Indonesia: 1,000 still missing after earthquake and tsunami and could be trapped in mud

A thousand people are still missing in Indonesia following the earthquake and tsunami that hit the country last Friday, reports said.

It is feared that many of the victims were buried in more than three meters of mud that has now solidified, a spokesman said.

Houses in the Petobo area in Sulawesi have been razed by the massive mud tide, a spokesman said.

Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said: "The damage caused by liquefaction is unprecedented in Indonesia, with high seismic activity."

The official record of the earthquake is now 1,424.

The country's national disaster agency has estimated that the missing are concentrated in the Petobo, Balaroa and Sigi regions, Sky News reported.

Desperate residents of the west coast of the island of Sulawesi were looking for food on their farms and orchards, while the government was struggling to overcome shortages of water, food, and food. Shelter and fuel in a disaster area without electricity or degraded communications.

The main town of the area, Palu, located 1,500 km northeast of Jakarta, has sometimes capsized chaos, looting shops and cumbersome small airport, seeking a leak.

Most confirmed deaths are from Palu and losses in remote areas remain unknown. Communications are down and bridges and roads have been destroyed or blocked by slips.

But international efforts to help are gearing up, after the government overcame a traditional reluctance to take foreign aid.

"The Indonesian government is experienced and well-armed to deal with natural disasters, but sometimes, as in all other countries, outside help is also needed," said the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Relief Coordinator. United Nations Emergency, Mark Lowcock. declaration.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has announced an appeal of 22 million Swiss francs ($ 22
million) to help Indonesia.

The US had provided initial funding, deployed government disaster experts and worked to determine what other help could be provided, the State Department announced earlier this week.

British and Australian aid should also arrive on Thursday.

In all, about 20 countries offered their help, Indonesia said.

In Palu, stores and banks reopened on Thursday and a major mobile phone network was put back into service. A sense of calm seemed to come back with orderly queues at the gas stations after the arrival of the fuel deliveries.

Indonesia is located on the Ring of Fire fault lines that surround the Pacific Ocean at the crossroads of tectonic plates.

These are vulnerable to seismic activity, including volcanoes and earthquakes, as the giant plates of the earth's crust collide and rub against each other.

Indonesia, along with many other countries in the region, is no stranger to tremors and eruptions.

Currently, three tectonic plates are in motion, causing recent horrors.

Paul Caruso, a geophysicist from the US Geological Survey, told Live Science: "In this area, there is subduction, the Australian plate is moving under the Sunda plate and the Australian plate is moving north under the Sunda plate. "

And if the earthquakes at sea are powerful enough, they can cause huge tidal waves.