Quake death toll continues to rise

DEADLINE: AUTHORITIES SAY TOMORROW IS D-DAY

Almost 200 000 people need help, among them tens of thousands of children.

Wani

The death toll in Indonesia’s twin quake-tsunami disaster passed 1 400 yesterday, with time running out to rescue survivors and the UN warning of “vast” unmet needs.

National disaster agency spokesperson Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said the number of dead had risen to 1 407 across four areas around the ravaged seaside city of Palu and 519 bodies had already been buried.

Authorities set a tentative deadline of tomorrow to find anyone still trapped under rubble, at which point the chances of finding survivors will dwindle.

Government rescue workers are focusing on half a dozen key sites around the city –the Hotel Roa-Roa where up to 60 people are still believed buried, a shopping mall, a restaurant and the Balaroa area, where the sheer force of the quake turned the earth temporarily to mush.

At least 150 people are unaccounted for beneath the rubble.

According to the UN’s humanitarian office, almost 200 000 people need urgent help, among them tens of thousands of children, with an estimated 66 000 homes destroyed or damaged by the 7.5-magnitude quake and the tsunami it spawned.

Despite the Indonesian government urging foreign rescue teams to “stand down” because the crisis was in hand, residents in hardhit, remote villages like Wani in Donggala province say little help has arrived. –

Picture: EPA-EFE THAR SHE BLOWS. Indonesia’s Mount Soputan volcano on the quake-and tsunami-hit island of Sulawesi erupts yesterday, spewing volcanic ash 4 000m into the air.