Damaged roads, lack of gear hinder Indonesia quake rescue

Mamuju: Damaged roads and bridges, power blackouts and lack of heavy equipment on Saturday hampered Indonesia's rescuers after a 6.2 magnitude earthquake left at least 42 dead and hundreds injured on Sulawesi island.

Operations were focused on about 10 locations in the hardest-hit city of Mamuju, where people are still believed trapped following Friday's nighttime quake, said Saidar Rahmanjaya, who heads the local search and rescue agency.

Cargo planes carrying food, tents, blankets and other supplies from Jakarta landed late Friday for distribution in temporary shelters. Still, thousands spent the night in the open fearing aftershocks and a possible tsunami.

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency's spokesperson Raditya Jati said 34 people were killed in Mamuju and nearly 200 hospitalized.

The nearby district of Majene was also ravaged, leaving at least eight dead and more than 630 injured, he said.

At least 300 houses in Majene were damaged and about 15,000 people moved to shelters. Many survivors said that aid has not reached them yet due to damaged roads and disrupted communications.

The quake set off landslides in three locations and blocked a main road connecting Mamuju to Majene. Power and phone lines were down in many areas.

Mamuju, the capital of West Sulawesi province with nearly 75,000 people, was strewn with debris from collapsed buildings. A governor office building was almost flattened by the quake and a shopping mall reduced to a crumpled hulk. A large bridge collapsed and patients with drips laid on folding beds under tarpaulin tents outside one of the damaged hospitals.

Two hospitals in the city were damaged and others overwhelmed.