QUAKE SURVIVORS AWAIT AID

Residents react Wednesday as rescuers recover the body of a tsunami victim in a village heavily damaged by Friday’s tsunami in Palu, Indonesia. Aid has yet to reach the hardesthit areas around Palu, the largest city heavily damaged in the 7.5 earthquake and tsunami that hit. More than 1,400 people died, thousands were injured and 70,000 are displaced after the disaster, according to officials.

PALU, INDONE S IA» Climbing over reeking piles of sodden food and debris Wednesday, a crowd searched a warehouse wrecked in Indonesia’s earthquake and tsunami for anything they could salvage: cans of condensed milk, soft drinks, rice, candy and painkillers.

A trickle of emergency aid is only now reaching parts of Sulawesi island, five days after the destructive earthquake that killed more than 1,400 people, and some increasingly desperate survivors are taking matters into their own hands.

“We came here because we heard there was food,” said Rehanna, a 23yearold stu dent, wearing a red motorcycle helmet. “We need clean water, rice.”

Elsewhere in the hardhit city of Palu, residents clapped and cheered as they swarmed a truck that was finally delivering aid.

“I’m so happy,” said Heruwanto, clutching a box of instant noodles. The 63yearold man, who like many Indonesians goes by only one name, added: “I really haven’t eaten for three days.”

Indonesian authorities have been struggling to get relief to survivors who have been left without food, water, fuel and medicine after Friday’s magnitude 7.5 quake and tsunami that smashed homes and businesses, downed communications and made roads impassable on Sulawesi.

The official death toll rose to 1,407 on Wednesday, with thousands injured and more than 70,000 displaced, said national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho. He said the number of dead likely would increase, but that rescue crews had reached all affected areas.

The Sulawesi coastline spreading out from Palu was a surreal landscape of debris, beached boats, overturned cars and the foundations of obliterated houses.

Jewel Samad, Getty Images A survivor stands among the debris of his obliterated neighborhood in Indonesia’s central Sulawesi on Wednesday. An earthquake and tsunami hit the area Sept. 28. More than 1,400 people have died in the disaster, and U.N. officials say the “needs remain vast” for desperate survivors and rescue teams still searching for victims.