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30-03-2005 The Scotsman Asia braced for more shocks as quake toll heads for 2,000 By Gethin Chamberlain Chief News Correspondent SURVIVORS of the latest earthquake to hit southern Asia have been warned to expect months of massive aftershocks capable of causing widespread destruction and loss of life. With the death toll from Monday's earthquake expected to exceed 1,000, the British Geological Survey in Edinburgh warned that more major quakes up to a magnitude of seven on the Richter scale were likely - as powerful as the earthquake that hit Japan in 1995 killing more than 5,000 people. The latest quake struck near Nias island off Sumatra and devastated the main town, Gunungsitoli, although fears that it would trigger another tsunami proved unfounded. Many of the buildings in the town of 30,000 people were reduced to rubble and by last night about 330 bodies had been recovered, with another 100 dead on neighbouring Simeulue island. Most estimates put the likely death toll at about 1,000 but Jusuf Kalla, the Indonesian vice-president, speculated that it could eventually rise to 2,000. Last night the Foreign Office said a "handful" of Britons had been reported missing in the area. A spokesman said officials were looking into reports of "fewer than a dozen" Britons who may be missing, although he stressed that this did not mean they had all been caught up in the aftermath of the quake. On the predominantly Catholic island of Nias, families mourned relatives who had died. Outside the Santa Maria church in Gunungsitoli about 20 bodies were laid out in the street, wrapped in white sheets and with candles flickering at their heads. Datot Mendra, his eyes bloodshot from crying, said he planned to spend the night lying next to his dead wife before burying her today along with his sister and two other family members. "What will I tell my children?" the 55-year-old restaurant owner said. "I can't face it. My faith in Jesus is helping me through this." A football pitch in Gunungsitoli was turned into a makeshift triage centre, and the worst injured awaited evacuation by relief agency helicopters. A dozen seriously injured islanders, some of them unconscious, lay on doors salvaged from wrecked homes. Power was still out across the island last night, but rescue workers used candles and torches as they continued to hunt through smouldering rubble for survivors in flattened buildings. Smoke drifted out of piles of rubble and concrete homes whose walls had folded in on themselves, and a steeple had fallen from a church. Water was in short supply and Alessandra Villas-Boas, a member of an Oxfam team that reached the island of about 600,000 people, said the situation was difficult. She said: "The water system has failed completely and huge holes have been made in the roads. Bodies are being pulled from the rubble as I speak." Terrified residents huddled outside rather than sleep in their damaged homes, fearing that an aftershock could topple them. Scientists could offer little in the way of reassurance. Dr Lars Ottemoller, of the British Geological Survey in Edinburgh, said scientists were endeavouring to discover whether the latest earthquake had increased or relieved the pressure on another major fault line in the area, the Sumatra fault. But he said it was inevitable that there would be further movement on the Sunda Trench fault, which was responsible for Monday's earthquake. "There will be aftershocks for several weeks and months and they will be fairly large in size," he said. He said aftershocks up to 7.3 on the Richter scale had been recorded after the Boxing Day quake and it was likely that a similar pattern would be seen after the latest quake. "Seven is quite possible," he said. He added that Monday's quake was of such a magnitude that geologists would expect such an event to occur only once in a decade. In the 12-hour period after the latest major earthquake, 15 aftershocks of a magnitude of four or over were recorded, with more expected. In the three months since the Boxing Day quake, there have been 2,350 such aftershocks in the region. The epicentre of Monday night's 8.7 magnitude quake - one of the eight biggest in the world since 1900 - was only about 100 miles south-east of the upheaval three months ago that triggered a tsunami that left nearly 300,000 people dead or missing across Asia. With tsunami warnings issued, people made for high ground. "The quake was really powerful," said 30-year-old carpenter Yulianus Zebua. "The earth was shaking continuously so we walked like drunkards. People walked, used motorcycles and cars to flee to the hills." The quake, which struck at about midnight, spread terror in western Indonesia, Sri Lanka and coastal parts of India, Malaysia and Thailand, the areas devastated by the December tsunami. Despite the late hour, the countries largely coped well, although there was considerable panic. In Banda Aceh, the province on the Indonesian mainland hardest hit by last year's tsunami, residents rushed into the streets. "We went down to the street and people began to panic," said Yudisia Arafah, a 23-year-old government worker in Aceh. "Some people screamed 'Water! Water! The water is coming again'." In contrast to three months ago, when Asian nations were not even part of a warning network, the risk was immediately relayed by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii and distributed across the region. Police, soldiers, monks, fishermen and residents of coastal areas across the Indian Ocean used megaphones, radio, telephones and temple bells to warn of the possibility of another tsunami. But well before dawn, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India had cancelled the alerts. Authorities on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius, put on alert after reports that a tsunami could be headed their way, also called off shoreline patrols before dawn. The quake did trigger a tsunami, but it was a small one and headed into the middle of the Indian Ocean, experts said. "The orientation of the fault directed the maximum height of the tsunami into the middle of the Indian Ocean rather than toward Sri Lanka and India," said Gary Gibson at the Seismology Research Centre in Melbourne, Australia. "So in that direction, we didn't have a problem. The other situation here is that, toward the Sumatran coast, the sea is quite shallow and so it's probable that quite a lot of the energy from the tsunami was dissipated before it reached the coast." In Jakarta, the Indonesian president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, sent condolences to the families of the dead and said Indonesia had been offered help from around the world. "We welcome and highly appreciate it," he said. The United States president, George Bush, who was criticised for reacting slowly to December's disaster, offered US help. "This earthquake has claimed lives and destroyed buildings in a part of Indonesia that is only now beginning to recover from the destruction caused by the tsunami three months ago," he said. "The people of Indonesia can know that they have our prayers, and that our government is ready to assist."
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................................................................................................................. Copyright ©2004 Gethin Chamberlain. All rights reserved. |
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