Death toll in Indonesia surpasses 380 after earthquake, tsunami

JAKARTA — Indonesian officials braced Saturday for a swiftly rising death toll following an earthquake and tsunami that hit the island of Sulawesi the day before, sweeping away buildings and burying its victims under collapsed rubble.

More than 384 people have died in the city of Palu alone, one of the two cities worst-hit by the tsunami, according to Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman for Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency. Rescue officials were struggling Saturday afternoon to reach the nearby city of Donggala, home to 300,000 people, and the surrounding areas after a large bridge collapsed. Authorities fear that the death toll, which was at 48 several hours earlier, could continue to rise quickly.

“It is estimated that the number will continue to increase as the search continues,” Nugroho said. It “cannot be done quickly” due to power outages, he added.

A 10-foot tsunami was triggered late Friday afternoon by a magnitude 7.5 earthquake and quickly hit the two cities and nearby settlements. Dramatic videos show rising waves smashing into buildings and people screaming and running away in fear. 

Authorities have said that “tens to hundreds” of people were by the ocean in Palu for a beach festival when the tsunami struck, and their fate is unknown. 

Rescue officials on Saturday were struggling with poor communications, widespread outages, destroyed bridges and blocked roads. Yenni Suryani, country manager for Catholic Relief Services in Indonesia, said Saturday morning that rescuers have not been able to reach the affected area and that communications were still down close to the epicenter in the Donggala region. Palu’s airport was closed Saturday, its runway badly cracked from the quake.

“I’m worried about people who might have been washed away. Several mosques, a shopping mall and many houses have collapsed,” Suryani said. “The impact is significant, and as soon as our local partners reach affected areas and establish communication, we’ll know more about the extent of the destruction and people’s most urgent needs.”

Nugroho, the disaster agency’s spokesman, said thousands of homes, hotels, shopping centers, hospitals and other public facilities were damaged. Hospital patients in Palu are being treated outside the building to avoid the danger of potential aftershocks.

Indonesia is prone to earthquakes because of its location on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin. Last month, a powerful earthquake hit the island of Lombok, followed by a series of strong quakes throughout the month. Over 500 people were killed. 

In December 2004, a magnitude 9.1 earthquake off Sumatra in western Indonesia triggered a tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a dozen countries.

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