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PALU, Indonesia (Reuters) – The magnitude of earthquake and tsunami damage on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi is expected to become clearer on Tuesday, as rescuers travel to isolated and private areas contact for more than three days.
An Indonesian soldier transports an elderly woman evacuated after an earthquake and tsunami to Mutiara Sis Al Jufri airport in Palu, central Sulawesi, Indonesia, on October 1, 2018 in this photo taken by Antara Foto. Antara Foto / Irwansyah Putra / via REUTERS
Officials fear that the death toll will exceed thousands of people, but the number of confirmed deaths has reached 844 on Tuesday, most in the small town of Palu, 1,500 km northeast of Jakarta .
Some of the dead were taken to a mass grave on Tuesday as rescuers looking for victims in the ruins suggested hope that they could still save lives.
"We suspect that there are still survivors trapped inside," said Reuters the leader of the rescue team, Agus Haryono, during the collapse of Roa Roa hotel, spread over seven floors.
About 50 people were reportedly intercepted inside the hotel when it was destroyed by the magnitude 7.5 earthquake that occurred on Friday.
The earthquake caused waves of six-meter tsunami that hit the city's waterfront about 2 km from the hotel. About 12 people were found in the ruins of the hotel, with one more body on Tuesday.
Three of the victims were found alive.
Haryono explored the hotel's plans and building plans, looking for possible pockets and a way to access them. A slight decaying smell floated in the air.
"We have to be very careful not to risk hurting the survivors when we move the debris," he said.
Electricity has not yet been restored in the region and access by land to peripheral villages has been disrupted by poor roads, landslides and crumbling bridges.
Nearly 60,000 people have been displaced and in need of emergency assistance, while thousands have fled the affected areas.
Donggala, an area of 300,000 people located north of Palu and near the epicenter, was causing increasing concern, as well as two other districts. The combined population of the three regions is about 1.4 million.
Indonesia said it would accept offers of international aid, after avoiding any outside help earlier this year, when an earthquake struck Lombok Island.
The aftershocks rattled the entangled nerves.
GRAPHIC: Catastrophe in Sulawesi – tmsnrt.rs/2OqQlUo
Burial mass
Liquefaction is a particular horror in many areas of Palu and surrounding areas. This phenomenon occurs when the ground shaken by an earthquake behaves like a liquid.
About 1,700 houses in one neighborhood were engulfed and hundreds of people were reportedly buried, the National Disaster Prevention Agency said.
Among those killed in the area were 34 children in a Christian Bible study camp, said a Red Cross official.
The satellite images before and after show a largely built neighborhood, just south of Palu Airport, apparently cleared of any signs of life by liquefaction.
Elsewhere in the suburbs of Palu, trucks brought 35 bodies to bury in a mass grave dug in sandy soil.
Most of the bodies had not been claimed, said a police officer who was present at the burial, but relatives traveled to pay tribute to their loved ones in the 50-meter (165-foot) trench, where the smell of decomposition was overwhelming.
"I have nothing now. My house is destroyed and I can not even give him his own funeral, "said Rosmawati Binti Yahya, 52, whose husband was among those who were placed in the grave.
"It's good if he's buried in the mass grave, it's better to bury him quickly," said Yahya, before leaving in search of his missing daughter.
As rescuers and aid workers traveled to remote areas, the Red Cross said the first reports from the suburbs of Donggala District were alarming.
"The situation in the affected areas is a nightmare," said Jan Gelfand, head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies office in Jakarta, in a statement.
"The city of Palu has been devastated and the first reports from Donggala indicate that it has also been hit extremely hard."
Commercial airlines have struggled to restore operations at the earthquake-damaged Palu airport, but a military plane took survivors on Monday as 3,000 people flocked to the airport in hopes of taking the plane.
A navy vessel capable of accommodating 1,000 people at a time was to be deployed to assist in the evacuation.
The electricity company was working on the restoration of electricity while the state oil company had sent fuel, officials said.
Teams of police were on the street Tuesday, picking up debris and reassuring traumatized residents worried about looting.
But anger was simmering.
"Stop hiding Mr. Mayor," was smeared on a wall in a part of Palu. Mayor Hidayat was not available to comment.
Written by Robert Birsel; Edited by Lincoln Feast and Paul Tait
