Quake-triggered landslides devastate 4 villages in West Sumatra
Associated Press, Padang, West Sumatra | Sat, 10/03/2009 11:50 PM
At least four remote villages in a hilly area along Sumatra’s western coast have been wiped out by earthquake-triggered landslides that reportedly buried 644 people, including guests at a wedding party, officials said Saturday.
The incident brings the death toll from Wednesday’s 7.6-magnitude quake to more than 1,300.
The current official death toll is 540, mostly from built-up areas like Padang and Pariaman.
Rustam Pakaya, head of the Health Ministry's crisis center, said the villages of Pulau Aiya, Lubuk Lawe and Jumena in Pariaman regency had been completely buried in soil by the landslides.
He added 400 people had been attending a wedding reception in Pulau Aiya when the quake set off the landslide.
"They were buried in up to 30 meters of soil,” Pakaya said.
"Even the mosque's 20-meter-tall minaret is buried."
El-Mostafa Benlamlih, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Indonesia, said more than 200 houses had been buried in Pulau Aiya.
An estimated 244 people are believed to have been killed in Lubuk Lawe and Jumena villages. Only 26 bodies have so far been recovered, Pakaya said.
