Indonesia extends search for victims of September deadly disaster

Jakarta (VNA) – Indonesia has decided to extend its search for victims by one day on October 11, following the devastating earthquakes and tsunami that struck Palu city, Central Sulawesi province on September 28.

Spokesman of Indonesia’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said that the search and rescue efforts would end on October 12, at the request of the victims’ relatives.

According to the BNPB, as of 1pm on October 11, the powerful earthquakes and tsunami had left 2,073 people dead, 10,679 injured, and 680 missing. A total of 78,994 people were evacuated to 112 safe locations in Central Sulawesi, while 8,731 were moved off the island altogether.

Suwelasi was ravaged by two quakes measuring 6.1 and 7.5 on the Richter scale on September 28. A subsequent tsunami rose after the second quake, hitting the area sometime later in the afternoon.

Indonesia is frequently struck by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis because of its location on the "Ring of Fire", an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.

A series of earthquakes in July and August killed nearly 500 people on the holiday island of Lombok, hundreds of kilometres southwest of Sulawesi.

In 2004, a substantial earthquake off the northern Indonesian island of Sumatra triggered a tsunami across the Indian Ocean, killing 220,000 people in 13 countries, including more than 168,000 in Indonesia. –VNA