"Tsunami and Earthquake in Indonesia Kill Nearly 400, Officials Say"
Video - Indonesia Searches for Survivors Amid Destruction By Barbara Marcolini At least 832 people had been confirmed dead by Sunday, but officials fear that the death toll from the earthquake and tsunami on the island of Sulawesi could be higher.Published OnSept. 30, 2018CreditCreditImage by EPA, via Shutterstock
By Hannah Beech and Muktita Suhartono
Sept. 30, 2018
BANGKOK — Soaring over eastern Indonesia on Friday, Petra Mandagi exulted at the perfect conditions for a paragliding addict: azure skies, a sweet breeze and a picture postcard bay rippling below.
Even when a series of earthquakes began shaking the city of Palu on Friday afternoon after his paragliding competition had finished, Mr. Mandagi texted his wife in their hometown, Manado, and assured her that all was fine.
Less than an hour later, twin natural disasters — a 7.5 magnitude earthquake and a tsunami that unleashed an 18-foot wave — turned parts of Palu and the surrounding strip of coastline into a graveyard. As of Sunday evening, national disaster mitigation officials said that at least 832 people had been confirmed killed.
The death toll, which had more than doubled from Sunday morning, was expected to climb much higher still, with heavily populated areas outside the city still cut off from any assistance, and desperate search-and-rescue efforts continuing in the rubble of Palu, often with only rudimentary tools.
Family members carrying the body of a relative to a police hospital in Palu, Indonesia. Bay Ismoyo/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Bodies covered in tarps lined the streets of Palu, and officials said they were digging a mass grave for at least 300 of the dead.
With the prospect that thousands may have been killed, questions began mounting as to why residents were not adequately warned of the tsunami, given the area’s long and deadly history of facing killer waves.
Among the problems: None of the 22 buoys spread over Indonesia’s open water to help monitor for tsunamis had been operational for the past six years, according to Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, the spokesman for the country’s national disaster agency.
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Search-and-rescue workers pulling a survivor from the wreckage of her flooded home in Palu. Arimacs Wilander/Asia516, via Associated Press
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