Indonesians dug a pit for a mass burial in the earthquake shattered city of Padang today, while in nearby hills villagers with wooden hoes clawed in the mud in a near-hopeless search for hundreds entombed by landslides.
Rescue teams combing the rubble of Padang said there was little hope of finding more survivors from a disaster that authorities say may have killed 3,000 people.
As relief workers pushed deeper inland from the coastal city, they found entire villages obliterated by landslides and homeless survivors desperate for food, water and shelter.
�I am the only one left,� said Zulfahmi, 39, who was in the village of Kapalo Koto, near Pariaman, about 40km ( north of Padang, with 36 family members when Wednesday�s 7.6 magnitude quake struck.
�My child, my wife, my mother-in-law, they are all gone. They are under the earth now.�
Indonesia�s Health minister, Siti Fadillah Supari, told Reuters by telephone that the government estimated the death toll could reach 3,000, adding that disease was becoming a concern, especially in Padang city, where a pervading stench of decomposing bodies hangs over the ruined buildings.
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