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PALU, Indonesia –A the tsunami took away buildings and killed at least several hundred people on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, the victims had to wrestle in a devastated landscape that rescuers were struggling to reach on Saturday, hampered by damaged roads and broken communications. Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman for the agency responsible for the disasters, said that 384 people had been killed in the only hard-hit city of Palu.
The neighboring city of Donggala and the town of Mamuju have also been ravaged by the tsunami, but have not yet been hit by damaged roads and telecommunications disruptions.
Nugroho said "dozens to hundreds" of people were taking part in a beach festival in Palu when the tsunami, triggered by an earthquake of magnitude 7.5, struck Friday at nightfall. Their destiny was unknown.
In some places, the water rose up to 20 feet. "We received a report on the phone that said one guy had climbed a tree up to 6 feet tall," Nugroho said.
Palu, which has more than 380,000 people, was littered with debris from collapsed buildings. A mosque heavily damaged by the earthquake was half submerged and a shopping center was reduced to a crumpled hulk. A large bridge with yellow arches had collapsed. Some bodies were partially covered with tarpaulins and a man was carrying a dead child through the wreckage.
A patient was evacuated from a hospital following a severe earthquake in Poso, central Sulawesi, Indonesia, on Friday, September 28, 2018. Severe earthquakes rocked the Indonesian island of Sulawesi on Friday, damaging homes and homes. causing a tsunami warning.
Yohanes Litha / AP
The city is built around a narrow bay that apparently amplified the strength of the tsunami waters as they headed for the narrow entrance.
Indonesian television has broadcast on its smartphone a dramatic video showing a powerful wave striking Palu, people shouting and running out of fear. The water has broken buildings and the mosque damaged.
Hundreds of people were injured and hospitals, damaged by the earthquake, were submerged.
The head of the meteorological and geophysical agency, Dwikorita Karnawati, described the situation as "chaotic" after the tsunami. "People are running in the streets and the buildings have collapsed," Karnawati told the Reuters news agency. "There is a boat failed."
Communications with the region has been difficult because electricity and telecommunications have been cut off, hampering search and rescue efforts.
"We hope that international satellites crossing Indonesia will be able to capture images and provide them to us so we can use them to prepare humanitarian aid," Nugroho said.
The disaster relief agency said that essential planes could land at Palu airport, although AirNav, which oversees the navigation of the plane, said that the track was cracked and the control tower damaged.
AirNav said one of its 21-year-old air traffic controllers died in the quake after staying in the tower to make sure that a flight he had just cleared for departure had taken off security. It made.
More than half of the 560 inmates in a Palu prison fled after the collapse of its walls during Friday's earthquake, said its director, Adhi Yan Ricoh.
A map provided by the US Geological Survey shows the epicenter of a magnitude 7.5 earthquake that struck Indonesia on September 28, 2018.
USGS
"It was very difficult for the security guards to prevent the detainees from escaping as they were panicked and forced to flee as well," he told the news agency. Antara State.
Ricoh said there was no immediate plan to search for detainees, as prison staff and police were exhausted by search and rescue efforts.
"Do not even think about finding the detainees, we do not even have time to report this incident to our superiors," he said.
Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said Friday night that he had instructed the Minister of Security to coordinate the government's response to the disaster.
Jokowi also told reporters in his home town of Solo that he had called on the country's army chief to participate in the search and rescue efforts.
UK spokesman Stephane Dujarric said government officials are in contact with Indonesian authorities and "stand ready to provide support as needed".
Indonesia is frequently affected by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis because of its location on the Ring of Fire, an arch of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.
In December 2004, a major earthquake of magnitude 9.1 off the island of Sumatra, in western Indonesia, triggered a tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a dozen countries. On August 5, a powerful earthquake on the Indonesian island of Lombok killed 505 people, most of them in ruined buildings.
