URL https://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCAKCN1M90RZ-OCATP

DATE/ AUTHOR 2018-09-30 18:49:59+00:00	AUTHORS: Reuters Editorial, Min Read

H Indonesia mourns as death toll from quake jumps to 832

S1 PALU, Indonesia (Reuters) - The toll from an earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia soared to 832 confirmed dead on Sunday, with authorities fearing the numbers will climb as rescuers grappled to get aid to outlying communities cut off from communications and help.

S2 Search and rescue workers evacuate an earthquake and tsunami survivor trapped in a collapsed restaurant, Palu, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia September 30, 2018 in this photo taken by Antara Foto.
S3 Antara Foto/Muhammad Adimaja/ via REUTERS

S4 Dozens of people were reported to be trapped in the rubble of several hotels and a mall in the city of Palu, on Sulawesi island, which was hit by waves as high as six meters (20 feet) following the 7.5 magnitude earthquake on Friday.

S5 A woman was pulled alive from the debris of the city’s Roa Roa Hotel, where up to 60 people were believed trapped.
S6 Hundreds of people gathered at the wrecked eight-storey Tatura Mall searching for loved ones.

S7 “Grieve for the people of Central Sulawesi, we all grieve together,” President Joko Widodo tweeted late on Sunday.

S8 Most of the confirmed deaths were in Palu itself, and authorities are bracing for the toll to climb as connections with outlying areas are restored.

S9 Of particular concern is Donggala, a region of 300,000 people north of Palu and close to the epicenter of the quake, and two other districts, which has been cut off from communications since Friday.

S10 (For a map of Sulawesi, click tmsnrt.rs/2OYa4YD)

S11 “We haven’t received reports from the three other areas.
S12 Communication is still down, power is still out.
S13 We don’t know for sure what is the impact,” Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for the National Disaster Mitigation Agency, told a news conference.

S14 Along with Palu, 1,500 km (930 miles) northeast of Jakarta, these districts have a combined population of about 1.4 million.

S15 A video of the outskirts of Donggala shot on Sunday afternoon by the Indonesian Red Cross showed scenes of devastation, with houses flattened into piles of rubble and broken furniture.

S16 Smaller aftershocks from Friday’s quake continued to rumble through the area.

S17 Social worker Lian Gogali tweeted from the area that several villages on the west coast of Sulawesi were in desperate need of food, medicine and shelter and that road access was still limited.

S18 PLEDGE TO REBUILD

S19 Five foreigners - three French, one South Korean and one Malaysian - were among the missing, Nugroho said.
S20 The 832 dead included people crushed in the quake and swept away by the tsunami.

S21 Vice President Jusuf Kalla said the death toll could rise into the thousands.

S22 Earlier President Widodo visited a housing complex flattened when the quake liquefied the soil it stood on, and called for patience.

S23 “I know there are many problems that need to be solved in a short time, including communications,” he said.
S24 The ruins would be rebuilt, he said, as aftershocks rattled the region 48 hours after the quake.

S25 Footage of the ruined city show a crumpled mess of houses, cars and trees mashed together by the quake, with rooftops and roads split and left at all angles.

S26 “There are estimated to be many victims in this area.
S27 Evacuation is difficult because many collapsed houses are buried in soil,” the National Disaster Mitigation Agency’s Nugroho said on Sunday evening.

S28 Internal Affairs Minister Tjahjo Kumolo, asked about reports of looting on social media, said he had ordered authorities to help people get food and drink and businesses would be compensated.
S29 One video posted on YouTube showed people grabbing boxes of supplies from a truck.

S30 Television pictures showed scores of residents shouting “we’re hungry, we need food” as soldiers distributed rations from a truck in one neighborhood, while footage from elsewhere showed people making off with clothes and other items from a wrecked mall.

S31 State logistics agency chief Budi Waseso said it was preparing to send hundreds of tonnes of government rice stocks to Central Sulawesi areas affected by the disaster.

S32 Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said the government had allocated 560 billion rupiah ($37.58 million) for disaster recovery, media reported.

S33 QUESTIONS ABOUT WARNINGS

S34 Indonesia, which sits on the seismically active Pacific Ring of Fire, is all too familiar with deadly earthquakes and tsunamis.
S35 In 2004, a quake off Sumatra island triggered a tsunami across the Indian Ocean, killing 226,000 people in 13 countries, including more than 120,000 in Indonesia.

S36 Questions are sure to be asked why warning systems set up after that disaster appear to have failed on Friday.
S37 Nugroho, bemoaning a fall in funding, said no tsunami buoys, one type of instrument used to detect the waves, in Indonesia had been operating since 2012.

S38 The meteorological and geophysics agency BMKG issued a tsunami warning after the quake but lifted it 34 minutes later, drawing criticism it had been too hasty.
S39 But officials estimated the waves had hit while the warning was in force.

S40 Hundreds of people had gathered for a festival on Palu’s beach when the water surged.
S41 A disaster official said the tsunami traveled across the sea at speeds of 800 kph (500 mph).

S42 Video on social media showed water bearing whirls of debris rushing in as people shouted in alarm and scattered.

S43 Palu is at the head of a bay, about 10 km long and 2 km wide, which had “amplified” the wave as it was funneled toward the city, a geophysics agency official said.

S44 The BMKG said its closest tidal gauge sensor, about 200 km (125 miles) from Palu, had only recorded an “insignificant” 6 cm (2.5 inches) wave.

S45 Palu’s airport was damaged in the quake, but had reopened for limited commercial flights, authorities said.

S46 Neighbors including Australia, Thailand and China offered help and Pope Francis, speaking to thousands in St. Peter’s Square, said he was praying for the victims.

S47 The European Union has announced 1.5 million euros ($1.74 million) in immediate aid.

S48 Indonesia has the world’s largest Muslim population but also significant pockets of Christians, including on Sulawesi, which is one of the archipelago nation’s five main islands.

