document » Indonesia: Diseases strike West Sumatra quake survivors

ReliefWeb » Document » Indonesia: Diseases strike West Sumatra quake survivors

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Monday, October 12, 2009

Reuters AlertNet - VIDEO: Dramatic scenes from American Samoa tsunami

Reuters AlertNet - VIDEO: Dramatic scenes from American Samoa tsunami

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Reuters AlertNet - VIDEO: Indonesia quake survivor cuts off his own leg

Reuters AlertNet - VIDEO: Indonesia quake survivor cuts off his own leg

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Friday, October 9, 2009

Famous Minang song

This is a very famous Minangkabau song.
Actually this is how the language sounds like



Takana Juo

Salam dari Paja Santiang

Thursday, October 8, 2009

NST Online Salam team first with aid to village

NST Online Salam team first with aid to village

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Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Disease threatens survivors of Indonesia earthquake

CUBADAK AIR, Indonesia (AlertNet) -

Persistent rain and poor sanitation threaten to speed up the spread of disease among thousands of homeless survivors of a devastating earthquake in Indonesia. In Padang, the biggest city in the earthquake zone, the authorities have erected tents for the homeless and are handing out medical supplies and fresh water, but in outlying villages like Cubadak Air help has only just started trickling in.

"We can't live like this, I'm scared. When it rains it leaks through the sheet," said 50-year-old Masniati. Her home now was a sheet of plastic attached to the side of a ruined building that had been her house until the earthquake hit five days ago. "We need food, water and proper shelter." Masniati's brother-in-law had been injured in the earthquake and lay in the nearby medical centre unable to move. There were seven other people living in the makeshift shelter with Masniati. They have no clean water and only enough food for another two days. They wash their clothes in a nearby muddy, brown stream.

A local official said the earthquake had damaged all 200 houses in the village and that none are now fit to live in. Time is running out to get help to people stranded in remote areas - many cut off by landslides - said Malka Older, director of programmes at the aid group Mercy Corps. "What we're seeing is an urgent need for clean water," she told AlertNet. "People are sleeping outside and there are real worries that people outside Padang city are already coming down with malaria." She added that the survivors were becoming increasingly desperate.

"We heard that people are drinking water out of drains," she said. Indonesia's health minister has estimated that the final death toll from the earthquake could reach 3,000, adding that disease was becoming a concern. Investigators have already said too many of the buildings in the area were poorly constructed and the mayor of Padang has promised to push through a law to ensure that every new building can withstand a strong earthquake.

But for now the people of Chubadak Air and other villages in the earthquake zone are still stunned by the devastation. "When the earthquake hit I was so scared that I couldn't move at first. I thought I would have a heart attack," Masniati said. Zainyar, a 73-year-old woman wearing a pink and white traditional outfit, was sitting nearby. "We always have earthquakes here but they are only small ones. This one was very big and dangerous," she said. "I had to hug a tree to survive."

(Writing by James Kilner in London)

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Padang Earthquake Relief-

Stories will be updated soon













Padang Earthquake Relief-updates

Kelmarin Salam Relief sudah memulakan operasi penghantaran barangan keperluan kepada mangsa gempa di Sematera Barat.
Barang keperluan utama buat masa ni selain makanan adalah keperluan untuk berlindung.
Tents,plastic sheets,tarpauline.


Relawan dari Salam Relief sedang menandatangani surat resit serahan kepada sekretariat Posko bencana

Berkotak kotak bekalan makanan dan minuman juga turut tersenarai dalam barangan keperluan telah diserahkan kepada pusat pengumpulan


Van yang sendad dengan segala barang

Anak anak kecil bersungguh sungguh nak membantu mengangkat barang.


