As many as 5,000 people are believed missing from the quake and tsunami that struck Indonesia’s Palu city, an official said Sunday, an indication that far more may have perished in the twin disaster than the current toll suggests.
5,000 believed missing in two hard-hit Indonesian quake zones
9 Oct 2018 - 13:42
As many as 5,000 people are believed missing from the quake and tsunami that struck Indonesia’s Palu city, an official said Sunday, an indication that far more may have perished in the twin disaster than the current toll suggests.
Indonesia’s disaster agency say they have recovered 1,763 bodies so far from the 7.5-magnitude and subsequent tsunami that struck Sulawesi on September 28.
But there are fears that two of the hardest-hit neighborhoods in Palu - Petobo and Balaroa - could contain thousands more victims, swallowed up by the ground as it engulfed whole communities.
“Based on reports from the [village] heads of Balaroa and Petobo, there are about 5,000 people who have not been found,” agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told reporters on Oct. 7.
“Nevertheless, officials there are still trying to confirm this and are gathering data. It is not easy to obtain the exact number of those trapped by landslides, or liquefaction, or mud.”
Nugroho said the search for the unaccounted would continue until October 11, at which point they would be listed as missing, presumed dead.
Story Code: 366514