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Sulawesi: Girl scout among 34 dead found in Indonesian quake quagmire

Via Thomson Reuters: Girl scout among 34 dead found in Indonesian quake quagmire. Excerpt:

PALU, Indonesia, Oct 6 (Reuters) - More than a week after a major earthquake hit the west coast of Indonesia's Sulawesi island, rescuers workers were focusing on Saturday on what looks sure to be a long, difficult search for bodies, many buried in appalling morasses of debris and mud. 

President Joko Widodo has said all of the victims of the 7.5 magnitude earthquake and tsunami that struck on Sept. 28 must be found.  

The official death toll from the quake and the tsunami it triggered has risen to 1,649, but will certainly increase.  

Most of the dead have been found in the region's main urban centre, the small city of Palu. Figures for more remote areas, some just re-connected to the outside world by road, are trickling in.  

No one knows how many people were dragged to their deaths when the quake triggered soil liquefaction, a phenomenon that turns the ground into a roiling quagmire. Communities in the south of Palu were particularly hard hit.  

The national disaster agency says 1,700 homes in one neighbourhood alone were swallowed up. Many hundreds of people are now entombed in slowly drying mud churned with heaps of debris and vehicles. 

In the Balaroa neighbourhood of Palu, rescuers found 34 bodies on Saturday, and laid them out in a row of blue and orange bags, among them 10-year-old Dede Aulianisa.  

Her parents recognised her from the clothes she was wearing when the quake struck.  

"I'm certain it's her. She was wearing the exact scout uniform, with a sweater with the words 'Geng 97'," her father, Anwar, who like many Indonesians goes by only one name, told Reuters.  

"When the land split, she happened to be on the side that collapsed," he said. "She was such a happy child. Very intelligent. Her teachers loved her and she had many friends."  

The most intact structure in the area was a battered two-storey house, pitched over at nearly 45 degrees with one side buried and a blue vehicle in the car port.  

In the Petobo neighbourhood nearby, a team of French rescue experts began hunting through an expanse of debris, looking for hands, feet or any body parts of victims sticking out of the mud. 

Arnaud Allibert and four other members of the group Pompiers Humanitaires Francais were the first rescuers to venture into that area. 

The team will scour the debris and find and retrieve bodies at the surface, to clear the way for excavators to dig deeper. 

"If we see body parts sticking out, we're going to dig to get the body out ... It's a long-term job, but after that, they'll come with the heavy machinery," Allibert told Reuters.

Cries for help give way to silence: After the Indonesia earthquake and tsunami

Via The New York Times, a report that sounds like a foreshadowing of Vancouver and Seattle when the Big One hits us: Cries for Help Give Way to Silence: After the Indonesia Earthquake and Tsunami. Excerpt and then a comment:

PALU, Indonesia — When rescuers first arrived at the Roa Roa Hotel in central Palu, they could still hear the voices of guests trapped inside, calling out for help, after an earthquake caused the eight-story concrete structure to collapse. 

But that was days ago. 

Now, in much of the battered city and surrounding areas, there is only silence. 

It has been a week since a 7.5-magnitude earthquake and a 20-foot tsunami devastated the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, killing more than 1,400 people in Palu and its vicinity. By Sunday night, Indonesian search and rescue teams at the Roa Roa Hotel were already describing the eerie quiet that had fallen over the rubble. 

On Thursday, as rescuers dug their way through the city’s most devastated neighborhoods, there were no urgent calls for aid. It had been days since most rescuers heard a cry for help. 

There was what appeared to be a small glimmer of hope late Thursday night, when the French organization Pompiers de l’urgence, which has been taking part in rescue and recovery efforts, said that its high-tech sensors had “detected the presence of a victim” inside the collapsed four-star Mercure Hotel in Palu, according to The Associated Press. 

But hours later, the group could not confirm whether a survivor had been found. 

In the neighborhoods with the worst destruction, there may never have been any cries for help. While buildings still stand in some parts of central Palu despite being shaken by the earthquake and slammed by the subsequent tsunami, one neighborhood, Petobo, is a vast sea of twisted debris. 

Here, the land turned to liquid — as the power of the earthquake turned soil into rolling waves that swallowed houses and buckled roadways — rescuers are sure they will not find anyone alive. They are looking for bodies and have been for days. The Indonesian Red Cross described having to dig through silt as deep as 20 feet in the area. 

On what were once city streets, a mix of mud and rubble is piled two stories high, with rebar and corrugated metal roofs tilted against crumbling concrete pillars.

