Tsunami toll tops 1,200
£70k warning system ‘could have averted catastrophe’
THE earthquake death toll and in tsunami the Indonesian soared to at least 1,200 last night.
Officials expect it to be much higher as rescuers are still struggling to reach some stricken areas on the island of Sulawesi and do not yet know the full extent of the devastation.
It emerged yesterday that the toll in Friday’s disaster might have been significantly lower if a £70,000 tsunami warning system, delayed by squabbles over money and inter-agency bickering, had been in place. The system uses high-tech sensors on the sea floor to detect threats along the coastline and provide early warnings, but is still stuck in the prototype stage.
There have been funding delays for the system in Indonesia and some of the agencies involved have had their budgets cut, resulting in the project being pushed from one to another.
US disaster management expert Professor Louise Comfort, who has worked on the project, said: ‘It’s a heartbreak to watch when there is a well- designed sensor network that could provide critical information.’ The current system is based on tidal gauge stations but failed to predict the full scale of the disaster. It provided a 30-minute advance warning that a tidal wave of up to 10ft would follow Friday’s earthquake, but in the event the water rose to around 20ft in parts. Mass burials took place yesterday around Palu, one of the island’s most heavily affected cities, in a desperate attempt to minimise the risk of disease. In grim scenes, relatives of the missing looked into hundreds of body bags to help identify the dead.
With thousands homeless and infrastructure devastated, there have been reports of looting by survivors desperate for food and supplies. ‘People are sleeping on the streets, afraid to return to any homes that are still standing,’ said Rafiq Anshori, head of the Indonesian Red Cross disaster preparedness division.
‘But supplies are an added problem – people are finding it difficult to get food, water and fuel.’
Britain is giving Indonesia £2million to help with the relief effort and a team of five UK aid workers is preparing to fly out to help.
Smashed roads, a lack of fuel and poor communications mean rescuers have battled to reach both Palu and the neighbouring city of Donggala, where many more are believed to have died.
With heavy lifting equipment still to arrive, rescuers in Palu tore at the debris with their bare hands as voices cried out from the rubble.
Rescuers pulled a 38-year- old man out alive from beneath a collapsed building in the city yesterday, three days after the disaster.
Indonesian TV stations showed video from the National Search and Rescue Agency of workers freeing Sapri Nusin from the rubble. He was conscious and talking as they worked by torchlight.
After freeing him, they put him on a stretcher and carried him away. There was no immediate word on his condition.
There were also reports yesterday that around 1,200 convicts escaped from prisons in three areas as the disaster struck.
Tom Howells, of Save the Children, said yesterday that aid agencies struggling to reach communities around Donggala ‘hold grave fears for many towns’.