Quake toll in western Indonesia reaches 467

earthquake on Indonesia’s Sumatra

A government official says the death toll in Wednesday’s earthquake on Indonesia’s Sumatra island has reached 467, AFP reports.Tugiyo Bisri of the Social Affairs Ministry’s crisis center says a total of 467 people are confirmed dead and 421 seriously injured in Wednesday’s 7.6 magnitude quake. He said Thursday that 376 deaths occurred in Padang, the capital of West Sumatra province. Pasaman district accounted for 75 deaths and the other dead were from three other districts. ‘People are trapped, hotels have collapsed, schools have collapsed, houses have collapsed and electricity has been cut off,’ Vice President Jusuf Kalla told reporters in Jakarta. Health Ministry crisis centre head Rustam Pakaya told AFP that a major city hospital was among the many buildings that had buckled. ‘Houses and buildings have collapsed, causing thousands of people to be trapped inside in the rubble,’ Pakaya said. Rescue teams and doctors had been rushed out overland and were expected to arrive in the city and nearby affected areas overnight, Pakaya added. He said he expected the death toll to soar over 1,000 as rescuers reached the city, where communications and power had been cut off by the quake.