TEHRAN, October 04 - People living in tents and shelters have little but uncertainty since the powerful earthquake and tsunami hit an Indonesian island, where deaths exceed 1,400 and efforts to retrieve scores more victims buried deep in mud and rubble were still hampered Thursday by the lack of heavy equipment.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - Thousands more people were injured in the disasters in central Sulawesi last Friday and more than 70,000 were displaced from homes that were destroyed or damaged and lack power and water. They are unsure when they'll be able to rebuild and have been spending hours each day, often futilely, trying to secure necessities such as fuel for generators.
Most of the 1,424 confirmed dead have been buried, and national disaster agency spokesman Supoto Purwo Nugroho said at a news conference in Jakarta that the search effort is being intensified, including at a collapsed hotel in the city of Palu where a South Korean is believed trapped.
The number of dead is expected to rise further as rescue crew comb through affected areas after being slowed initially by broken, impassable roads and other damage.
Nugroho said the search efforts were tough in areas where swathes of land collapsed when the quake caused a phenomenon called liquefaction, where loose, wet soil loses its strength and sinks in a quicksand-like effect. Survivors have described homes and relatives being lost in the mud where liquefaction occurred.
In one area, 202 hectares (499 acres) of land were swallowed whole by the ground while another 180 hectares (445 acres) of land in another village sank, burying 168 houses in mud 3-meter (10 feet) deep, he said. Two dozen diggers and heavy machineries are working to dig victims out and more help are on the way, he said.
Palu resident Bambang said many victims could have survived if help arrived faster. He told local television that he found a friend injured and trapped under debris while searching for his pregnant wife but was unable to help him. The friend died after leaving a message to have him buried in front of the church, he said.
"He was still alive then, but he died because the evacuation was so slow," said Bambang, who uses on name.
National police spokesman Brig. Gen. Dedi Prasetyo said security will be ramped up in the disaster areas to ensure law and order after 92 people were arrested for looting goods such as motor oil, tires and farming equipment. Authorities earlier allowed desperate villagers to grab food supplies from shops but have warned them not to take other things. He noted that security would be necessary for economic activity to resume.
Source: AP
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