VOA标准英语2009年-Death Toll Rises From Indonesia Earthquake

By Brian Padden
Jakarta
01 October 2009

Western Indonesia was rattled¹ by another severe earthquake a day after a quake trapped thousands of people under collapsed² buildings. The death toll³ has risen to at least 530, and is expected to rise.

Officials say the 7.6 underwater earthquake that occurred near the Indonesian island of Sumatra collapsed at least 500 buildings in the city of Padang. And on Thursday, a magnitude 6.6 quake struck in the same area, alarming survivors⁴.

Hospitals, a hotel and school facilities were among the buildings that were destroyed Wednesday in Padang, which has a population of about 900,000. The quake also started fires, severed⁵ roads and cut off power and communications to the area.

 
Indonesian soldiers carry an earthquake victim's body in Padang, West Sumatra, Indonesia, 01 Oct 2009
The death toll continues to rise as rescue workers race to save those trapped in the rubble⁶, and there are fears it could rise into the thousands.

The mayor of Padang appealed for assistance, saying the city is overwhelmed with victims.

Aid organizations have been arriving. World Vision spokeswoman Laura Blank says its team has arrived and is now assessing the needs.

"It's a little bit tricky⁷ because power was cut off, so I think no one knows quite what to expect until we actually get there and find out the extent of the damage," she said.

Blank says World Vision regularly provides earthquake assistance and usually has supplies positioned throughout the country, such as blankets, food, water and medicine, for just such emergencies. But Blank says they have already distributed much of its stores to the victims of the earthquake that hit the island of Java last month.

"The challenge right now is that our emergency pre-positioned supplies were running quite low because the response in West Java was in progress still and that quake had just happened a few weeks ago," added Blank.

Indonesia's government dispatched medical teams and military planes to help with the relief efforts and announced $10 million in emergency response aid.

1 rattled   

慌乱的，恼火的

参考例句：

• The truck jolted and rattled over the rough ground. 卡车嘎吱嘎吱地在凹凸不平的地面上颠簸而行。
• Every time a bus went past, the windows rattled. 每逢公共汽车经过这里，窗户都格格作响。

2 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

3 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

4 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

5 severed   

v.切断，断绝( sever的过去式和过去分词 )；断，裂

参考例句：

• The doctor said I'd severed a vessel in my leg. 医生说我割断了腿上的一根血管。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We have severed diplomatic relations with that country. 我们与那个国家断绝了外交关系。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。

7 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。