Bodies in street: Dozens reported dead in Indonesian earthquake, tsunami affecting Sulawesi island

Scores of people were killed when a tsunami and strong series of earthquakes brought down several buildings and sent locals fleeing their homes for higher ground.

Rescuers are scrambling to reach tsunami-hit central Indonesia and assess the damage after at least 48 people were killed. But the death toll is still unclear. An Indonesian official said there were “many victims”.

One of the quakes triggered a 3m-tall tsunami that swept away houses in at least two cities on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.

Disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said the tsunami hit Palu, the capital of central Sulawesi province, as well as the smaller city of Donggala and several other coastal settlements on Friday.

Photographs from Palu, home to around 350,000 on the coast of Sulawesi island, showed partially covered bodies on the ground near the shore, the morning after tsunami waves hit the city.



TERRIFYNG FOOTAGE OF TSUNAMI
Indonesia’s geophysics agency confirmed the tsunami occurred after the agency originally called off its tsunami warning.

Indonesian TV showed a smartphone video of a powerful wave hitting Palu, with people screaming and running in fear.

The footage purportedly shows a number of small restaurants near the Palu Grand Mall swept away by the wave, which some have referred to as a tsunami online.

The water smashed into buildings and a large mosque that collapsed under the force.

Houses were swept away and families were reported missing, Nugroho said, adding that communications and power to the area were disrupted.

“The cut to telecommunications and darkness are hampering efforts to obtain information,” he said.

“All national potential will be deployed, and tomorrow morning we will deploy Hercules and helicopters to provide assistance in tsunami-affected areas.”

Evacuations are under way and people have been warned to remain alert and outside their homes.

The main airport in Palu — a city of 350,000 — was shut after the tsunami struck and was expected to stay closed for at least 24 hours.



QUAKES THAT HIT THE ISLAND


The region was rocked by a magnitude 7.5 earthquake and numerous strong aftershocks, including one of magnitude 6.7.

An earlier magnitude 6.1 quake in central Sulawsi killed several people, injured 10 and damaged dozens of houses.

The strongest of two major quakes was centred at a depth of 10km about 56km north-east of the central Sulawesi town of Donggala.

The chief of the meteorology and geophysics agency, Dwikorita Karnawati, said the tsunami waves were up to three metres high.

She said the tsunami warning triggered by the biggest quake, in place for about half an hour, was lifted after the tsunami was over.

DFAT: NO AUSSIES AFFECTED

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade told News Corp Australia in a statement today: “The Australian Government is not aware of any Australians affected by the earthquake but is continuing to make enquiries with local authorities.

“At this time, details and impacts of the 7.5 magnitude earthquake (reported as 7.7 locally) on Minahassa Peninsula, Sulawesi, and a subsequent tsunami are still emerging, and extent of the damage is unknown.”

INDONESIA MOVES TO HELP VICTIMS
Nugroho said the military was deploying troops to Palu and Donggala and the national police were also mobilising to help the emergency response, along with personnel from the search-and-rescue and disaster agencies.

“People are encouraged to remain vigilant,” Sutopo said.

“It is better not to be in a house or building because the potential for aftershocks can be dangerous.

“People are encouraged to gather in safe areas. Avoid the slopes of hills.”

EYEWITNESSES’ TSUNAMI HORROR
Mirza Arisam, a resident of Kendari, the capital of neighbouring South-east Sulawesi, said his uncle and his family of five, including three children, were on vacation in Palu and he has been unable to contact them since the tsunami hit.

An official with the local disaster agency, Akris, said “many houses have collapsed.”

“It happened while we still have difficulties in collecting data from nine villages affected by the first quake,” he told The Associated Press.

“People ran out in panic.”


Women and children wailed hysterically in a video distributed by the disaster agency, which also released a photo showing a heavily damaged department store.

“It was so strong. The strongest I ever felt. We all ran out of buildings,” said Yanti, a 40-year-old housewife in Donggala who goes by a single name.

“All the things in my house were swaying,” another Donggala resident, Mohammad Fikri, said of the earlier quake.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said UN officials were in contact with Indonesian authorities and “stand ready to provide support as required”.

Donggala resident Mohammad Fikri said by telephone that he ran from his house but there wasn’t great panic in his neighbourhood.

“All the things in my house were swaying and the quake left a small crack on my wall,” he said.

“But this was not the first time. Last week we felt an earthquake that had a stronger tremor so this time we didn’t panic,just avoided the buildings and now everything has returned to normal,” Mr Fikri said.

INDONESIA’S ‘RING OF FIRE’
Friday’s tremor was centred 78 kilometres north of Palu, the capital of Central Sulawesi province, but was felt in the far south of the island in its largest city Makassar and on the neighbouring island of Kalimantan, Indonesia’s portion of Borneo island.

The initial tremor, which was followed by a series of powerful aftershocks, struck as evening prayers were about to begin in the world’s biggest Muslim majority country on the holiest day of the week, when mosques are especially busy.

Quakes of similar magnitude can cause great damage to poorly built or badly designed structures, including the toppling of chimneys, columns and walls, according to USGS.

Indonesia is prone to earthquakes because of its location on the “Ring of Fire”, an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the PacificBasin.

In December 2004, a massive magnitude 9.1 earthquake off Sumatra in western Indonesia triggered a tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a dozen countries.

thewest.com.au