In the quake zone

But outside the airport was an entirely different story. Whole buildings turned to rubble, yet others were still left standing.

It's a very different place to the Padang I visited just a couple of years ago. Even then people were still recovering from the 2004 tsunami and the earthquake the following year. It's a bit hard to imagine how long it'd take for Padang to recover after this disaster.

You immediately realised where the loss of life was greatest: the soldiers and heavy machinery gave it away. Dave (my cameramen) and I headed to a recovery site that seemed to have a lot of activity. I learned it was a school for primary and secondary school students. There were kids' shoes and clothing strewn across the site, which was eerie. Workers at the site said they held little hope of finding survivors.

We then headed to another site that seemed to have a lot of activity.. and a captive audience. It turned out to be the Ambacang Hotel, popular with tourists. I'm told at least 100 people were still unaccounted for.

It was all sobering news until I heard that a girl was rescused at the school site AND that rescuers had heard signs of life coming from the Ambacang Hotel ruins. I now understood why people were capitvated by the rescue sites.