Indonesia tsunami
Death toll rises above 1,350
Soldiers move dead bodies of the victims from the earthquake and tsunami during a mass burial at the Poboya Cemetery in Palu, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia.
BBC Online :
The number of people known to have died in Indonesia in Friday’s earthquake and tsunami has risen to 1,347, the country’s disaster response agency says.
The death toll jumped on Tuesday from a previous confirmed figure of 844.
The 7.5-magnitude quake struck just off the central island of Sulawesi, setting off a tsunami that engulfed the coastal city of Palu. People there are growing increasingly desperate for food, fuel and water.
Humanitarian relief convoys entering the city are now being escorted by soldiers and police.
And there are fears some survivors may still be trapped under the rubble of buildings.
Everyone we meet in Palu is focused on trying to get basic goods for their families. All normal services in the town have broken down and there’s little running water, power, food or drinking water. People are desperate.
We saw one group of armed police guarding a shop, being pressed by local people to let them in.
Suddenly the police shouted, warning everyone to back off, followed by volleys of shots fired in the air and tear gas. Some of the men threw stones at the police; for a moment it seemed it might escalate.
Yet an hour later the police backed down and let the crowd in. The atmosphere was transformed, from anger to jubilation as people came running down the street clutching shopping bags.
The police tried to stop people taking non-food items – some were made to empty the sacks bulging with commandeered produce, and hand over plastic toys and toiletries.
One officer wearily told me it was his responsibility to protect the shop – but what could he do when people needed so much?
Indonesian Red Cross officials have told the BBC that the bodies of 34 Indonesian students were found under a church buried by a mudslide.
They were among a group of 86 students reported missing from a Bible camp in the Jonooge Church Training Centre. The whereabouts of the other 52 students are not known.
The number of people known to have died in Indonesia in Friday’s earthquake and tsunami has risen to 1,347, the country’s disaster response agency says.
The death toll jumped on Tuesday from a previous confirmed figure of 844.
The 7.5-magnitude quake struck just off the central island of Sulawesi, setting off a tsunami that engulfed the coastal city of Palu. People there are growing increasingly desperate for food, fuel and water.
Humanitarian relief convoys entering the city are now being escorted by soldiers and police.
And there are fears some survivors may still be trapped under the rubble of buildings.
Everyone we meet in Palu is focused on trying to get basic goods for their families. All normal services in the town have broken down and there’s little running water, power, food or drinking water. People are desperate.
We saw one group of armed police guarding a shop, being pressed by local people to let them in.
Suddenly the police shouted, warning everyone to back off, followed by volleys of shots fired in the air and tear gas. Some of the men threw stones at the police; for a moment it seemed it might escalate.
Yet an hour later the police backed down and let the crowd in. The atmosphere was transformed, from anger to jubilation as people came running down the street clutching shopping bags.
The police tried to stop people taking non-food items – some were made to empty the sacks bulging with commandeered produce, and hand over plastic toys and toiletries.
One officer wearily told me it was his responsibility to protect the shop – but what could he do when people needed so much?
Indonesian Red Cross officials have told the BBC that the bodies of 34 Indonesian students were found under a church buried by a mudslide.
They were among a group of 86 students reported missing from a Bible camp in the Jonooge Church Training Centre. The whereabouts of the other 52 students are not known.
