Anita Rachman – Four districts and a municipality in West Java have submitted reports estimating the total damage caused by the Sept. 30 West Sumatra earthquake at Rp 6 trillion.

The areas do not include the provincial capital, which alone is estimated to have caused damage totalling as much as Rp 6.5 trillion ($694 million).

Ade Edward, the head of West Sumatra's Disaster Management Agency, said the districts and municipality had submitted their estimate of financial losses, which would be verified by a government team.

"We have received reports from Padang Pariaman, Agam, South Pesisir and West Pasaman districts and Pariaman municipality, with losses at Rp 6 trillion," he said. "We are still waiting for a report from Padang."

Ade said it would verify the estimates in coordination with several related government departments and agencies.

He said the four districts, municipality and Padang were among the areas worst damaged by the earthquake, which measured 7.9 on the Richter scale.

Ade said the team would check the reports, including damage to schools and public works, including roads, and utilities.

"We will need time to finish this and we will only have the team to calculate the destruction for next week," he said.

The agency also estimated that there were about 135,000 houses badly damaged by the earthquake.

Ade said that by calculating the total losses, it would be easier for the provincial government to act and begin reconstruction.

"Not that the number will give us an idea of how much money we need to rebuild the area... but because we still need the figure to estimate how long we need."

Separately, Padang Deputy Mayor Mahyeldi Ansyarullah told the Jakarta Globe that the provincial capital alone was estimated to have suffered losses of Rp 6.5 trillion.

He said that almost 110,000 houses in Padang were damaged, about 40,000 of them severely. He said that the earthquake had also destroyed 1,188 classrooms in the city, mostly in elementary and junior high schools.

"The total financial loss is Rp 6.5 trillion for the city alone. This might be the biggest in the province because residences in the city are pretty close to each other, unlike those in other areas," he said, adding that there were about 900,000 people living in Padang.

In addition to the housing losses, Mahyeldi said the city also lost office buildings, hospitals and roads.

He said those with insurance should have no problem getting compensation.

"But we haven't discussed the amount of local government aid for each house," he said. "So far, we have only distributed Rp 5,000 worth of food per day for 10 days to each person who lost their home in the earthquake."

He said that at the moment, the Padang administration was focusing on rehabilitation and reconstruction planning.

Mahyeldi said his team was discussing housing issues with experts from Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta.