Race to get aid to disaster victims as death toll rises

Hundreds more troops are being brought in to help with search and rescue as survivors become desperate

Aid workers are racing to get shelter, food, medicine and other badly needed supplies to the Indonesian port city of Palu, which was ravaged by a powerful earthquake and tsunami that killed more than 1,400 people.

The Indonesian military is bringing in hundreds more troops to help with search and rescue efforts and keep order among survivors.

Hundreds of the injured and other survivors lined up at Palu’s badly damaged airport, hoping to escape aboard military aircraft.

It comes as a French rescue worker said his team, using hi-tech scanners, had detected a person believed to still be alive under the rubble of a hotel in Palu.

Philip Besson, of the French organisation Pompiers de l’urgence, said the team “detected the presence of a victim” in the wreckage of the Mercure Hotel but was not able to say if the person is conscious.

Mr Besson said the team was unable to reach the victim, trapped under thick concrete, as it only had a hand drill and so stopped digging as night fell.

He said the team will bring heavy equipment today to try to rescue the person.

As help and supplies began arriving, there were other signs of progress.

Trucks were hauling in new electricity poles, with workers saying they intended to repair all the damage within days.

The United Nations announced a $15 million allocation to support relief efforts, saying more than 200,000 people were in dire need of assistance.

More than 70,000 homes are thought to have been wrecked by the earthquake, demolished by the tsunami or engulfed by mud slides.

Thousands of people are sleeping in tents or in rough shelters.

Many spend their days trying to secure basics such as clean water.

“Please tell the government and the NGOs, if they’re really willing to help us with some food, please do not give it away through the command posts,” said Andi Rusding.

“It’s better to go directly to each and every tent because sometimes (the relief goods) aren’t distributed evenly.”

National disaster agency spokesman Supoto Purwo Nugroho said most of the 1,424 confirmed dead had been buried.

The death toll is expected to rise as rescue crews dig through debris after being slowed initially by impassable roads and other damage.

Indonesian foreign minister Retno Marsudi said military transport aircraft from India and Singapore had arrived to help in the relief efforts.