Aid helps quake victims and also Indonesia's sick

By ERIC TALMADGE, Associated Press Writer

PADANG PARIAMAN, Indonesia – Foreign medical teams reached further into Indonesia's disaster zone Wednesday, treating victims of last week's massive earthquake but also dealing with crowds wanting help for other illnesses.

Like most of Indonesia, West Sumatra had no functioning health system even before the quake and an influx of international aid has prompted all sorts of people to seek help.

Large parts of the provincial capital of Padang and villages in nearby mountains were flattened in the Sept. 30 quake or buried by landslides. The official death toll was 704 but could reach into the thousands. Around 180,000 buildings — half of them homes — were severely damaged or flattened, Indonesia's Disaster Management Agency said.

Many villages were swept away by landslides in the hilly terrain to Padang's north. Roads were severed or so badly damaged they are only passable on foot or motorbike, prompting some survivors to complain that aid was too slow in coming.

Aid workers from at least 20 countries are descending on West Sumatra, including the largest contingent of U.S. military since the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that killed around 130,000 people in nearby Aceh province.

"We have treated nearly 400 people in the past four days," said Yoshi Kazu Yamada, the deputy of a Japanese medical team in Padang Pariaman district, where about 100 people were lining up outside tents waiting for treatment.

"At first it was flesh wounds, but now it is more people seeking help for chronic conditions like diabetes," he said. "These problems were not caused by the quake but they need care."

Efforts have shifted from the search for survivors to providing relief to the homeless — many of them huddling in makeshift shelters and cook meager meals of rice and noodles over open fires or eat vegetables from their fields.

"Because the houses are made of brick and poorly constructed, there were few survivors," said Peter Jackobics, member of a Hungarian government search and rescue team. "Health care is now our focus."

James Hellyward, chief of the province's cultural and tourism ministry, said many historical buildings in Padang were also severely damaged, including the national archives and art deco architecture dating from Dutch colonization of the region starting in 1660.

The quake was the worst natural disaster in the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation since one in the central Javanese city of Yogyakarta killed around 6,000 in 2006.

The 2004 tsunami killed 230,000 in a dozen countries, roughly half in Aceh. U.S. military played a major role in the multinational relief effort for tsunami victims — an intervention that improved America's standing here at a time of negative perceptions following the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Two U.S. Navy ships were expected to arrive Wednesday or Thursday, along with a USAID flight with 50 tons of emergency relief, said U.S. Rear Adm. Richard Landolt.

On Tuesday, 69 U.S. troops — including 11 doctors — opened up a 300-bed field hospital in Padang.