JAKARTA LIFE'S STYLE
Traffic jams, long lines for essentials and fuel, and an acute shortage of public transportation were just some of the more trivial issues affecting Padang residents on Thursday, a day after an intense earthquake left a trail of suffering and devastation.While heavy machinery, soldiers, police, paramedics and volunteers were busy combing the rubble of collapsed buildings for signs of life, hospitals overflowed with injured survivors in need of medical treatment.
Although well aware of the dangers of living near one of the world’s most active geological fault lines, the strength of Wednesday’s earthquake still caught residents by surprise.
“This quake was much stronger than any I had ever felt before,” said Anas Taylor, 54, a local resident. “I saw the road move up and down like a wave. The ground was not just shaking but actually jumping up and down. It was by far the worst I’ve ever seen,” he told Reuters.
Hundreds of dead victims have already been found officials have expressed fears that number could quickly rise to four digits.
The Minangkabau International Airport, which suffered no serious structural damage, was a microcosm of the confusion still enveloping the city.
Outside the terminal, hundreds of people slept on mats and plastic sheets despite the heavy rains that fell on the region throughout the day and only a few taxi or motorcycle taxis, or ojek , were available. Inside, the terminal was packed with arriving passengers unable to get into town 25 kilometers away, while others were bent on leaving.
Aria, an ojek driver, said business had been good after the airport bus stopped operating on Thursday morning. “People have started looking for ojek,” he said.
Those lucky enough to get transportation into the city were met by an eerie quietness brought on by electricity supplies cut off by the quake.
Gas stations are piled up with long lines of vehicles and individuals carrying containers. Television reports said queues reached more than a kilometer in some areas.
Cecilia, who lives in Tabing near the airport, said she had been waiting two hours to get four liters of fuel for her motorcycle.
“I still have gas to cook in the house, thank God,” she said.
Cecilia said the gas stations only began reopening at 10 a.m. and that people were angry because they had been waiting for a very long time. Some of those in the queue were impatient and vented their frustration at the gas station attendants.
Basuki Trikora, a spokesman for Pertamina, said the state fuel company’s storage facilities in West Sumatra were safe but that seven out of the 13 gas stations across Padang were now inoperational.
But he said Pertamina had enough fuel to supply gasoline for 14 days, kerosene for 14 days, diesel oil for 20 days and aviation fuel for 21 days.
About 500 meters from the Tabing gas station, traffic was heavily congested.
Andre, a resident, said people were now rushing home after having spent the night out on higher ground in the Tunggul Hitam area, safe from the reach of a possible tsunami. “It is a very bad traffic jam, because people want to get back home as soon as possible,” he said.
But American Greg Hunt, 38, thought otherwise. “There’s thousands trying to leave town, the roads are blocked,” he told Reuters.
Padang lies on a narrow coastal plain that rises gradually to the Bukit Barisan mountain range that runs the length of the western side of Sumatra island.
A deeply-ingrained fear of tsunamis following the devastating earthquake-triggered killer waves that swamped Aceh to the north in 2004, has forged a habit among residents to immediately head for higher grounds in the hills when a strong earthquake strikes.
A German tourist, Patrick Werner, 28, who was at the beach when the quake struck said he saw the sand move like a wave of thick water.
“We saw some cracks emerge in the soil and water come out of the ground like it was in Universal Studios,” he told Reuters.
“We saw power poles knocked over and houses tilted over, with their tiles smashed. People were crying but they still said ‘hello mister.’ ” Jakarta Globe
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