LUBUK LAWEH, Indonesia (AlertNet) - Aid helicopters reached remote villages in Indonesia on Tuesday for the first time since an earthquake six days ago triggered landslides that swept away thousands of homes and blocked roads.
IndonesiaÂ?s government has confirmed that more than 700 died in the earthquake off the island of Sumatra but with hundreds missing and many outlying villages out of contact, aid groups expect the death toll to rise. The health minister has said it could hit 3,000.
The helicopters from the Indonesian Red Cross dropped off medical supplies, blankets and plastic shelters at villages north of the region's biggest city of Padang.
An AlertNet correspondent joined another Red Cross mission about two hours after the first drop.
At the village of Lubuk Laweh people rushed over to the helicopter when it touched down.
Relief mixed with anger and tears. They said it was the first aid agency to visit the village since two earthquakes last Wednesday and Thursday devastated the region.
"When the landslide came it took my children. I ran to a tree and watched as my children slid away," said Ardi, 31. He had lost an 8-year-old daughter and a 4-year-old son.
"I'm now living in a tent, we have not received any aid."
Behind him, mud covered the remains of his village. The landslides ripped up trees and buildings. Only about 10 percent of the homes were still standing.
Yellow and green body bags lay on the damp ground, the stench of the dead hanging in the air.
Padang, with a population of about 900,000, has been the focus of the rescue efforts but aid agencies say that reaching outlying villages is essential.
"The immediate needs are to get food to people who are still cut off, still isolated in settlements up in the hills where the aid hasn't reached yet," said Patrick Fuller, a spokesman for the International Federation of the Red Cross.
He said the Indonesian Red Cross had chartered two helicopters to drop off blankets and plastic sheets for shelter from the rain as well as cooking and hygiene equipment.
Doctors and nurses also accompanied the supply drops, checking for signs of diarrhoea and breathing problems and patching up injuries.
"Infrastructure damage has definitely hampered the assessment teams getting to these areas," Fuller said.
"Where you have got a blocked road, you have got to find a motorbike and if a motorbike can't get through, then you have to walk. Helicopters are an obvious solution but they're costly."
In another village the Red Cross had visited, the people cried out for food.
"We need rice, oil and other food to eat. We have water but limited food," said 32-year-old Kotang, mother of five.
Her village nestled among terraced paddy fields, now damaged by landslides. The Red Cross had set up a mobile clinic and was treating the injured and the traumatised who saw landslides crash into their village.
"The Red Cross is the first to come to our village," Kotang said as she cradled a baby.
"Our husbands have gone off on foot to get help, we don't know where they are or where the help is. If no aid arrives we will just have to stay here because the roads are blocked."
(Writing by James Kilner in London)
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