Search for bodies to continue until next week

The search for people feared dead under the rubble of buildings following last week’s major earthquake in West Sumatra will continue until next week

Secretary of the West Sumatra disaster management agency, Ade Edward said Tuesday the rescue team had stopped its search for quake victims who might still be alive on Sunday, in accordance with international procedure, which assumes that one cannot survive after five days without food and drink.

Ade said the agency would deploy more equipment to facilitate the evacuation of the bodies.

“After that we can start to clear up the rubble. It is important to do so as soon as possible, mainly for psychological reasons. We cannot tolerate seeing the wreckage of buildings for too long, especially if dead bodies are feared trapped inside,” he told tempointeraktif.com.

He said in the coming two weeks all the rubble would be removed, so that reconstruction work could begin.

As of Monday evening, the agency’s data revealed that the death toll from the quake stood at 612 in seven cities and regencies across West Sumatra. Padang Pariaman topped the list with 285 fatalities, followed by Padang with 247.