Second earthquake rocks Indonesian island

A second powerful earthquake jolted western Indonesia on October 1 just hours after the first quake hit Sumatra island, with upwards of 1,000 people feared dead and many more trapped under collapsed buildings.
A second powerful earthquake joltedwestern Indonesia on October 1 just hours after the first quake hitSumatra island, with upwards of 1,000 people feared dead and many moretrapped under collapsed buildings.

The earthquake struck at 8:52 am (0152 GMT), nearly 150 miles (240kilometres) south of Padang in south Sumatra at a depth of just under20 miles.

Meanwhile, the death toll in the quake that measured 7.6 magnitude onthe Richter scale that hit the Indonesia island of Sumatra on September30 could number in the “thousands,” Rustam Pakaya, head of the healthministry's disaster centre, was cited as saying by Reuters.

Speaking with the press after an emergency Cabinet meeting, Indonesia’s Vice President Jusuf Kalla said that power supplies had been cutafter many hotels, schools and others buildings had collapsed, leavingmany people trapped under the debris.

At least 500 buildings in Padang were destroyed or were badlydamaged and 200 bodies have already been pulled from the rubble there,according to the country’s Disaster Management Agency.

The Indonesian government has allocated an initial fund of 10.3 millionUSD to finance the efforts to rescue the victims of the major quake inWest Sumatra , according to Public Welfare Minister Aburizal Bakrie.

Oxfam UK also donated 200,000 GBP (320,000 USD) to the earthquake victims./.

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