Plastic sheet di beli secara gulung dan pukal untuk serahan

last count before handing over directly to the villagers

Good transferred to local community van to be sent to affected areas


Salam Relief being brief on the position of the affected areas and accessible roads


road to villages were totally destroyed and cut off from the outside world

villagers trying to get out and pushing the bike through the mud and landslide

relief good were carried by hand as far as 3 km to reach the affected areas



I has been raining since we arrived in Padang.Blessing to some and yet it makes it tough for aid workers to reach hard hit areas and deliver goods.Locals have been very helpful giving hand and helping us carrying them.
Power supply and water is still not available in the city.
kebanyakan perkampungan yg dilanda tanah runtuh terletak di paras lebih dari 700 meter dari aras laut.
dengan hujan yang tidak menentu,bekalan makanan terputus,tiada tempat tinggal ternyata...ternyata keadaan ini amat susah dan mencabar bagi mereka.
setakat ini mengikut data mereka memerlukan lebih kurang 3000 kemah sebagai permulaan untuk menghadapai musim hujan yang mendatang.
dengan keadaan jalan yang terputus,tiada tempat tinggal dan tiada sumber makanan.
apa yang akan terjadi?
sesetengah kawasan jalan masih lagi belum boleh dilalui.segelintir yang ada pon hanya bisa ditembusi melalui jalan kaki sahaja.

tomorrow is another day

Monday, October 5, 2009

Padang Relief updates 2

Hilai tawa disebalik duka.

Budak budak kat mana pon dalam dunia yg sedang menghadapi bencana pasti akan tau macam mana nak have fun and enjoy them self.
walaupon kediaman dah hancur......their smile is still there.




Bumi terbelah di Padang
perjalanan masuk dari kampung ke kampung hari ini aku melihat banyak jalanraya retak dan membelah bumi.
Ada yang kecil dan juga ada yg besar.
Aftershocks is making it wider.......






Orang kg bersatu dan bekerja keras membina kembali jambatan yang runtuh kesan gempa bumi




Lembaga Listrik bekerja untuk mengembalikan bekalan letrik .....Namun kota padang masih lagi bergelap


Bekalan air yang masih terputus hingga hari ini.......sungai menjadi Pool.


The search is still ongoing





This used to be 3 stories building.
2 floors down


Hari ini juga aku sempat menyinggah di kampung nelayan di tepi laut sewaktu pulang dari wilayah Pariaman.Mereka masih lagi takut untuk kelaut kesan trauma.dalam sehari hanya ada beberapa bot kecil sahaja yg turun kelaut.itupon sekadar untuk jarak dekat.Ini menyebabkan harga hasil laut meningkat dan bekalan berkurangan.
Bekalan untuk mangsa gempa masih lagi tidak kesampaian di beberapa kawasan.hari yang hujan tidak menentu dan jugak kesan tanah runtuh menykarkan lagi bantuan dihantar.logistic support pon masih lagi lemah.apa yang aku nampak kat sini lah.banyak lagi ruang dan peluang yang ada untuk diperbaiki dan jugak untuk di pelajari.

tomorrow is another day.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Indonesia quake obliterates villages, aid needed

03 Oct 2009 11:37:19 GMT

Source: Reuters

* Villages destroyed by landslides, remote areas cut off

* Thousands still feared trapped under rubble

* Rescuers struggle to reach survivors in collapsed hotel

* Aid arrives from 14 countries

By Crack Pallinggi BALANTIAK, Indonesia, Oct 3 (Reuters) -

Rescue teams pushed deeper into Indonesia's earthquake-hit Sumatra on Saturday, finding entire villages obliterated by landslides and survivors desperate for aid three days after the tremor. In the city of Padang rescuers were still combing through collapsed buildings for thousands of people feared buried beneath the wreckage. The colossal damage that destroyed buildings and roads was hampering the aid effort. In remoter areas outside Padang the full scale of the disaster was only starting to become clear, with villages wiped out and survivors drinking coconut water after their drinking sources were contaminated.

"In my village, 75 people were buried. There are about 300 people missing from this whole area. We need tents and excavators to get the bodies but the roads are cut off," said Ogi Martapela, 28, who said his older brother died in the landslide. Another resident said it was too late for aid. "Don't bother trying to bring aid up there," said Afiwardi, who pointed past a landslide that cut off a road. "Everyone is dead." Some villagers used simple wooden hoes in what appeared to be a fruitless attempt to reach bodies beneath the earth.

