By Anonymous 299 Days Ago
Description: Video footage has emerged showing the moment on Wednesday afternoon when a powerful earthquake struck the Indonesian city of Padang. Thousands have been killed and wounded Wednesday's 7.6-magnitude earthquake started at sea and rippled through Sumatra, the westernmost island in the Indonesian archipelago. An eerie quiet settled over Padang late yesterday as workers called off search efforts for the night. Thousands are thought trapped under shattered buildings in the city of 900,000, raising fears of a much higher death toll. "Let's not underestimate. Let's be prepared for the worst," President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said in the capital, Jakarta, before flying to Padang, a coastal city and West Sumatra province's capital. President Obama, who spent part of his childhood in Indonesia, pledged to support recovery efforts there as well as providing assistance in the South Pacific countries of Samoa and American Samoa, which were hit by a deadly tsunami Tuesday. Scientists and the mayor of quake-hit Indonesian city Padang in Sumatra told Al Jazeera's Step Vaessen months ago that a potentially catastrophic earthquake and tsunami were likely to hit the area. But requests for funds from the national government in Jakarta for proper evacuation procedures and other measures to prepare for disaster were turned down.
