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Death toll estimated at 1,000 in quake

Two mothers carry their sons as they panic after hearing a tsunami will strike their village in Gunung Sitoli, Nias island, Indonesia yesterday. PHOTO: EPA

Firefighters freed a survivor trapped in a crumpled house on remote Nias island yesterday, as officials estimated 1,000 had died and the first foreign military help arrived for survivors of Indonesia's powerful magnitude-8.7 earthquake.

Residents swarmed over collapsed buildings in Nias island's main town of Gunung Sitoli searching frantically for survivors of the country's second catastrophe in three months, after the December massive quake and tsunami.

French firefighters from the agency Firefighters Without Borders who rushed to the island from Aceh province's west coast used a car jack to free the legs of 25-year-old television repairman Jansen Silalalahi, who was pinned between a motorbike and a cupboard.

As he was lifted out of the rubble of a three-story building -- more than 36 hours after the earthquake -- Silalalahi smiled weakly and gave a thumbs-up sign.

The town's hospital was barely functioning: It lacked power or water, and fuel for generators and vehicles was running low.

"We know there are many people critically injured," said Norman Peeler, a medical coordinator from the World Health Organization. "It is essential they get treatment, infections spread easily in open wounds."

Two Singaporean military helicopters landed yesterday and distributed food and water to a frantic crowd of survivors. They also delivered a car, medical supplies, generators and 20 Singaporean troops and medics. A third helicopter was unable to touch down because there were so many survivors at the landing area.

The quake struck off Indonesia's Sumatra island, some 120km north of Nias. The even-bigger quake that generated the region's devastating tsunami on Dec. 26 hit an area along the Sumatran coast.

Monday's quake initially raised fears of another tsunami and sent people scrambling for high ground in several Indian Ocean countries lashed by December's killer waves. But no big waves materialized.

North Sumatra Governor Rizal Nurdin estimated that 1,000 people died in the latest disaster, but officials feared the number could climb to 2,000. Bodies were still being dug from the ruins of houses and shops yesterday and laid out in front of churches and mosques.

A disaster relief official in Medan, Nerli Sulistriani, said there were unconfirmed reports of up to 300 people killed on Banyak island, close to the quake's epicenter.

Looting broke out in at least one location when people scrabbled through a store for boxes of noodles, clothes and a television set.

Also see story:
Indian Ocean countries react quickly to quake
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