Back in 2011 I reviewed a book, Cascadia's Fault, that tells us what we're eventually certain to experience.

Why the tsunami in Indonesia struck without warning

An excellent article in The New Yorker: Why the Tsunami in Indonesia Struck Without Warning. Excerpt:

Even as Indonesian authorities struggled to respond to the aftermath of the disaster, they endured withering criticism for failing to adequately prepare Palu beforehand. Indonesia’s tsunami-warning system employs more than a hundred tidal-gauge sensors, but none were close enough to Palu to pick up the localized wave. 

Authorities had issued a tsunami warning for the area, based off readings from seismographic sensors, but Gavin Sullivan, an associate professor at Coventry University who studies disaster preparation and recovery in Indonesia, told me, “Many people at the beach and on the [bayside] road had no idea the wave was coming at all.” 

The city is equipped with tsunami sirens, but the earthquake had knocked out their power, meaning that residents, such as the man on the parking deck, had to shout warnings themselves. A text-message alert also system failed to activate, because many cell-phone towers had already been destroyed. 

“There was a chance for the Indonesian government to be better prepared for disasters like this,” Louise Comfort, a disaster-management expert at the University of Pittsburgh who leads a project to help Indonesia prepare for tsunamis, said. “That makes the current devastation all the more heartbreaking.”

At a press conference, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for the Indonesian disaster-management board, said, “The threat of disasters increases, disasters increase, but the budget decreases.” (A 6.9-magnitude earthquake killed more than four hundred and sixty people on islands southwest of Sulawesi, in August.) He acknowledged that he had found out about the Palu tsunami through social media and TV.  

“Indonesia is a developing country, and it is difficult to allocate the resources, but we have to be ready for the worst-case scenario,” Saut Sagala, a professor at the Bandung Institute of Technology and a senior fellow at the Indonesian Resilience Development Initiative, said. One dire possibility is an earthquake or tsunami striking the greater metropolitan area of Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, where about twenty-eight million people strain an already overburdened infrastructure. 

“If the government does not invest more on disaster risk reduction and increase the preparedness of the communities, we will not be ready for these disasters,” Sagala said. 

Among other things, he said, the government should work to educate the population about disaster preparedness, retrofit buildings with seismic-shock absorbers, stockpile resources, and use city planning to steer people away from vulnerable areas. 

The Indonesian populations that are best prepared for disasters, Sagala added, are those that have already suffered one.

Indonesian quake survivors say scavenging in 'zombie town'

Via Thomson Reuters: Indonesian quake survivors say scavenging in "zombie town; president visits. Excerpt:

PALU, Indonesia, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Hungry survivors of an earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia said on Wednesday they were scavenging for food in farms as President Joko Widodo made a second visit to the area to ramp up aid efforts five days after disaster struck.  

The official death toll from the 7.5 magnitude quake that hit the west coast of Sulawesi island last Friday rose to 1,407, many killed by tsunami waves it triggered. 

But officials fear the toll could soar, as most of the confirmed dead have come from Palu, a small city 1,500 km (930 miles) northeast of Jakarta, and losses in remote areas remain unknown, as communications are down, and bridges and roads have been destroyed or blocked by landslides.  

National disaster mitigation agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said most of the aid effort had been concentrated in Palu, where electricity supply has yet to be restored.  

But rescue workers have begun to reach more remote areas in a disaster zone that encompasses 1.4 million people. 

Johnny Lim, a restaurant owner reached by telephone in Donggala town, said he was surviving on coconuts. 

"It's a zombie town. Everything's destroyed. Nothing's left," Lim said over a crackling line. 

"We're on our last legs. There's no food, no water." 

In another part of Donggala district, which has a population of 300,000 people, Ahmad Derajat, said survivors were scavenging for food in fields and orchards.  

"What we're relying on right now is food from farms and sharing whatever we find like sweet potatoes or bananas," said Derajat whose house was swept away by the tsunami leaving a jumble of furniture, collapsed tin roofs and wooden beams. 

"Why aren't they dropping aid by helicopter?" he asked.

'Now it’s too late': Help trickles in for Palu tsunami survivors

Via The Guardian: 'Now it’s too late': help trickles in for Palu tsunami survivors. Excerpt:

Muhammad Siadi had the vacant stare of someone who might have just returned from a war zone. His shirtless, wiry frame was covered in injuries: a large gash in his neck, a shaved circle around a few bumps on his head and a spray of grazes from his shoulder to his back.  

