Indonesia calls for help as bodies rot in heat

Quake-hit Indonesia appealed for foreign aid yesterday as the stench of decomposing bodies hung over wrecked buildings where overwhelmed rescuers scrabbled for survivors.

In the city of Padang, which was devastated by Wednesday's 7.6-magnitude earthquake, emergency teams faced a third night of work to pull bodies from ruins that have claimed the lives of at least 1,100 people.

"Our main problem is that there are a lot of victims still trapped in the rubble. We are struggling to pull them out," Indonesian Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari told reporters.

"We need help from foreign countries for evacuation efforts. We need them to provide skilled rescuers with equipment," she said, also appealing for medics to treat badly injured victims, many with broken bones.

A spokesman for the UN World Food Programme said it had not yet received an official request for aid from Indonesia but expected it "would come very shortly," with food and heavy lifting gear ready on standby.

Homeless survivors in the coastal city had spent two nights sleeping out in the open and were hungry, frightened and falling victim to profiteers who had jacked up prices of water and other essentials.

Several countries have pledged aid and sent emergency teams to the area, but efforts to organise a full-scale rescue operation were hampered by blocked roads, broken power lines, and patchy communication networks.

The Red Cross in Geneva said aerial photos suggested the disaster zone extended much further than had previously been known, stretching far across West Sumatra, with some villages entirely destroyed.

"The feedback is that Padang city and environs are bad, but once you go outside into the surrounding rural areas, the situation is very seriously grave," said Christine South of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Society. Rescuers labouring in the tropical heat in Padang said they lacked essential heavy machinery like cutting equipment and excavators.