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Mass burials to begin as Indonesia toll tops 800
PALU, Indonesia, Oct 1, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Mass graves were being readied
for hundreds of victims of an Indonesian quake and tsunami on Monday as
authorities battled to stave off disease and reach desperate people still
trapped under shattered buildings.
The death toll nearly doubled to 832 Sunday but was expected to rise
further after a disaster that has left the island of Sulawesi reeling.
The strong 7.5-magnitude quake struck Friday, toppling buildings and
sending walls of seawater crashing into the the city of Palu.
Exhausted survivors scoured make-shift morgues for loved ones, and
authorities struggled to dig out the living or assess the scale of the
devastation in more remote regions beyond Palu.
Grim warnings came that the eventual toll could reach thousands.
“The casualties will keep increasing,” said national disaster agency
spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho. “We will start the mass burial of victims, to
avoid the spread of disease.”
Rescuers raced against the clock and a lack of equipment to save those
still trapped in the rubble, with up to 60 people feared to be underneath one
Palu hotel alone.
Rescuers said they heard voices and a child’s cries from under the rubble.
Desperate survivors turned to looting shops for basics like food, water
and fuel as police looked on, unwilling or unable to intervene.
“There has been no aid, we need to eat. We don’t have any other choice, we
must get food,” one man in Palu told AFP as he filled a basket with goods
from a nearby store.
The government was left with little option but to promise it would
reimburse owners.
“Record everything taken, inventorise it. We will pay for it all,” said
security minister Wiranto, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.
– ‘When the wave came, I lost her’ –
Many have spent the last two days desperately searching for loved ones.
One survivor, Adi, was hugging his wife by the beach when the tsunami
struck on Friday. He has no idea where she is now, or whether she is alive.
“When the wave came, I lost her,” he said. “I was carried about 50 metres.
I couldn’t hold anything. The water was spinning me around,” he said.
“This morning I went back to the beach, I found my motorbike and my wife’s
wallet.”
Others have centred their search around open-air morgues, where the dead
lay in the baking sun — waiting to be claimed, waiting to be named.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo visited the region Sunday afternoon,
urging a “day and night” effort to save all those who can be saved.
MORE/MSY/0816 hrs
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But disaster agency spokesman Nugroho indicated sheer power of will may not
be enough.
“Communication is limited, heavy machinery is limited… it’s not enough
for the numbers of buildings that collapsed,” he said.
Still, as dire as the situation in Palu was, it was at least clear. In
outlying areas, the fate of thousands is still unknown.
Indonesian Vice-President Jusuf Kalla said the final death toll in the
more remote regions could be in the “thousands” since many regions have still
not been reached.
Indonesia’s Metro TV on Sunday broadcast aerial footage from a coastal
community in Donggala, close to the epicentre of the quake. Some waterfront
homes appeared crushed but a resident said most people fled to higher ground
after the quake struck.
“When it shook really hard, we all ran up into the hills,” a man
identified as Iswan told the TV.
– Ports, bridges, roads shattered –
Save The Children program director Tom Howells said access was a “huge
issue” hampering relief efforts.
“Aid agencies and local authorities are struggling to reach several
communities around Donggala, where we are expecting there to be major damage
and potential large-scale loss of life,” Howells said.
The national disaster agency said it believed about 71 foreigners were in
Palu when the quake struck, with most safe.
Three French nationals and a South Korean, who may have been staying at a
flattened hotel, had not yet been accounted for, it added.
Getting enough aid in may prove a problem.
Satellite imagery provided by regional relief teams showed severe damage
at some of the area’s major ports, with large ships tossed on land, quays and
bridges trashed and shipping containers thrown around.
A double-arched yellow bridge had collapsed, its ribs twisted as cars
bobbed in the water below.
A key access road had been badly damaged and was partially blocked by
landslides.
The initial quake struck as evening prayers were about to begin in the
world’s biggest Muslim majority country on the holiest day of the week.
As news of the scale of the disaster spread, US State Department
spokesperson Heather Nauert conveyed “condolences and support” and said that
the US was “ready to assist in the relief effort.”
From the Vatican, Pope Francis offered prayers for victims.
BSS/AFP/MSY/0816 hrs