Indonesia area in ruins after quake, tsunami

A structure lies in shambles Saturday in Palu, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia, after a strong earthquake and tsunami struck the island. Similar scenes of destruction could be found all across the city of Palu. Officials put the death toll at 405 but said it was expected to rise.

PALU, Indonesia — Residents too afraid to sleep indoors camped out in the darkness Saturday while survivors recounted harrowing stories of being separated from their loved ones a day after a powerful earthquake triggered a tsunami that unleashed waves that towered as high as 20 feet, killing hundreds on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.

The official death toll stood at 405, with all the fatalities coming in the hard-hit city of Palu, but it was expected to rise once rescuers reach surrounding coastal areas, said disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho.

“We have found corpses from the earthquake as well as bodies swept up by the tsunami,” Nugroho said in a television interview.

He said others were unaccounted for, without giving an estimate. The nearby cities of Donggala and Mamuju also were ravaged, but little information was available because roads were damaged and telecommunications disrupted. Vice President Jusuf Kalla told a news website that thousands may have died, with an unknown number washed out to sea.

Nugroho said “tens to hundreds” of people were taking part in a beach festival in Palu when the tsunami struck at dusk Friday. Their fates were unknown.

Hundreds of people were injured and hospitals, damaged by the magnitude-7.5 quake, were overwhelmed.

Some of the injured, including Dwi Haris, who suffered a broken back and shoulder, rested outside Palu’s army hospital, where patients were being treated outdoors as strong aftershocks continued. Tears filled his eyes as he recounted feeling the violent earthquake shake the fifth-floor hotel room he shared with his wife and daughter.

“There was no time to save ourselves. I was squeezed into the ruins of the wall, I think,” said Haris, adding that the family was in town for a wedding. “I heard my wife cry for help, but then silence. I don’t know what happened to her and my child. I hope they are safe.”

Indonesian President Joko Widodo called on citizens to pray for the affected region and said he had asked ministers and agencies to head to the region and assist with relief work.

The Indonesian Red Cross is sending ambulances and water trucks to the region, and distributing tarpaulins, blankets, sleeping mats and other supplies. But getting supplies to the region will be difficult with the road from Poso, a major town in Central Sulawesi province that could be a supply link to Palu, damaged or blocked.

Palu is a three-hour flight across the Java Sea and Makassar Strait from Jakarta and is closer to the southern Philippines and eastern Malaysia than to Java, Indonesia’s most populous island.

By late afternoon Saturday, the Palu airport, which had temporarily accommodated only propeller planes because of damage caused by the disaster, was reopened to relief flights.

Palu, which has more than 380,000 people, was strewn with debris from the earthquake and tsunami. A mosque heavily damaged by the quake was half submerged and a shopping mall was reduced to a crumpled hulk. A large bridge with yellow arches had collapsed. Bodies lay partially covered by tarpaulins and a man carried a dead child through the wreckage.

The city is built around a narrow bay that apparently magnified the force of the tsunami waters as they raced into the tight inlet.

Andri Manganti, a resident of Palu who lost his home in Friday’s quake, said that no warning siren sounded before the tsunami struck the city.

Text messages that were supposed to warn locals of the possibility of a tsunami did not go out as planned because cellphone towers had been downed by the earthquake, Nugroho said.

Indonesia’s meteorological and geophysics agency is facing criticism for having lifted its tsunami warning little more than half an hour after the earthquake struck. It is not yet certain whether the devastating wave struck before or after the tsunami warning was lifted.

Nugroho said Saturday that as he was preparing information to alert the public about the tsunami threat, the warning was abruptly halted by the geophysics agency.

The earthquake left mangled buildings with collapsed awnings and rebar sticking out of concrete like antennae. Roads were buckled and cracked. The tsunami created even more destruction. It was reported as being 10 feet high in some areas and double that height elsewhere.

Communications were difficult because power and telecommunications were cut, hampering search-and-rescue efforts. Most people slept outdoors, fearing aftershocks.

AP/RIFKI