Mass burial as quake survivors beg to leave ruin
PALU, Indonesia — As officials began burying hundreds of victims in a mass grave Monday, thousands of survivors of a devastating earthquake and tsunami converged on the airport in heavily damaged Palu and clamored to leave, saying there was little to eat and their homes were unsafe.
The confirmed death toll of 844, mostly from Palu, is expected to rise as authorities reach areas that have been cut off by the disaster. The magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck at dusk Friday and generated a tsunami said to have been as high as 20 feet in places.
Search-and-rescue teams combed destroyed homes and buildings, including a collapsed eight-story hotel, for any trapped survivors, but they needed more heavy equipment to clear the rubble.
Many people were believed trapped under shattered houses in Palu’s Balaroa neighborhood, where the earthquake caused the ground to heave up and down violently, said disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho.
In the city’s Petobo section, the quake caused loose, wet soil to liquefy, creating a thick, heavy mud that caused massive damage. “In Petobo, it is estimated that there are still hundreds of victims buried in mud,” Nugroho said.
Residents who found loved ones — alive and dead — over the weekend expressed frustration that it took rescue teams until Monday to reach Petobo.
Desperation was evident across Palu, a city of more than 380,000 people on the island of Sulawesi.
About 3,000 residents flocked to its airport, trying to board military aircraft or one of the few commercial flights, local TV reported. Video showed some of them screaming in anger because they were not able to get on a departing military plane.
“We have not eaten for three days!” one woman yelled. “We just want to be safe!”
Nearly 50,000 people have been displaced from their homes in Palu alone, Nugroho said, and hospitals were overwhelmed.
The Indonesian air force confirmed that a Hercules aircraft carrying an unspecified number of survivors was able to leave Palu for South Sulawesi’s capital of Makassar.
Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo authorized the acceptance of international help, Nugroho said, adding that generators, heavy equipment and tents were among the most-needed items. The European Union and 10 countries have offered assistance, including the United States.
Three days after the powerful waves struck, the coastline at Palu remained strewn with rubble and a few brightly colored cargo containers poking out of the water. Those buildings that still stood near the water were ruined shells.
Rescuers searching a collapsed building Monday night were able to remove 38-yearold man alive from the rubble.
The official death toll of 844 was released by Nugroho on Monday, an increase of only 12 from the previous day, with nearly all from Palu. The regencies of Donggala, Sigi and Parigi Moutong — with a combined population of 1.2 million — had yet to be fully assessed.