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JAKARTA (Reuters) – At least 30 people were killed in an earthquake and tsunami in the Indonesian city of Sulawesi on Friday, a hospital official told Metro TV on Saturday.
A heavily damaged mall following an earthquake in Palu, central Sulawesi, Indonesia on September 28, 2018 in this photo provided by Antara Foto. Antara Foto / BNBP / via REUTERS
Seismic aftershocks continued to shake the coastal city on Saturday morning, after waves as high as two meters surged through the tourist city, triggered by a magnitude 7.5 earthquake.
Amateur images broadcast by local TV stations, which could not be immediately authenticated by Reuters, show water breaking in houses along the Palu coastline, scattering transport containers and flooding a mosque from the city.
"Victims' bodies were found in several places, because they were hit by the rubble of buildings or carried away by the tsunami … but we still collect data," Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said Saturday. of the National Agency for Disaster Mitigation.
Dr. Komang Adi Sujendra told Metro TV that 30 people were killed and their bodies transported to his hospital, adding that another 12 wounded had been operated on for orthopedic surgery.
The spokesman of the National Agency for the Reduction of Natural Disasters, Nugroho, refused to make an official report.
Television footage showed dozens of people injured in improvised medical tents installed outside.
The earthquake and tsunami caused a power outage that cut communications around Palu. On Saturday, the authorities were still struggling to coordinate their rescue efforts.
Security chief Wiranto told TVOne that the army had started sending cargo planes from the capital, Jakarta, carrying relief supplies.
The city's airport remained closed after the runway and the air traffic control tower was damaged by the earthquake, but officials said they were preparing to reopen to allow help to arrive.
"We hope that the airport can be reopened soon for flights carrying relief and disaster relief," said Yohannes Sirait of AirNav, the air traffic management agency.
Metro TV broadcast amateur images showing large puddles of water from the tsunami, a bridge that had been washed away, large cracks in roads and badly damaged buildings.
Tezar Kodongan, a resident of Palu who filmed one of the videos, told the TV channel that some of the city's monuments had been badly damaged.
"There is no evacuation in the disaster area yet," Kodongan added.
The United States geological survey established the magnitude of the second earthquake at 7.5, after saying for the first time that the earthquake was 7.7.
The Palu region was hit on Friday by a less powerful earthquake, which destroyed houses, killed one person and injured at least 10 others in the Donggala fishing village, the closest to the epicenter, the authorities said.
More than 600,000 people live in Donggala and Palu.
Indonesia is sitting on the Pacific Ring of Fire and is regularly hit by earthquakes. In August, a series of major earthquakes killed more than 500 people on the tourist island of Lombok and destroyed dozens of villages along its northern coast.
Other reports by Kanupriya Kapoor, Fransiska Nangoy, Fanny Potkin, Tabita Diela; Editing by Michael Perry