The aid effort appeared to be cranking up on Saturday, but it was yet to reach many areas. "We have not received a thing. We need food, clothes, blankets, milk. It seems like the government has forgotten about us," said Siti Armaini, sitting outside her collapsed home in Pariaman, about 40 km (25 miles) north of Padang and nearer to the quake's epicentre. The mayor of the badly hit district of Padang Pariaman said by telephone that heavy digging machinery was starting to reach some areas hit by landslides, but that survivors desperately needed tents and blankets after losing their homes. "We are devastated.

Eighty percent of houses have caved in, roads are split and cracked," said mayor Muslim Kasim. Testos, an Indonesian Red Cross worker at an aid station in central Padang, said they now had around half what was needed. "We also need drinking water and clothes because many peoples clothes were burnt in fires," he said.

"We also need medicines to stop infection." HOTEL SEARCH In Padang, eight people were believed to be trapped in the ruins of the Dutch-colonial era Ambacang Hotel, once a prominent landmark in this university town of 900,000 famous across Indonesia for its spicy cuisine and buildings with dramatic curved roofs, influenced by the ethnic Minang group. International rescue teams, including sniffer dogs from Japan and an orange-clad Swiss team, were helping in the effort.

"We think there are eight people alive in there. One sent an SMS to a relative in a village, who got the text at 3 p.m. yesterday," said Arkamelvi Karmani, an Indonesian army officer involved in the rescue operation at the site of the hotel. The message called for help and implored rescuers: "Be careful that the excavator doesn't cause the building to collapse on us." A seminar organised by an insurance company was taking place there when the 7.6 magnitude quake hit on Wednesday.

The quake, from one of the world's most active seismic fault lines along the Pacific "Ring of Fire", struck with a force that shook buildings hundreds of kms away in Singapore and Malaysia. MASKS, SNIFFER DOGS The United Nations estimated more than 1,000 had been killed in and around Padang. Indonesia's disaster management agency put the toll of confirmed dead and missing so far at 809. Rescue teams, many wearing masks to cover the stench of bodies as they worked in the tropical heat, fanned out from Padang to some of the worst-hit surrounding areas. On the route to Pariaman devastation became steadily worse.

Roofs of collapsed houses were flush to the ground, while families sheltered in makeshift tents made of blankets next to the road, which had giant cracks in places. Asked about rescue efforts in Pariaman, Vice President Jusuf Kalla said bluntly it was now about retrieving bodies. "We can be sure that they are dead. So now we are waiting for burials," he said in footage shown on Metro TV. But later he said that Indonesia most needed foreign help in the form of funds and reconstruction rather than rescuers now.

Kalla said that the disaster was nothing like the situation in 2004, when a 9.15 magnitude quake, with its epicentre roughly 600 km northwest of Padang, caused the Indian Ocean tsunami which killed more than 170,000 people in Aceh province alone, displacing hundreds of thousands. Indonesia's health minister Siti Fadillah Supari predicted on Friday the number killed would be in the low thousands. "I predict the number will not reach 4,000," she was quoted as saying by news website detik.com.

The three provinces affected by Wednesday's disaster, and a second quake inland on Thursday, are major producers of rubber, palm oil, coal and other commodities, although together they accounted for less than 3 percent of Indonesia's overall GDP, according to a report by Bank Danamon in Jakarta.

Padang Earthquake Relief-Day 1

Salam to all.
finally after long day under the hot sun n heavy traffic i finally manage to find time to sit back n on my lappy.
situasi di Padang amat berkecamuk.
setiap hampir 10 min kita boleh mendengar bunyi siren dan deruman ambulan berkejar ntah kemana.
hari ini bekalan air ,letrik komunikasi masih terputus di Padang.
kelihatan motor dan kereta beratur panjang di petrol pump untuk mendapatkan bekalan.
hari ini mesin ATM local bank juga sudah mula berfungsi di beberapa bank.
very loong Q.
namun ia hanya bertahan sekejap.
lepas tu habis dah duit.

