A TSUNAMI and series of earthquakes in Indonesia left many victims dead as a rescue mission continues.
The powerful earthquake and tsunami that hit Indonesia’s central Sulawesi has claimed dozens of victims, a disaster official said Saturday, as rescuers raced to reach the region.
Disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told a press conference that four hospitals in the central Sulawesi city of Palu have reported 48 dead and hundreds of injured.
He said “many victims” were still to be accounted for.
The coastline has been devastated in central Sulawesi where the 3-meter high tsunami — triggered by a magnitude 7.5 earthquake on Friday — smashed into two cities and several settlements.
Mr Nugroho said the tsunami hit Palu, the capital of central Sulawesi province, as well as the smaller city of Donggala and several other coastal settlements.
In Palu, the city of more than 380,000 people was strewn with debris from collapsed buildings.
The city is built around a narrow bay that apparently magnified the force of the tsunami waters as they raced into the tight inlet.
Photographs from Palu showed partially covered bodies on the ground near the shore, the morning after tsunami waves hit the city.
In the nearby city of Donggala a large bridge with yellow arches that spanned a coastal river had collapsed.
Communications with the area are difficult because power and telecommunications are cut, hampering search and rescue efforts.
Indonesia’s geophysics agency confirmed the tsunami occurred after the agency originally called off its tsunami warning.
Indonesian TV showed a smartphone video of a powerful wave hitting Palu, with people screaming and running in fear.
The footage purportedly shows a number of small restaurants near the Palu Grand Mall swept away by the wave, which some have referred to as a tsunami online.
Indonesia geophysics agency says Sulawesi quake caused a tsunami. This video is doing the rounds. We believe it is real.
The water smashed into buildings and a large mosque that collapsed under the force.
Evacuations are underway and people have been warned to remain alert and outside their homes.
The main airport in Palu — a city of 350,000 — was shut after the tsunami struck and was expected to stay closed for at least 24 hours.
Nugroho has said that essential aircraft can land at Palu airport’s though AirNav, which oversees aircraft navigation, said the runway is cracked and the control tower damaged.
QUAKES THAT HIT THE ISLAND
The region was rocked by a magnitude 7.5 earthquake and numerous strong aftershocks, including one of magnitude 6.7.
An earlier magnitude 6.1 quake in central Sulawsi killed several people, injured 10 and damaged dozens of houses.
The strongest of two major quakes was centered at a depth of 10km about 56km northeast of the central Sulawesi town of Donggala.
The chief of the meteorology and geophysics agency, Dwikorita Karnawati, said the tsunami waves were up to three metres high.
She said the tsunami warning triggered by the biggest quake, in place for about half an hour, was lifted after the tsunami was over.
INDONESIA MOVES TO HELP VICTIMS
Mr Nugroho said the military was deploying troops to Palu and Donggala and the national police were also mobilising to help the emergency response, along with personnel from the search-and-rescue and disaster agencies.
“People are encouraged to remain vigilant,” Sutopo said.
“It is better not to be in a house or building because the potential for aftershocks can be dangerous.
“People are encouraged to gather in safe areas. Avoid the slopes of hills.”
EYEWITNESSES’ TSUNAMI HORROR
Mirza Arisam, a resident of Kendari, the capital of neighbouring Southeast Sulawesi, said his uncle and his family of five, including three children, were on vacation in Palu and he has been unable to contact them since the tsunami hit.
An official with the local disaster agency, Akris, said “many houses have collapsed.”
“It happened while we still have difficulties in collecting data from nine villages affected by the first quake,” he told The Associated Press.
“People ran out in panic.”
Women and children wailed hysterically in a video distributed by the disaster agency, which also released a photo showing a heavily damaged department store. “It was so strong.
The strongest I ever felt. We all ran out of buildings,” said Yanti, a 40-year-old housewife in Donggala who goes by a single name.
“All the things in my house were swaying,” another Donggala resident, Mohammad Fikri, said of the earlier 6.1 quake.
Indonesia’s president on Friday night said he had instructed the security minister to co-ordinate the government’s response to a quake and tsunami that hit central Sulawesi.
Joko “Jokowi” Widodo also told reporters in his hometown of Solo that he had called on the country’s military chief help with search and rescue efforts
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said UN officials were in contact with Indonesian authorities and “stand ready to provide support as required”.
Donggala resident Mohammad Fikri said by telephone that he ran from his house but there wasn’t great panic in his neighbourhood.
“All the things in my house were swaying and the quake left a small crack on my wall,” he said.
“But this was not the first time. Last week we felt an earthquake that had a stronger tremor so this time we didn’t panic, just avoided the buildings and now everything has returned to normal,” Mr Fikri said.
