Second Quake Slams Indonesia; 777 Dead

Rescue workers in Indonesia raced to clear debris and reach survivors of a pair of powerful earthquakes that struck the island of Sumatra, as the official death toll from the disaster reached 777 on Thursday and authorities warned it would most likely climb higher.

Earth movers were pressed into service to extricate victims trapped under the rubble a day after a 7.6 magnitude offshore quake caused death and destruction in the coastal city of Padang. Terrified residents who spent a restless night sleeping outdoors were jolted by an apparent aftershock on Thursday morning, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.

Authorities said most of the dead came from Padang, a city of 900,000 and the capital of West Sumatra province, while the remaining fatalities were spread across four other districts on the island. A government official who asked not to be named said at least 777 people had been confirmed dead and that an additional 300 had been seriously injured.

More than 500 buildings in Padang including hotels, schools, hospitals and a mall were destroyed or damaged. Thousands of people were believed to be trapped in the rubble.

Friska Yuniwati, a 30-year-old woman, her face covered in bruises, cried out, "Oh God, help me! Help me!" as she was pulled from the wreckage of her house.

At least 80 people were missing at the city's five-story Ambacang Hotel, said Indra, a paramedic who like many Indonesians uses only one name.

At a collapsed local school, rescue workers said six children had been pulled out alive but four others were found dead and an additional 20 children were still missing. Parents of missing students stayed up all night, waiting for signs of life.

"My daughter's face keeps appearing in my eyes ... my mind. I cannot sleep; I'm waiting here to see her again," a woman who identified herself only as Imelda said, tears rolling down her face. She said her 12-year-old daughter, Yolanda, was in the school for science lessons.

"She is a good daughter and very smart. I really love her. Please, God help her," she said.

Padang's main Djamil Hospital was overwhelmed by the influx of casualties. Dozens of injured people were being treated under tents outside the hospital, which was itself partly damaged.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono warned that authorities should not underestimate the scope of the disaster and ordered the military to deploy all its crisis centers in Jakarta, West Sumatra and North Sumatra provinces. He said the military would provide earth-moving equipment to clear the rubble.

UNICEF said tens of thousands of people had been made homeless, one third of them children.

Major Earthquakes

"The needs of thousands of children are vast and urgent. They must have access to clean water, shelter," Angela Kearney, the U.N. body's Indonesian chief, said in a statement.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the second quake, on Thursday, hit about 135 miles southeast of Padang and measured 6.6. It damaged 1,100 buildings, including mosques and homes, in the town of Jambi, according to Mayor Hasfiah. He said there were no deaths but dozens of people were injured.

The initial quake on Wednesday was so powerful that it caused buildings to sway hundreds of miles away in Malaysia and Singapore and caused panic among people who feared it would trigger a tsunami.

Indonesia, a poor, sprawling nation, sits on a major geological fault zone and is frequently hit by earthquakes. The latest quakes were along the same fault line that spawned the 2004 Asian tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a dozen nations.

struck [strʌk] : adj. 受罷工影響的 vbl. strike的過去式和過去分詞

extricate ['ekstrikeit] : vt. 使解脫, 救出, 使(氣體)遊離, 放出

(yourself) (from sth) (written)
  1  to escape or enable sb to escape from a difficult situation:
He had managed to extricate himself from most of his official duties.
  2  to free sb/sth or yourself from a place where they/it or you are trapped:
They managed to extricate the pilot from the tangled control panel.

offshore ['ɔ(:)fʃɔ:] : adj. 向海面吹的, 離岸的, 海面上的

adjective [usually before noun]
  1  happening or existing in the sea, not far from the land:
offshore drilling * an offshore island
casualties ['kæʒjuәlti] : n. 傷亡: 人員傷亡
fatality [fә'tæliti] : n. 命運決定的事物, 不幸, 災禍, 天命
rubble ['rʌbl] : n. 碎石
bruise [bru:z] : n. 瘀傷, 擦傷 v. 打傷, 撞傷
wrekage ['rekidʒ] : n. 遭難
paramedic ['pærәˏmedik] : n. 傘兵軍醫, 護理人員
provinces n. 外省, 邊遠地區, 鄉間
mosque [mɔsk] : n. 清真寺
sway [swei] : v. 搖擺, 搖動
sprawling [sprɔ:l] : a. 無計劃地佔用山林農田建造廠房(的)

adjective
[only before noun] spreading in an untidy way:
a modern sprawling town * sprawling handwriting
fault [fɔ:lt] : n. 過錯, 缺點, 故障, 毛病 vt. 挑剔 vi. 弄錯 【經】 斷層
spawn [spɔ:n] : n. (魚等的)卵, (植物)菌絲, 產物 v. 產卵

verb, noun 
    verb
  1  [V, VN] (of fish, FROGS, etc.) to lay eggs
  2  [VN] (often disapproving) to cause sth to develop or be produced:
The band's album spawned a string of hit singles.
    noun [U] a soft substance containing the eggs of fish, FROGS etc.
see also FROGSPAWN