hanya beberapa lokasi sahaja yg terang malam ini dengan menggunakan Genset.
dalam masa sekejap,kedai yg berniaga dengan menggunakan genset habis menjual makanan.
yg tinggal kedai yg menggunakan gas pump atau lilin.
kinda romantic tho.
under the moon and on ground zero

internet ini adalah ihsan dari UN dan juga Telkomsel.

merata tempat kelihatan pasukan Search N Rescue bekerja keras hingga ke malam hari mencari mangsa yg masih lagi terselamat dibawah timbunan runtuhan.
bau mayat begitu kuat di bawah runtuhan di hampir kesuluruhan kawasan.
namun relawan dari Indonesia dan juga negara luar bekerjasama didalam situasi ini.
tiada sempadan atas nama kemanusiaan.

bilik hotel sudah penuh.
badan dah melekit.
tomorrow is another day
enjoy the pictures.

time to plan for esok and good rest
wonder where



















Padang Earthquake Relief

Off to Padang.
watch this space for stories and pictures from the ground.
take care guys

Friday, October 2, 2009

Frantic search as Indonesia quake toll tops 1,000

02 Oct 2009 04:16:19 GMT

Source: Reuters

* U.N. says death toll more than 1,000
* Rescue teams resume work
* Students trapped in toppled school
* Communications cut, water in short supply

By Sunanda Creagh

PADANG, Indonesia, Oct 2 (Reuters) -

Rescuers dug feverishly on Friday through the rubble of a school and other buildings toppled by an earthquake in the Indonesian port of Padang, but few victims were being found alive two days after the tremor. The United Nations said more than 1,000 had been killed in the port, prone to seismic activity. Aid to thousands of displaced survivors started trickling in, but rescue operations in and around Padang, the West Sumatran capital of 900,000, have been hampered by power blackouts and a lack of heavy equipment to shift fallen masonry.

A giant excavator donated by a cement company tore through piles of twisted iron and rubble, the wreckage of a three-storey college where dozens of students were attending after-school lessons when the quake struck. "We have pulled out 38 children since the quake. Some of them, on the first day, were still alive, but the last few have all been dead," said foreman Suria.

Like many Indonesians, he uses just one name. "There are still a lot of corpses in there, you can smell it. They are towards the back where we can't reach. The problem is a lot of buildings around here weren't very well built." The U.N. humanitarian chief, John Holmes, told a news conference at U.N. Headquarters in New York that some 1,100 people had been killed in Wednesday's 7.6 magnitude quake.

Thousands more were feared trapped under damaged houses, hospitals, hotels and schools, Holmes said. Telephone links to the disaster zone remained patchy, making it hard to determine the extent of destruction and loss of life. A social ministry official on Thursday put the number of confirmed deaths at 529, although authorities expected this to go far higher.

The national disaster management centre said 2,181 people had been injured and 2,650 buildings damaged. Padang has at times descended into chaos, with fuel in short supply, some shops running out of food and many residents scrambling to find clean water. Many roads in the region have been severed by landslides.

Conditions in Pariaman, nearer the quake's epicentre, may be even worse with reports of buildings flattened. Conditions in more remote areas in the mountainous hinterland were unknown. OPERATIONS PERFORMED IN TENTS A two-storey clinic at Padang's main hospital collapsed, but was empty after closing a few hours before the quake. Patients from adjacent wards were evacuated to nearby tents, while a makeshift open air morgue was set up, with lines of corpses placed in yellow body bags.

Padang resident Yunas Lubis stood weeping outside on Friday morning, carrying his baby granddaughter. "My daughter's husband was just pulled out of a building this morning. He was trapped there for two days," he said. "Why did it take so long to get him out? It was too late. It seems like there were not enough excavators. It was only last night the excavator came, pulled from another site." Operations were being performed in nearby white tents. "We have done hundreds of operations since the earthquake," Dr Nofli Ichlas said on Thursday. "Some broken bones, some with limbs completely cut off. Fractured skulls, abdominal trauma too - when something has stabbed into the patients body."

