Heavy rains delay search for bodies in Indonesia

JUMANAK, Indonesia (AP) — Search teams lost hope of finding any more survivors under the rubble left by a massive earthquake, as torrential rains Sunday held up aid delivery in the remote hills of western Indonesia where several villages were wiped out.

Rescue teams instead focused on retrieving the rotting bodies from the rubble of the magnitude 7.6 earthquake in Sumatra island, setting up tents for the tens of thousands of homeless and providing them food and drinking water.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla said there was little hope of finding anyone alive.

“We can be sure that they are dead. So now we are waiting for burials,” he told reporters.

There is no clear word on the death toll. The United Nations put the figure at 1,100. The government earlier said 715 were dead and 3,000 were missing. But it revised the figure Sunday to 603 confirmed killed and 960 missing, presumably dead.

“With each passing day, the magnitude of the devastation grows,” said Mark Fritzler, Save the Children aid group’s Indonesia head.

The missing include 644 people who were buried alive in four villages in the hills of Padang Pariaman district that were swept away by landslides caused by the quake. Among the victims were 200 to 300 guests at a wedding party in Jumanak village.

The restaurant where the party was being held was damaged but largely intact. A slice of the green wedding cake lay untouched on a plate, covered with flies. The guests were apparently killed when they ran outside as the ground began to tremble but were swept away by the landslide 40 yards away.

Iseh, a 15-year-old boy, said his sister, Ichi, was the bride. She, the groom and many guests were killed.

He said Ichi, 19, had come back to the village for her wedding.

“When the landslide came, the party had just finished. I heard a big boom of the avalanche. I ran outside and saw the trees fall down,” Iseh, who like many Indonesians uses only one name, told The Associated Press.

On Sunday, hordes of aid workers, military personnel, police and volunteers finally reached the villages, bringing with them heavy earth moving equipment, relieving villagers who had been digging for the rotting bodies with bare hands while surrounded by the stench of death.

But by early afternoon a heavy downpour lashed the area, raising fears of fresh landslides. Police ordered all residents, aid workers, journalists and volunteers to leave.

The quake had shaken loose entire hillsides, sending a cascade of mud, rocks and trees through Jumanak, Pulau Aiya, Lubuk Lawe and Limo Koto Timur.

Where the villages once stood, there was only mud and broken palm trees — the mountainsides appeared gouged bare as if by a gigantic backhoe. The stench of decomposing bodies was pervasive in the lush, green surroundings.

According to the National Disaster Management Agency, 83,712 houses, 200 public buildings and 285 schools were destroyed.

An additional 100,000 buildings and 20 miles of road were badly damaged, and five bridges had collapsed.