Tsunami hell on earth
Death toll may be in the thousands after 20ft waves swamp island
RESCUERS last night continued their desper- ate search for survivors on the Indonesian island devastated by an earthquake and tsunami.
The death toll on Sulawesi reached 832 yesterday but there are fears it could soar into the thousands.
Harrowing mobile phone footage taken from a high balcony showed the tidal wave roaring on to a beach where a festival was being held before rushing in to the city of Palu, in the northwest of the island, after Friday’s 7.5-magnitude earthquake.
Cars, trees and buildings were swept away by the force of the water, up to 20ft deep in parts. Entire families were lost and in the aftermath survivors wept in the streets as they called out for their loved ones.
Rescuers are still struggling to reach large areas of the coast where the worst of the disaster is believed to lie.
‘The death toll is believed to be increasing since many bodies are under the wreckage, while many have not been reached,’ said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, of Indonesia’s disaster agency. While Palu, a city of 380,000 people, was badly hit – with hospitals struggling to cope with hundreds of injured survivors – there were fears for the Donggala region to the north.
‘Nothing has been heard from that area,’ said the Red Cross. ‘This is extremely worrying. This is already a tragedy but it could get much worse.’
Urgent calls have gone out for food, water, medicine and tents.