Indonesia Earthquake
The death toll from Indonesia's strong quakes and tsunami in Central Sulawesi province soared to 832 on Sunday as lack of rescuers and vast stretches of land hard to access hampered search and rescue efforts. Rescuers struggled to reach victims in several large coastal towns in Indonesia, and authorities feared that the death toll would rise.
Vice President Jusuf Kalla said the toll could rise into the thousands as the death figure now came mainly from the capital city of Palu while the situation in the other two densely populated districts remained unclear as they were cut off from communications and help, Xinhua news agency reported.
Among the death figures, 821 were recorded in Palu, the provincial capital, and the rest in Donggala district, while figures in two other affected districts, Parigi Moutong and North Mamuju, were not included, the National Disaster Management Agency's Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.
"Besides, there are still many bodies who have not been identified. The victims remain under rubble or flattened buildings. Their number is still a lot. Many areas have not been reached. So that the number of victims is likely to increase," Sutopo told a press conference.
The catastrophe has also seriously injured 540 people and forced 16,732 people to flee homes, the spokesman said.
"Most victims were hit by rubble or falling blocks of concrete and waves of tsunami," he said.
Strong and shallow under-earth quakes of 6.0-, 7.4- and 6.1-magnitude that triggered a tsunami have devastated the province, with the hardest-hit area in Palu, the provincial capital and Donggala district.
Indonesia Earthquake
The tsunami, with a height of 0.5 to 3 meters, devastated coastal areas near Talisa beach in Palu city and Donggala district, the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said.
A mass funeral was held on Sunday for those who lost their lives, Sutopo said.
PICS: Devastation in Indonesia as powerful earthquake, tsunami wreak havoc
Sutopo said the search and rescue operation had been hampered by electricity outage, cut-off communications and limited number of heavy machinery equipment.
"The number of machinery devices operating is too little compared with the scale of the damage, the number is not sufficient. Sending the heavy machinery equipment from outside to the province is also facing obstacles. The affected territory is large," he said.
With the area largely cut off by damaged roads and downed communications lines, military and commercial aircraft were delivering some aid and supplies to the hard-hit city of Palu on the island of Sulawesi, and others in the region.
Indonesia Earthquake
But there was a desperate need for heavy equipment to reach possible survivors buried in collapsed buildings, including an eight-story hotel in Palu where voices were heard in the rubble. A 25-year-old woman was found alive during the evening in the ruins of the Roa-Roa Hotel, according to the National Search and Rescue Agency, which released photos of the her lying on a stretcher covered in a blanket.
It was the latest natural disaster to hit Indonesia, which is frequently struck by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis because of its location on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin. In December 2004, a massive magnitude 9.1 earthquake off Sumatra island in western Indonesia triggered a tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a dozen countries. More recently, a powerful quake on the island of Lombok killed 505 people in August.
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Indonesia Earthquake