On Friday night he had been at home in Sigi, Palu, on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, changing the gas for his wife when the 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck. The quake caused a wall to collapse on his back and a piece of corrugated iron gouged into his neck. 

As the house caught on fire, Siadi made the harrowing decision to leave his dying wife, trapped under the rubble, so that he and his son could get out alive. They tried to pull her out but there wasn’t time. 

Four days after the disaster, he had finally received medical assistance for his neck injury, but like everything in Palu, it hadn’t happened quickly enough.

“It comes too late,” said Siadi as he fingered a silver strip of medication. “The doctor said I needed stitches, but now it’s too late because the skin is already dead, it won’t join back.”  

In Palu and its surrounds, people are being pushed to the brink. The earthquake and tsunami killed at least 1,200 people, destroyed thousands of homes and displaced 59,000. Without enough food, water or fuel, survivors are desperate.  

On Monday hundreds descended on Palu’s airport begging for food or a flight out. Authorities had to temporarily shut the airport. Other people have been looting supermarkets and convenience stores or trying to raid cash machines. At least 1,400 prisoners are on the loose after prison walls crumbled.

On Tuesday evening half a dozen police officers with automatic rifles were guarding long queues of frustrated residents and their gerry cans at a Palu petrol station. Hengki, a local resident, said he had been waiting for almost eight hours in the searing heat. “I survived a disaster and now I have to survive this?” he asked, visibly agitated. 

Others in the queue chimed in with shared anger and disgust. “The government doesn’t care about us,” said another resident, Yuli, repeating a refrain seen spray-painted on at least one Palu city wall. 

Help is on the way but those on the ground say it isn’t coming quickly enough. On a drive up from Makassar, convoys of trucks filled with suppliescould be seen on the road, accompanied by police escorts. Other aid is on the way by air and sea.

Desperate Indonesians flee quake zone, with scale of disaster unclear

Via Thomson Reuters: Desperate Indonesians flee quake zone, with scale of disaster unclear. Excerpt:

PALU, Indonesia, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Indonesia scrambled on Monday to get help into quake-hit Sulawesi island as survivors streamed away from their ruined homes and accounts of devastation filtered out of remote areas, including the death of 34 children at a Christian camp. 

The confirmed death toll of 844 was certain to rise as rescuers reached devastated outlying communities hit on Friday by a 7.5 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami waves as high as six metres (20 feet).  

Dozens of people were reported to be trapped in the rubble of several hotels and a mall in the small city of Palu, 1,500 km (930 miles) northeast of Jakarta. Hundreds more were feared buried in landslides that engulfed villages.  

Of particular concern is Donggala, a region of 300,000 people north of Palu and close to the epicentre of the quake, and two other districts, where communication had been cut off.  

The four districts have a combined population of about 1.4 million. 

One woman was recovered alive from ruins overnight in the Palu neighbourhood of Balaroa, where about 1,700 houses were swallowed up when the earthquake caused soil to liquefy, the national rescue agency said. 

"We don't know how many victims could be buried there, it's estimated hundreds," said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman for the National Disaster Mitigation Agency. 

All but 23 of the confirmed deaths were in Palu, a city of about 380,000 people, where workers were preparing a mass grave to bury the dead as soon as they were identified.  

Nearly three days after the quake, the extent of the disaster was not known with authorities bracing for the toll to climb - perhaps into the thousands - as connections with remote areas up and down the coast are restored.  

Aid worker Lian Gogali, who had reached Donggala district by motorcycle, said hundreds of people facing a lack of food and medicine were trying to get out, but evacuation teams had yet to arrive and roads were blocked. 

"It's devastating," she told Reuters by text.  

Indonesian Red Cross spokeswoman Aulia Arriani said a church in an area of Sigi, south of Palu, had been engulfed in mud and debris. Officials said the area suffered liquefaction, when the shock of the quake temporarily destabilises the soil.  

"My volunteers found 34 bodies ... children who had been doing a bible camp," Arriani said.

