Rescue members transfer a body at a collapsed hotel in Palu, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. (Photo: Xinhua/ VNA)Jakarta (VNA) – Indonesia announced on October 5 the deathtoll from a powerful earthquake and tsunami that struck the country’s CentralSulawesi province a week ago has swollen to 1,558.
As rescue and recovery efforts continue, power supply has been restoredin some areas while many shops have re-opened.
According to the Indonesian National Disaster Mitigation Agency, 113people are still unaccounted for and the number of people displaced reached70,821.
Palu, the capital of Central Sulawesi, and the nearby coastal town ofDonggala are the two worst-hit areas which saw most of the deaths after bearingthe brunt of the tsunami waves up to 6 metres high.
As many survivors still desperately wait for basic supplies and otherkinds of help, many shops, minimarts and even vehicles carrying humanitarianassistance have been looted.
The Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) said people can access the RestoringFamily Links (RFL) website or visit its office in Palu to submit reports ofmissing relatives.
The website allows people to independently fill outdigital forms to let others know that they are alive, and/or to inform thepublic of missing relatives.
Central Sulawesi was ravaged by two devastating quakes measuring 6.1and 7.5 on the Richter scale on September 28. The second was followed by gianttsunami waves on the afternoon of the same day, destroying thousands of housesand roads.
The United Nations said that nearly 200,000 Indonesians, including tensof thousands of children, are in need of urgent aid.
Indonesia is frequently struck by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions andtsunamis because of its location on the "Ring of Fire", an arc ofvolcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.
A series of earthquakes in July and August killed nearly 500 people on theholiday island of Lombok, hundreds of kilometres southwest of Sulawesi.
In December 2004, a massive 9.1-magnitude earthquake off the northernIndonesian island of Sumatra triggered a tsunami across the Indian Oceancountries, killing 220,000 people in 13 countries, including more than 168,000in Indonesia. –VNA
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