PADANG, Indonesia — The government called off its rescue efforts Tuesday, and international search-and-rescue crews packed up their gear and headed for the airport, resigned that there was no longer any chance of finding survivors buried beneath buildings and mudslides that followed last week’s earthquake.
“Barring a miracle, it is impossible for anyone to survive for six days without food or water,” said Hiroaki Sano, the leader of a 64-member team from Japanese Disaster Rescue, one of the first international groups to arrive. “So we are going home.”
The 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck the city of Padang and surrounding areas Sept. 30.
The Indonesian government said it had counted 600 dead so far, but at least a thousand people were still missing.
