QUAKE DEATH TOLL RISES
SEARCH teams are finding more bodies as they work through the devastation left by the Indonesian earthquake, while international aid crews have arrived to offer assistance.
Indonesia’s disaster agency said 1,649 people have died and at least 265 people are missing after the September 28 earthquake, tsunami and mudslides.
Buckingham Palace confirmed the Queen has made a “private donation” to the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) appeal to help survivors.
The disaster saw 20ft waves crash onto the coast, destroying thousands of homes and causing devastation around the provincial capital of Palu, leaving Donggala and other coastal cities in ruins and without power.
Muslim Aid UK’s head of mission Fadlullah Wilmot, 75, who is in Palu, said a group of local survivors found 32 more bodies on Saturday morning.
He said: “The bodies were discovered near a mosque and there was a primary school nearby which was cut in half.
“Families and communities who have lost life, their family homes and everything - they will have to rebuild from scratch.
“Indonesia is in the Ring of Fire (home to 75% of the world’s volcanoes and 70% of its earthquakes) so earthquakes and tsunamis are not unusual.
“It is not uncommon but when it hits, it hits hard. It hits livelihoods, families, business and tourism.
“What people like I can do is to give a bit of a helping hand to try and give them food, temporary accommodation and try to get the children back to school. It is about giving them a hand up, not a hand out.”
Britons donated more than £6m to try to help survivors in the first day of the DEC appeal, and a Japanese military plane landed at Palu’s airport on Saturday morning, complete with soldiers unloading tons of supplies including medicines and small portable generators.
The DEC appeal was launched on Thursday, with the UK Government pledging to match the first £2m donated pound for pound.
The United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs said more than £38m is required to deliver “immediate, lifesaving” aid.
Mr Wilmot said: “We may be look- ing at around 350,000 people without a secure home for the longer term, including the official figures for people needing emergency shelter.”
Asif Sherazi, Muslim Aid UK’s head of humanitarian development, said: “Our in-country office will do everything possible to support those desti- tute and traumatised people. They need food, water, medicines, clothing, soap and other hygiene products.”