Tsunami in Indonesia: She told her friend to run, but the wave took her away


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The 18-year-old girl fell to the ground and was still in shock when she saw the monstrous wave sweeping across the bay towards her city.

"I shouted at my friend: Let's run fast! Let's run! We ran but she returned to save the bike," Puteri told CNN from his bed. Hospital, outside the Palu Undata Hospital She survived the tsunami by standing at a pillar Three days later, she discovered that her cousin had been washed away and died .

The authorities said that 844 people had been confirmed dead in both disasters, but their numbers are almost certain to increase.

Dozens of corpses have invaded the streets of Palu, a city of over 350,000 people this weekend. Authorities have begun to bury many of them in mass graves to prevent the spread of the disease.

Officials carry body bags to a mass grave in preparation for the funeral of the victims of the Palu earthquake on Monday.

Even at the present time, at Undata Hospital, more than 100 corpses are still lying in the yard a few days after the earthquake. The stench of decaying flesh can be invasive if the wind blows in the wrong direction.

Dr. Komang Hadi Sujendra, director of the hospital, said the only facility alone has received more than 200 bodies since the tsunami.

"It is dangerous for the bodies to stay here, for our patients and our staff," he said.

Afraid to go inside

The scene on the ground in Palu is more than chaotic, as Indonesia's emergency services must manage to restore access and food and water supplies to isolated communities.

According to the spokesman of the Indonesian National Council for Disaster Management, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, 2.4 million people were affected by the disaster. About 600 people were seriously injured, he added, and at least 48,000 people were displaced.

Some survivors waiting for help have taken matters into their own hands and have entered stores carrying carts filled with food and water. At a service station, people could see people opening an underground tank and using pockets to extract fuel.

The minister responsible for coordinating political, legal and security affairs, H. Wiranto, said some supermarkets were encouraged to open their doors for free, later accepting government rebate offers.

The ground still shaking after the aftershocks, some people are still too scared to go inside. The region was hit by 254 aftershocks Monday at 11 am, authorities said.

At Undata Hospital, a few steps away from death, a number of patients are treated on mattresses under a large tarpaulin on the outside.

While the rescue efforts continue to be frantic, there are still some long and painful wait for some people. Housewife Nurjati Katili takes care of her nephew, Mohammed, 7, whose mother and younger brother are missing.

"He is so sad, he says he remembers a lot of his little brother," Nurjati told CNN. "He does not want to eat, he feels so sad."

Nurjati Katili looks after her nephew Mohammed, 7, who is looking for his mother and little brother.

& # 39; Nightmarish & # 39;

Disasters officials say the failure to reach the most affected areas has hindered their efforts. First responders continue to struggle to reach survivors and provide affected populations with food, water and essential medical supplies.

Authorities were unable to provide prompt assistance and heavy machinery used to rescue survivors following severe damage to Mutiara Sis Al Jufri's roads and airport in Palu. The airport was closed 24 hours after the tsunami but has since reopened on limited flights.

Thousands of people gathered near the track waiting to board the flights outside the area on Monday. A man told CNN that he had spent two days. One woman said she feared for her safety and that of her baby because of the looting in her neighborhood.

Throughout the region, rescuers continue to dig through rubble, sometimes by hand, in hopes of finding trapped survivors.

The regency of Donggala, home to over 300,000 residents and one of the closest areas to the epicenter of the earthquake, was only accessible on Monday.

The International Red Cross shared the video of their team crossing the area, where it appeared that most of the buildings along the coast had been destroyed. Structures still standing have suffered significant damage.

"The situation in the affected areas is nightmarish.The city of Palu has been devastated and the first reports from Donggala indicate that it was also hit extremely hard by the double disaster," said Jan Gelfand, chief of the International Federation of the Red Cross. and the country group support office of the Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in Jakarta, said in a statement.

In the residential area of ​​Patobo, there are fears that many people were killed when 744 houses were buried in the mud, Nugroho said Monday.

One of the most devastating scenes was found at the Roa Roa Hotel, where workers ran to save about 50 people suspected of being trapped under what was left of the eight-story building. Photographs of a drone above him seemed to indicate that the hotel had collapsed to the side.

According to Nugroho, the authorities had recovered Sunday a survivor and a deceased person in the collapse. The video he posted on Twitter showed people dressed in orange carrying a person on a stretcher through the rubble.

The remains of the Roa Roa Hotel are seen from above on Sunday.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo visited the disaster site on Sunday and said the priority was to evacuate survivors and help aid workers bring food and fresh water. He authorized the country to request international assistance.

Up to now, 10 countries have offered their assistance, according to Nugroho. The European Union and South Korea offered $ 1.7 million and $ 1 million respectively, while the Australian government said that it was working with Indonesia to identify options for # 39; assistance.

Ben Westcott of CNN, Masrur Jamaluddin, Mark Phillips, Angus Watson and Nicole Chavez contributed to this report.

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