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Amid the collapsed buildings on campus, more than 2,000 students from Padang State University received graduation certificates on Saturday, just 10 days after a deadly earthquake devastated West Sumatra.

University rector Mawardi Effendi told state news agency Antara that although the condition of the campus was still far from normal — with at least five major buildings badly damaged from the quake — the academic year should not be disrupted. More than 2,000 graduates from a wide range of programs received their degrees.

“We held the [graduation] under a tent, with 25 representatives of departments,” Mawardi was quoted as saying.

The ceremony serves as yet another sign that life in Padang is slowly returning to normal after last week’s turmoil.

Priyadi Kardono, a spokesman for the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), told the Jakarta Globe on Sunday that electricity had already been restored to nearly 80 percent of the province.

“For basic needs, the problem is clean water now,” Priyadi said. “With the pipes damaged in many areas, people are cut off from clean water supply, but we will work on this.”

He said that the wheels of West Sumatra’s economy were also beginning to turn again. Priyadi said previous problems with food shortages in the aftermath of the disaster had largely disappeared. “You can even find people selling fried rice at 12 p.m.”

In the first days after the quake, people had to wait hours in line to get a plate of food.

He said though many schools in Padang and the surrounding area had been accepting students since last week, Priyadi said most had yet to resume normal coursework. Classes were set to resume in many areas today for the first time since the disaster.

“We need thousands of tents for our students. We want teachers and students, helped by teams from the police and Armed Forces, to collect wood or triplex for makeshift shelters for study,” he said. “It is hot here in this area at noon. People under the tents will get sweaty, and we don’t want that. We want our students to learn in comfortable conditions, if that’s possible.”

On Sunday it was reported that more than 1,380 schools were destroyed in the earthquake. The official death toll stood at 807, with 237 still missing as of Sunday.

Meanwhile, millions of dollars in foreign aid continue to pour into West Sumatra.

On Sunday, Antara reported that Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith announced the nation would give $17 million for recovery and reconstruction assistance for the quakes in West Sumatra and West Java. As of Friday, the US had spent over $8 million for assistance.