Indonesia quake: 5,000 people feared missing

By | October 7, 2018

Officials in Indonesia say more than 5,000 people are feared missing after last month’s deadly earthquake and tsunami.

The grim estimate came as officials confirmed that 1,763 bodies have now been recovered from hard-hit areas.

The search for survivors will end on Thursday, the country’s disaster agency has said.

“Evacuation stops on October 11,” spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho confirmed.

Entire neighbourhoods disappeared in the twin disaster and were buried under mountains of mud and wreckage, making it difficult to know exactly how many people are missing.

Houses were sucked deep into mud, burying occupants.

On Saturday, 34 bodies were removed from a single location.

Many of the dead have been found in the city of Palu, while accurate figures for more remote areas have been difficult to come by.

Devastation caused after soil was liquidised by the earthquake and tsunami
Image: Devastation caused after soil was liquidised by the earthquake and tsunami

While hundreds of bodies are believed to be interred, officials say it is not safe to use heavy equipment in areas where loose soil was turned into mud.

It is also feared that decomposing bodies could spread disease.

Survivors from the villages of Petobo, Balaroa and Jono Oge are expected to be relocated.

Parks and sports venues may eventually be built in destroyed areas, Mr Nugroho said.

“We don’t want the community to be relocated to such dangerous places,” he said.

3:48
Video: Indonesia attempts to recover from destruction

Some 70,000 people have been displaced, and a major aid operation is underway.

Aircraft, generators, tents, water treatment and field medical facilities are among the items the Indonesian government is most in need of.

Christians have been attending church in Palu, including one woman whose normal place of worship in an outlying area was destroyed.

“I’m here because my own church is no more,” Min Kapala said.

“It’s levelled, and on its location there’s a corn plant,” the 49-year-old teacher added. “That was very strange to me.”

The priest at the Protestant Manunggal church, Lucky Malonda, said the disaster was the work of God.

More from World

“This is for sure part of godly intervention, not outside the power of almighty God, that can’t be predicted or planned for by anything,” he said.

Two people from his congregation are missing.

World News – Breaking international news and headlines | Sky News

Read More:  'I Won't Be Used as a Guinea Pig for White People'