Disaster zone
Despite a lack of heavy lifting equipment, rescuers are still pulling survivors from the rubble.
Ratna Kurnia Sari, 19, was rescued badly injured but alive from the rubble of her college in Padang 40 hours after the earthquake struck.
"Her dead friends were beneath and above her," said Dr Dubel Mereyenes, who was treating her.
Another survivor trapped beneath a ruined hotel in Padang sent a text message to a relative asking for help, rescuers revealed.
"We think there are eight people alive in there," Reuters news agency quoted army officer Arkamelvi Karmani as saying.
He said the text message implored rescuers: "Be careful that the excavator doesn't cause the building to collapse on us."
Those trapped are believed to be on what was the 6th floor and rescue teams are building a tunnel through the rubble to reach them.
But the BBC's Alastair Leithead, who is in Padang, says that as the hours pass, the rescue operation is turning into the recovery of bodies.
Two Australian planes carrying medical personnel and rescue experts have arrived in Padang, and dozens of British firefighters are due there late on Saturday.
A Swiss sniffer-dog team is already on the ground, and Russian, Estonian and Japanese personnel have all been sent. Countries around the world have pledged relief funds.
Ratna Kurnia Sari, 19, was rescued badly injured but alive from the rubble of her college in Padang 40 hours after the earthquake struck.
 Hundreds of buildings in Padang collapsed when the quake struck |
Another survivor trapped beneath a ruined hotel in Padang sent a text message to a relative asking for help, rescuers revealed.
"We think there are eight people alive in there," Reuters news agency quoted army officer Arkamelvi Karmani as saying.
He said the text message implored rescuers: "Be careful that the excavator doesn't cause the building to collapse on us."
Those trapped are believed to be on what was the 6th floor and rescue teams are building a tunnel through the rubble to reach them.
But the BBC's Alastair Leithead, who is in Padang, says that as the hours pass, the rescue operation is turning into the recovery of bodies.
Two Australian planes carrying medical personnel and rescue experts have arrived in Padang, and dozens of British firefighters are due there late on Saturday.
A Swiss sniffer-dog team is already on the ground, and Russian, Estonian and Japanese personnel have all been sent. Countries around the world have pledged relief funds.