Indonesia: Update on the Sulawesi earthquake and tsunami

Via ReliefWeb, a report from the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance: AHA Centre Situation Update No. 2: M 7.4 Earthquake and Tsunami, Sulawesi, Indonesia - Sunday, 30 September 2018, 17:00 hrs (UTC+7). The highlights:

a. On Friday (28/09) at 13.59 hrs, an earthquake with a strength of 5.9 SR and updated to 6.0 SR Lok: 0.35 LS, 119.82 BT (The epicenter was at land 61 km north of Palu), Depth: 10 km shook the Kab. Donggala, Prov. Central Sulawesi. Earthquake with magnitude 7.7 magnitude strength which is then updated by BMKG to magnitude 7.4 shook the Palu City and Donggala, Central Sulawesi at 17:02 hrs causing more damages. Earthquake epicentre was recorded at 10 km depth, 27 km northeast of Donggala, Central Sulawesi. 

b. Tsunami struck Talise beach in Palu City and beaches in Donggala and some settlements and buildings on the beach. Assessment and data collection on the number of victims are still underway. 

c. According to the population census data of 2010, 1,536,367 are potentially affected by this event across 6 regencies and 85 districts. Initial reports (as at 30 September) have estimated 832 casualties with over 540 injuries and 29 missing across 934 affected villages. There are currently over 16,732 displaced persons being housed with 24 evacuation sites. Note that this figures are still expected to rise. Currently, 264 bodies have been recovered with 87 disaster victims being identified by National Police. 

d. A total of 170 aftershocks has occurred after the Donggala M 7.4 earthquake as at 30/9/2018 at 00:00 (UTC+7). The conditions of Palu and Donggala City are pitch black as electricity is still out and fuel is scarce. According to the population census data of 2010, 1,536,367 are potentially affected by this event across 6 regencies and 85 districts. Initial reports have estimated 384 casualties with over 300 injuries. Rapid assessment is currently underway. 

e. Current immediate needs preliminarily identified are: 

I. Search and Rescue 

II. Food, ready-to-eat meals and public kitchens to support dietary needs 

III. Fuel needs - damaged Fuel terminal facilities have disrupted supply affecting logistics 

IV. Body bags for disaster victims and disaster victim identification 

V. Medical supplies 

VI. Psycho-social support 

f. Based on the ASEAN’s Joint Disaster Response Plan (AJDRP), the potential basic needs identified are: 

I. Food (ready-to-eat meals) which are halal certified 

II. Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) 

III. Primary healthcare including first aid and psycho-social support 

IV. Nutrition needs 

V. Medicines 

VI. Feminine hygiene kits 

VII. Non-food items

Indonesia tsunami: Death toll could reach thousands, officials say

Via The Guardian: Indonesia tsunami: death toll could reach thousands, officials say. Excerpt:

The confirmed death toll from the earthquake and tsunami that struck the Indonesian island of Sulawesi has risen to 832, and the vice-president, Jusuf Kalla, has warned it could reach into the thousands. 

More than 150 aftershocks followed the 7.4-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami that hit Sulawesi on Friday, causing thousands of homes, hotels, shopping malls and several mosques to collapse.  

Of the fatalities, 821 were in the city of Palu, with 11 casualties so far recorded in Donggala, the worst-hit area, which is home to 300,000 people. Hundreds of bodies have been found on beaches and authorities fear many may have been washed out to sea. 

Speaking at a press conference, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, the spokesman for the BNBP disaster agency, said the area affected was much bigger than originally thought.  

“The deaths are believed to be still increasing since many bodies were still under the wreckage while many have not able to be reached,” said Sutopo, emphasising that access to Donggala, as well as the towns of Sigi and Boutong, was very limited so the final death toll was impossible to predict.  

The city of Palu has been completely devastated by the earthquake and tsunami waves, which reached as high as six metres in some areas. In the city, partially covered bodies lay near the shore and survivors sifted through a tangled mess of corrugated steel roofing, timber, rubble and flotsam. One man was seen carrying the muddy corpse of a small child.  

“Many corpses are scattered on the beach and floating on the surface of the sea,” one local resident, Nining, told local media. The identified bodies are being buried in mass graves, Sutopo said. 

Sutopo confirmed there was no electricity in Palu and Donggala, while drinking water and fuel were running out. There was limited access to heavy equipment needed to help rescue efforts, so the search for people trapped in the rubble was mostly being carried out by hand.

Rescue efforts are continuing for dozens of people still trapped in the collapsed ruins of the eight-storey Roa Roa hotel in Palu, with voices heard screaming from the wreckage. “There are 50 people under the rubble of the building. Heavy equipment is needed for evacuation,” said Sutopo.  

There were concerns about the whereabouts of hundreds of people preparing for a beach festival that had been due to start on Friday, a spokesman for the BNBP said.

At least 540 people had been badly injured, the agency said, as hospitals struggled to cope with the influx of casualties, setting up open-air clinics to treat the injured. 

Dwi Haris, who suffered a broken back and shoulder, rested outside Palu’s army hospital, where patients were being treated outdoors due to the continuing strong aftershocks. Tears filled his eyes as he recounted feeling the violent earthquake shake the fifth-floor hotel room he shared with his wife and daughter. 

