Disaster-hit Asia counts the dead:

Rescue workers continue search

INDONESIA: Dazed Asian countries reeled from the full force of nature’s fury on Thursday with thousands feared dead in a freak onslaught of devastating earthquakes, tsunamis and typhoons.

Rescuers picked through rubble after a huge quake struck Indonesia and a towering tsunami deluged the Samoan islands, while millions of flood-hit storm survivors in Southeast Asia braced for a new super-typhoon.

Fresh panic hit the Indonesian island of Sumatra, where another powerful quake hit the day after Wednesday’s 7.6-magnitude disaster, sending traumatised residents fleeing their homes.

Officials said 529 were confirmed dead on Sumatra. But as rescue workers dug with their bare hands in pouring rain to reach those trapped alive in collapsed buildings, the number was expected to soar. “Our prediction is that thousands have died,” Health Ministry crisis centre head Rustam Pakaya said.

The first flights laden with aid and body bags began arriving in the devastated coastal city of Padang, home to nearly a million people, where Wednesday’s quake sparked fires and caused buildings to crumble.

“I’ve been waiting here since yesterday. I haven’t been home yet and keep praying to God my daughter is alive,” 49-year-old mother Andriana said police searched a collapsed school where dozens of children were believed trapped.

It was the second quake in hours on the Pacific Ocean’s volatile “Ring of Fire”, coming after the massive 8.0-magnitude tremor that spawned a deadly tsunami in the Samoan islands.

Padang, Sunday, AFP