Australia, South Korea and Japan led aid offers. Australia's military said it was sending engineers, rescue teams, a hospital aboard a naval ship and helicopters able to reach remote districts. A team from aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres included two kidney specialists to treat victims of "crush syndrome", in which toxins released by internal injuries can cause kidney failure. U.S. President Barack Obama, who spent time in Indonesia as a child, said the United States also stood ready to assist. "Indonesia is an extraordinary country that's known extraordinary hardship with natural disasters.

I know firsthand the Indonesian people are strong and resilient and have the spirit to overcome this enormous challenge." President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who returned from the G20 meeting a day earlier, visited the hospital on Friday. "Just rest, rest for a long time.

We must be patient," he told one young woman patient. A 6.6 magnitude quake hit another part of Sumatra island on Thursday, causing fresh panic but no reported deaths.

The second quake's epicentre was about 225 km (140 miles) southeast of Padang, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Tsunamis turn S.Pacific paradise to deadly hell

01 Oct 2009 03:22:45 GMT

Source: Reuters

(Corrects dateline) By Tim Wimborne SIUMU, Samoa, Sept 30 (Reuters) -

Rescuers pulled bodies from the mud and twisted rubble and fished bloated corpses from the South Pacifc's blue sea off Samoa on Wednesday as the death toll from a series of tsunamis continued to rise. "We've seen pick-up trucks carrying the dead ... back to town," said New Zealand tourist Fotu Becerra. "We were shocked when we saw the first one but after three hours, it seemed normal." Four powerful tsunamis generated by a huge undersea quake crashed into Samoa and neighbouring American Samoa on Tuesday, destroying in minutes what was a South Pacific paradise of palm trees, resorts and pristine beaches.

"After the earthquake happened, after about five minutes all you could hear was screaming," an unnamed Australian holidaymaker told local media. The waves which reached at least 6 metres (20 feet) high ripped buildings apart and washed people out to sea, some still sleeping in their beds, say survivors. The death toll stands at more than 100, but officials said it was rising, with hundreds missing and some 20 Polynesian villages in Samoa destroyed and scores more flattened in American Samoa.

U.S. President Barack Obama declared a major disaster in American Samoa and ordered federal aid to help the recovery. "We have more bodies that are being found in the wreckage and being excavated and being brought to the hospital so we expect that the death toll will rise," said Dr David Bouslough at the main hospital in Pago Pago, capital of American Samoa. Pago Pago resident Joey Cummings said buildings were not just destroyed but had vanished, washed away completely by the waves. "The harbour area where the radio station was looks like a bomb went off," Cummings told American TV.

"If your building was not made of concrete it doesn't exist any more. I'm not saying there are damaged buildings, these buildings aren't there any more." Reuters photographer Hugh Gentry said Pago Pago looked "like a war zone". "The most tragic (scene) was the discovery of a small girl found floating in the harbour," he said. WASHED AWAY AS THEY FLED The waves hit early in the morning, almost without warning, leaving many villagers little chance to outrun the ocean which surged 200 metres (656 feet) inland. "Some, they have no place (to run), especially kids and the oldest, they lost their lives," Tua Taleu, who fled to higher ground as waves swallowed his village, told Australian radio.

Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi said it was fortunate that the tsunami struck in daylight. "If it had come in the dark and the tide was high, the number of people who died would be much higher," he told Reuters. The Samoan undersea 8 magnitude quake was so powerful it also created small tsunamis which reached Hawaii, the west coast of California and Japan within hours.

Along the southern coast of Samoa's main island Upolu, which bore the brunt of the tsunamis, palm trees which had withstood powerful cyclones were snapped like twigs by the force of the ocean -- barely a tree has been left standing. A layer of mud and sand covers many of the splintered buildings, boats and cars hang from trees, as survivors scavenge the debris.

Survivors said people were collecting dead fish, washed ashore by the waves, to feed their families. Radio New Zealand, quoting disaster authorities, said 32,000 people have been affected by the tsunami, with 3,000 homeless. Officials in the neighbouring island nation of Tonga confirmed seven people killed there and three missing. The two Samoas and Tonga have a combined population of about 400,000 people and rely on subsistence agriculture, fishing and tourism. Australian, New Zealand and U.S. military aircraft carrying medical staff and emergency supplies have started landing in the two Samoas.

