London - Two groups of Hungarian rescue teams have been dispatched to Padang, West Sumatra, to provide help in searching for quake victims in the province, an Indonesian diplomat said.

Third Secretary at the Indonesian Embassy in London Shinta Hapsari said on Monday the Hungarian teams also brought medical supplies and heavy equipment for rescue operations to evacuate victims from the ruins of collapsed buildings.

Hapsari said that the Hungarian rescuers also took with them sniffer dogs which were trained in detecting victims under ruins of buildings.

In the tsunami disaster in 2004 and earthquake in 2005 in Aceh and Nias, Hungary also deployed the same teams in the affected locations where they also set up field hospitals.

The first group of the Hungarian team, which was composed of 19 rescuers, left for West Sumatra on October 1, 2009 from Budapest, and the second group was sent by the Hungarian Red Cross with a plane and was led by Major Peter Jakovics.

Indonesia and Hungary have established understanding on disaster handling cooperation, particularly between the Indonesian National Disaster Mitigation Agency and the Hungarian Directorate General for Disaster Handling, Shinta Hapsari said.

A powerful earthquake devastated Padang, provincial capital of West Sumatra last week, killing at least 600 people and leaving more than 300 missing. However, unofficial estimate put the victims at thousands of people as many were still buried under the rubble of collapsed buildings.

The recent earthquake in West Sumatra also destroyed 21,732 houses, caused heavy damage to 6,721 homes and minor damage to 9,572 others.

A number of hotels, restaurants and their supporting facilities were also destroyed. Of the 47 star-rated hotels in West Sumatra, 24 were damaged, of which 11 were destroyed and could no longer be used. Among those destroyed were the Ambacang, Rocky Plaza, Mariani, Nuasa and Hayam Wuruk hotels.

-Antara, 06 October 2009-