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Earthquakes, Tsunami’s and Landslides Ravage Indonesia and Samoa, 2009
--- 10/02/2009
 Indonesia – An earthquake hit the western shore of the 
island of Sumatra, with the epicenter near the city of Padang, on Wednesday, September 30, with the magnitude of 7.6 on the Richter scale. The following day, a bit farther south, an aftershock hit that measured 6.6 on the Richter scale.
There have now been 1,100 people confirmed dead, 2,400 severely injured, 777 recovered and there are still unknown numbers of people reported missing.
The earthquake and aftershock destroyed hundreds of homes and buildings including high-rise hotels, hospitals, mosques, and shopping malls.
Rescue teams immediately began a fight against time to rescue the survivors who lay buried in the piles of rubble.
Doctors at the largest public hospital, which was damaged in the earthquake as well, still struggle to treat the injured amid power outages and shortages of essential medicines.
Indonesian Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari said, “We need help from foreign countries for evacuation efforts. We need them to provide skilled rescuers with equipment. Our main problem is that there are still many victims trapped under the rubble. We are struggling to pull them out.”
Aid workers are also focusing on helping the residents left destitute by the disaster. Tens of thousands are estimated to be homeless or afraid to sleep inside unsound buildings. Makeshift shelters have sprung up around the city, much of which is lacking access to electricity and water.
Aid workers described scenes of devastation, chaos and grief as communities held mass funerals for the dead.
Other aid workers are trying to reach Pariang, a district around 60 kilometers north of Padang that also suffered quake damage. As of the time of this report, phone lines were still down and many roads are still blocked because of landslides that took the lives of an additional 75 people.
Also on Wednesday, on the island of Samoa, a tsunami was triggered by a magnitude 8.0 undersea earthquake. 149 lost their lives on Samoa Island, 31 on American Samoa and nine on neighboring Tonga Island. The death toll may rise as the search for dead bodies continues. ??
Relief and rescue operations are progressing in that region with humanitarian aid pouring in from different countries and agencies. Occasional power and communications outages continue to cause difficulties and cause havoc in the already chaotic streets and fields filled with ocean debris, mud, and overturned cars. ??
Local leaders have faced challenges in setting up relief centers in ravaged, still-dangerous city centers. Some of their additional challenges included bringing supplies to people who live in the mountains.
Eyewitness reports have shared that the tsunami waves rose 4 to 6 meters destroying whole villages.
Samoa has seven housing shelters that can accommodate 1000 people, but because of this disaster another 1100 are left without shelter.
Families and rescue workers have been seen fishing for corpses in the mud and tangled rubble of the devastated islands.
Please join all of us at SWI in our prayers for the people suffering through these disasters. May their many struggles during this time lead them to the one and only true God. May His peace, the only peace that passes all understanding, be upon them. And may they understand His promise from Deut 31:6 and Heb 13:5 which says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
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