Death toll spikes to 1,234 in Palu disaster
PALU (AP) — Indonesia’s disaster agency says the death toll from an earthquake and tsunami disaster on a central island is now 1,234. Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho updated the figure at a news conference in Jakarta yesterday afternoon.
The magnitude 7.5 earthquake and the tsunami it generated struck Palu and nearby areas on central Sulawesi island.
Nugroho said 799 people are severely injured. He said the communities of Sigi and Balaroa have not been counted yet, meaning the toll is likely to rise.
The situation is increasingly desperate in the severely damaged areas of central Sulawesi island where people are running short of food, fuel and other essentials.
Residents in the disaster-devastated Indonesian city of Donggala say people there are hungry and the central government must urgently get aid there.
The city was among those hit in last week’s earthquake and tsunami, but aid has been slow to arrive due to the difficulty in reaching it. Survivors in Donggala say they worry they have been forgotten as attention has been focused on the city of Palu, which has been easier to reach.
With supplies running out, local administrator Kasman Lassa says people were taking food and other essentials from shops yesterday.
Lassa says: “Everyone is hungry and they want to eat after several days of not eating.”
Meanwhile, two shallow earthquakes have occurred near the eastern Indonesian island of Sumba, but no tsunami warning was issued.
In a related story, a man was heartbroken after finding his father and sister half-buried in the mud.
“I could see my father still embracing my sister,” Setiwan said, recounting the devastating moment he found the pair entombed in mud near their home in the city of Palu. “I just cried. I was able to save other people, but I was unable to save my own family.”
When the massive quake struck on Friday, Setiwan said he was cleaning debris from another strong tremor that had cracked the walls of his home just hours earlier but left it standing.
As the 32-year-old rushed outside, “the ground I stepped on cracked … water and mud came out, more and more from all directions.”
His neighborhood seemed to be sinking. His wife and daughter were fine, but other family members, friends and neighbors were missing.