Residents searched through smoldering rubble for survivors on Indonesia's Nias island yesterday and relatives wept over the bodies of the dead after an 8.7-magnitude earthquake hammered the region, triggering a tsunami scare. Death toll estimates ranged from 330 to 2,000.
UN and other relief agencies rushed to ferry aid supplies to the island, which bore the brunt of the quake's force almost three months to the day after an even bigger temblor nearby sent killer waves crashing into coastlines around the Indian Ocean's rim.
Fears of a second tsunami faded yesterday when seas failed to rise up in the hours after the overnight quake -- but not before triggering panic in nations still traumatized by the earlier disaster.
Budi Atmaji Adiputro, a spokesman for Indonesia's Coordinating Agency for National Disaster Relief, said rescuers found 330 bodies in the rubble yesterday. The toll was expected to rise because more bodies were believed to be trapped in collapsed buildings, he said.
From the air, it appeared that about 30 percent of buildings in Gunung Sitoli, the island's biggest city, were destroyed, and there was significant damage in the island's second biggest town, Teluk Dalam.
An Associated Press Television News cameraman who landed briefly in the city said he saw at least one dead body and about four injured islanders who had yet to receive medical treatment.
At least two fires were still smoldering in Gunung Sitoli. From the air it was possible to see about 1,000 people who had gathered in a large field in the town.
A soccer pitch in the town was turned into a makeshift triage center, with about 10 badly injured survivors -- some of them lying on wooden doors -- awaiting evacuation by relief agency helicopters. People swarmed around UN helicopters as they landed to deliver relief supplies.
In Jakarta, the SCTV network showed images from the island including survivors weeping over the sarong-covered bodies of a child and a middle-aged woman. In another image, two men on a motorbike carried what appeared to be a body wrapped in sarongs.
In other images, survivors used their bare hands to toss away chunks of rubble from a collapsed building.
In Jakarta, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono sent condolences to the families of the dead.
He said Indonesia had been offered help from around the world.
"We welcome and highly appreciate it," he said.
Yudhoyono postponed a planned visit Wednesday to Australia and said he would fly to Nias to assess the damage.
Australian officials said Yudhoyono was now expected in Australia on Sunday.
also see story:
Quake leaves Taiwan unscathed
ECONOMIC RESILIENCE: Only 11.4 percent of Taiwan’s overseas investments last year were in China, and businesses are dispersing their investments elsewhere, Lai said China’s ambition to annex Taiwan is based on a desire to change the rules-based international order, rather than a desire for territorial gains, President William Lai (賴清德) said in an interview. During an appearance on the talk show The View With Catherine Chang, aired last night, Lai said China aimed to achieve hegemony, and that peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait was an issue of worldwide concern. During the interview, Lai also discussed his “four-pillar plan” for peace and prosperity, which he first outlined in an article published by the Wall Street Journal on July 4 last year. That
‘REGRETTABLE’: TPP lawmaker Vivian Huang said that ‘we will continue to support Chairman Ko and defend his innocence’ as he was transferred to a detention facility The Taipei District Court yesterday ruled that Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) be detained and held incommunicado over alleged corruption dating to his time as mayor of Taipei. The ruling reversed a decision by the court on Monday morning that Ko be released without bail. After prosecutors on Wednesday appealed the Monday decision, the High Court said that Ko had potentially been “actively involved” in the alleged corruption and ordered the district court to hold a second detention hearing. Ko did not speak to reporters upon his arrival at the district court at about 9:10am yesterday to attend a procedural
Thirty Taiwanese firms, led by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控), yesterday launched a silicon photonics industry alliance, aiming to accelerate the medium’s development and address the energy efficiency of artificial intelligence (AI) devices like data centers. As the world is ushering in a new AI era with tremendous demand for computing power and algorithms, energy consumption is emerging as a critical issue, TSMC vice president of integrated interconnect and packaging business C.K. Hsu (徐國晉) told a media briefing in Taipei. To solve this issue, it is essential to introduce silicon photonics and copackaged optics (CPO)
The High Court yesterday overturned a Taipei District Court decision to release Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and sent the case back to the lower court. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office on Saturday questioned Ko amid a probe into alleged corruption involving the Core Pacific City development project during his time as Taipei mayor. Core Pacific City, also known as Living Mall (京華城購物中心), was a shopping mall in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山) that has since been demolished. On Monday, the Taipei District Court granted a second motion by Ko’s attorney to release him without bail, a decision the prosecutors’ office appealed
RSS