Indonesia earthquake

Disease threatens earthquake survivors

Article published on the 2009-10-06 Latest update 2009-10-06 14:47 TU

People identify earthquake victims at a hospital in Padang
(Photo: Reuters)

Thousands of people are ill and malaria is a threat in Sumatra, following last week's earthquake on the huge Indonesian island. Medical volunteers report more than 50,000 homes destroyed and no hope of reaching survivors.

Fresh international aid has arrived after thousands of people have been left without shelter and clean water.

Helicopters have dropped vital supplies to communities which aid workers have been unable to reach.

Schools and shops have reopened in Padang city, although hundreds of bodies are still buried beneath piles of rubble.

Officials say the final death toll could exceed 3,000 people and search efforts have been called off.

“More than 50,000 houses have been destroyed or badly damaged,” says Frédéric Robin of Médecins du Monde, who is in Padang. “The situation is tense. In the rural villages north of the city, 80 to 90 per cent of houses have been destroyed.”

Robin says the lack of shelter for victims and increasing rainfall is causing concern for the health of survivors.

“Many people are getting sick and have fevers. There is another fear - people are sleeping outside where there are many mosquitoes and a risk of malaria. Nothing has been reported as a major threat, but this is something we have to follow up in the field.”

Hopes of finding further survivors are said to be negligible.

Most foreign search and rescue teams are leaving the country. As the aid effort is shifting to focus on survivors, the city is beginning to show signs of recovery.

"Sixty per cent of markets have reopened, the schools have all reopened,” Padang Mayor Fauzi Bahar told the AFP news agency. “People have gone back to work and fishermen have gone back to sea. We want Padang to be that way. We don't want it to be like a city of the dead. We don't want our people to become beggars."

The UN children's agency Unicef says that almost 70,000 children, or about 40 per cent of the city's students, were back in class Tuesday.

"This is an important sign that life will return to normal for children affected by this tragedy," Unicef country representative Angela Kearney said.