More bodies are being found on islands off the western coast of Sumatra, as Indonesian rescue workers reach the more isolated villages and bays along the coast, following the tsunami on 25 October. The death toll has climbed above 400, officials said 29 October, and hopes are receding that the 300 people said to be still missing will be found alive. Dozens of villages were swept away entirely when a 7.7 scale earthquake 240 km south of Padang caused the giant wave that swept over the islands off the coast of Sumatra.
The disaster highlights the difficulty of tsunami warnings reaching the people most vulnerable to natural disasters. Most often they are the most difficult to reach.
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(AP video) A ferry with more than 242 people aboard sank in heavy seas off the island of Sumatra Sunday. A dramatic rescue operation brought some 240 people to safety, but at least 29 people died, and it was clear that the ferry’s manifest did not list all the people aboard, not uncommon in a region where ferries are often over-crowded. A second ferry ran aground nearby, but its passengers are safe.
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Swiss Rescue team (photo: Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation )
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - An advance team of seven earthquake experts was scheduled to leave Zurich for Sumatra at noon today Thursday 1 October, to be followed Friday by 120 members of Swiss Rescue, who will provide search and rescue operation aid. The team will also undertake emergency relief work and help assess the needs of the population
A second earthquake in under 24 hours, measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale, shook southern Sumatra in Indonesia Thursday morning 1 October. Sumatrans were still recovering from the earlier, stronger earthquake in the port of Padang which has left at least 400 dead and many people trapped under collapsed buildings. The death toll could climb into the thousands, officials fear.
The earthquakes come days after a strong tremor shook the Pacific islands of Samoa, leaving many villages flattened and over 100 people dead. Experts say that the earthquakes are all on the edge of the Australian tectonic plate where it comes into contact with the Eurasian plate, in the case of the Sumatra earthquakes, and where it bumps up against the Pacific plate in the case of the Samoa earthquake. BBC, CNN, Reuters
