Palu tsunami: Indonesia Earthquake, Tsunami Causes Major Damges on 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 30 people were killed. But the death toll is still unclear. An Indonesian official said there were “many victims”.

Thirty bodies are lying at one Indonesian hospital, an official told a TV station.

“There are 30 dead at our hospital. And cases where we need to operate or need specialists to handle 12, head trauma nine,” Komang Adi Sujendra told to Metro TV.

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 underway 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.

One of the quakes triggered a three-metre-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.

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 northeast 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.

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.