An Indian Ocean tsunami on Dec. 26, 2004 -- which killed about 230,000 people in 11 countries -- is the worst on record. (Additional reporting by Baris Atayman in Samoa, Adrian Bathgate and Mantik Kusjanto in Wellington, Rob Taylor and James Grubel in Canberra) (Writing by Michael Perry; Editing by )

Indonesia quake death toll may be thousands-minister

01 Oct 2009 03:30:10 GMT
Source: Reuters

* Many still buried under rubble

* Schools, hospitals, hotels collapse in quake-prone Padang

* 7.6 magnitude quake cuts communications

* Second quake hits Sumatra island

(Adds details, changes dateline)
By John Nedy PADANG, Indonesia,
Oct 1 (Reuters) -

Thousands may have died in an earthquake that struck the city of Padang on Indonesia's Sumatra island, a minister said on Thursday, with officials saying many victims remained buried under toppled buildings. The 7.6 magnitude quake hit Padang on Wednesday afternoon, knocking over hundreds of buildings, but with communications patchy it was hard to determine the extent of the destruction and loss of life.

Heavy rain was also hampering rescue efforts and officials said power had been severed in the city. Television footage showed people being pulled from the rubble. A second magnitude 6.8 quake hit another part of Sumatra on Thursday, causing fresh panic, according to television reports. The second quake's epicentre -- inland and further to the southeast -- was 154 km northwest of Bengkulu, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The area could not immediately be contacted. Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari told reporters at an airport in Jakarta before leaving for the stricken area that the number of victims "could be more (than hundreds or thousands).

I think it's more than thousands, if we look at how widespread the damage is ... but we don't really know yet." The national disaster agency earlier put the toll at between 100 and 200 in the city of 900,000. About 500 houses had collapsed, officials in the area said. Australian businesswoman Jane Liddon told Australian radio from Padang said the city centre was devastated. "The big buildings are down. The concrete buildings are all down, the hospitals, the main markets, down and burned. A lot of people died in there. A lot of places are burning. "Most of the damage is in the town centre in the big buildings. The little houses, the people's houses, there are a few damaged, but nothing dramatic."

TV footage showed piles of debris, collapsed houses and multi-storey buildings, with scores of crushed cars, after the earthquake, which caused widespread panic.

HOSPITAL, AIRPORT DAMAGED

The main hospital had collapsed, roads were cut off by landslides and Metro Television said the roof of Padang airport had caved in. The disaster is the latest in a spate of natural and man-made calamities to hit Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago of 226 million people. [ID:nLU415034] Welfare Minister Aburizal Bakrie said on Wednesday damage could be similar to that caused by a 2006 quake in the central Java city of Yogyakarta that killed 5,000 people and damaged 150,000 homes. "Hundreds of houses have been damaged along the road. There are some fires, bridges are cut and there is extreme panic here," said a Reuters witness in the city.

Broken water pipes had triggered flooding, he said before his mobile phone was cut off. The quake was felt around the region. High-rise buildings in Singapore, 440 km (275 miles) to the northeast, evacuated staff. Office buildings also shook in Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur. Sumatra is home to some of the country's largest oil fields as well as its oldest liquefied natural gas terminal, although there were no immediate reports of damage. [ID:nSP404330] Padang, capital of Indonesia's West Sumatra province, sits on one of the world's most active fault lines along the "Ring of Fire" where the Indo-Australia plate grinds against the Eurasia plate to create regular tremors and sometimes quakes.

Geologists have long warned Padang may one day be destroyed by a huge earthquake because of its location. A 9.15 magnitude quake, its epicentre 600 km northwest of Padang, caused the 2004 tsunami that killed 230,000 people around in Indonesia and other countries across the Indian Ocean. The depth of Wednesday's earthquake was 85 km (53 miles), the United States Geological Survey said. It revised down the magnitude of the quake from 7.9 to 7.6.
Australia's international Aid Minister Bob McMullan offered emergency assistance.
 

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