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Life is slowly returning back to normal in Padang after a 7.6-magnitude earthquake jolted West Sumatra last week, but three subdistricts remain isolated because some roads are still blocked by debris, an aid official said on Friday.

“About 300,000 people are still waiting for aid and volunteers to help them,” said Ade Edward, head of the provincial Disaster Management Agency.

The Pandidek and Patamuan areas in Padang Pariaman district remain cut off from aid and rescue workers, as well as the Malalak section of Agam district, Ade said.

Relief aid can only be sent there by helicopter, but the authorities still do not have enough supplies to distribute to all of the victims, he said.

“This morning we sent more food and medicine by helicopter and doctors are walking to the affected regions,” Ade said, adding that most of the volunteers deployed to these areas were from North Sumatra.

He also said that the police had arrested 11 looters, most of them in Padang.

“The governor has asked the police to step up their surveillance, because there are always people who take advantage of chaotic situations like this,” he said.

He said that in Padang, more schools had started to reopen and some government workers had returned to their jobs.

Relief aid and volunteers continue to pour into West Sumatra, he said.

“About 50 volunteers from Papua arrived this morning to help,” he said.

The British government, meanwhile, on Thursday offered 3 million pounds ($4.8 million) to aid the reconstruction effort.

Earlier, it had pledged 500,000 pounds to the Sumatra Red Cross and deployed 63 British aid workers to Padang to assist with search-and-rescue efforts. It also provided emergency shelters and two million water purification tablets.

British International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander said the extra funds would be given to aid agencies on the ground to provide first aid supplies, emergency shelters, clean drinking water and portable latrines to families in the Padang area. These funds will also be used to help protect the country against future disasters.

“The UK is very pleased to be able to help the government and people of Indonesia with the relief and reconstruction effort in the wake of the Sumatra earthquake,” British Ambassador Martin Hatfull said.

“Embassy staff were on the ground very soon after the event and are still there now, with UK experts, helping the Indonesian authorities to work out what help is most needed where.”

Rustam Pakaya, head of the Ministry of Health’s Crisis Center, said that six tons of food and two tons of medicine were sent to Jambi to help the authorities cope with the aftermath of a 7.0-magnitude quake that hit the province a day after the West Sumatra temblor.

The Ministry of Health donated Rp 100 million ($10,600) to quake victims, he said.

Telecommunications providers, meanwhile, said the earthquakes highlighted the need for reserve power generators, to ensure that communications would not be cut off when disasters occurred. “We have told telecoms operators to ensure that there are enough spare power generators on standby, with enough power to last a day or two after a disaster strikes,” said Mohammad Nuh, minister of communication and information technology.

“We created standardized emergency response procedures, so it won’t take too long to restore damaged telecoms networks.”

He also said that seven telecoms operators set up a free text-messaging service on Thursday. Victims can send reports of missing relatives to 9731 for the next two weeks.

“The messages will be compiled at a media center in the official residence of the West Sumatra governor,” Nuh said, adding that the information would be distributed to institutions involved in relief efforts, such as the Ministry of Health, the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) and the military.

Nuh said that text-messaging services were the best way to quickly disseminate important information about conditions in areas that aid workers had been unable to reach.