Hi Neil, there sould'nt be any damage from the loss of the belt, the only problem will be that the battery will be totaly flat, thats why it died on you, that will mean you will have to charge the battery and most likely you will need the security code for you radio and when you drive the car next time the engine might not behave normally for the first 20~30 miles while the engine ECU re-learns the engine settings, as to putting it on a ramp, yes this will make replacing the belt easier but you can do it yourself if your confident enough, jack the front right wheel up,remove it and the inner wing splash guard, with them removed you have access to the pulley's for the drive belt.
nigel
May 2008