Straits Times, 5 Oct 2009, PADANG (WEST SUMATRA) - FOUR Singapore search and rescue dogs were put to work in the quake-hit city of Padang on Sunday, sniffing for signs of life under the rubble of a collapsed library and hotel.

The canines came with the 42-member Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) contingent that arrived in Padang to help in the international rescue effort following last Wednesday's 7.6 magnitude quake in the West Sumatra province.

According to the National Disaster Management Agency, 83,712 houses, 200 public buildings and 285 schools were destroyed. Another 100,000 buildings and 31 km of road were badly damaged, and five bridges collapsed across the disaster zone.

The SCDF team arrived in Padang on Friday evening and spent Saturday conducting an assessment of the sites in the city where search and rescue work was needed.

Yesterday, SCDF search and rescue dogs - Rocky, Bailey and Tommy - were sent in to comb the rubble of the city's four-storey library that had collapsed, trapping at least three people.

Only the library's distinctive uptilted roofs, in the shape of bull horns, remained intact.