“There was no time to save ourselves. I was squeezed into the ruins of the wall, I think,” said Haris, adding that his family was in town for a wedding. “I heard my wife cry for help, but then silence. I don’t know what happened to her and my child. I hope they are safe.”

Central Sulawesi earthquake and tsunami death victims increase to 832

Via Makassar Today in Sulawesi: Central Sulawesi Earthquake and Tsunami Death Victims Increase to 832 People. Excerpt from the Google translation:

Terkini.id, Palu - National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) on Sunday, September 30, 2018, recorded that the death toll from the earthquake and tsunami in Central Sulawesi increased to 832 people. 

The latest information was conveyed by the Head of Data and Public Relations Center at the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), Sutopo Purwo Nugroho.  

"Update on the impact of the disaster on the number of casualties until this afternoon at 1:00 p.m., a total of 832 people died in 821 people in Palu City and 11 people in Donggala," Sutopo said, quoted from Kompas, Sunday, September 30, 2018. 

The number of victims, said Sutopo, is likely to continue to increase because searches and evacuations continue.  

The search and evacuation process for victims today focuses on the collapsed Hotel Roa Roa, Ramayana, Talise Beach, and Balaroa housing.  

"There are an estimated 50 victims at the Roa Roa Hotel," he said. 

Sutopo said, SAR operations were not easy because of constrained power outages, lack of heavy equipment facilities, until access to the location was cut off. 

Previously, the Head of BNPB, Willem Rampangilei, said there were around 10,000 refugees scattered in 50 points in Palu City.

"They will be given assistance in shelter, food and medicine for the sick," Willem said.

Indonesia: Sulawesi earthquake and tsunami information bulletin 2

Via ReliefWeb, an IFRC report: Indonesia: Sulawesi Earthquake and Tsunami Information Bulletin n° 2. Excerpt:

Sets of earthquakes have struck off Donggala Region, province of Central Sulawesi, Indonesia from 14:00h West Indonesia local time with the strongest magnitude of 7.4 at 17:02h, on Friday, 28 September 2018 and continued with 76 aftershocks ranging from magnitudes of 2.9 to 6.3 afterwards. The epicentre was located in the mainland at 7.7 South and 119.85 East at a depth of 10km. 

The earthquake also triggered tsunami warning for areas of west of Donggala, north of Donggala, north of Mamuju and Palu city according to Indonesian Meteorological and climatological and Geophysical Agency. 

The tsunami warning was later lifted around 17:39h local time. However, the Indonesian Meteorological, Climatology and Geophysical Agency (BMKG) has confirmed the event of 1.5 metre of tsunami wave that hit Palu, Donggala and Mamuju. 

The impact in Palu has been severe, while information regarding the tsunami’s impact in Donggala and Mamuju is yet to be confirmed. The impact of the earthquake with the strength of magnitude 7.4 was felt very hard. Based on INASAFE shake map, it is estimated at least 300,000 people are exposed to MMI1 V-VII in Donggala district and it is predicted that the event affected more population in other districts. Some areas in Donggala district including Parigi, Kasimbar, Tobolf, Toribulu, Dongkalang, Sabang and Tinombo regions will have experienced MMI VI-VII intensity. Considerable damage is expected. 

Initial report from national disaster management agency’s (BNPB) indicates that 384 people died (10 in Palu, 50 in Masjid Raya hospital, 161 in Bhayangkara hospital, 20 in Pantolan Induk, 2 in Kayumalue Pajeko, and 141 in Undata Mamboro Palu), 29 people reported missing in Pantoloan Induk Palo, 540 injured and thousands of houses and infrastructure damaged in Palu. Currently, there is no further information on impact from Donggala and the surrounding districts. 

BNPB and the regional disaster management agency (BPBD) are coordinating the response and collating information on the earthquake’s impact. Access challenges are being felt in most affected areas, power outages have been reported, communication lines in some affected areas disrupted, and the main airport in Palu has been closed due to the damage of its tower and runway. 

Updated information from Ministry of Transportation indicated that harbours in Pantoloan areas can be accessed and partially operational (for loading and unloading) and the main airport of Mutiara SIS Al Jufri will be operating only for relief item. As for now, the government will send their relief and equipment with carry-ship through Makassar, Bitung and Manado.  

Search, rescue and retrieval efforts are underway, with hundreds of villagers and multi-agency teams, including personnel from Palang Merah Indonesia (PMI), National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS), BNPB, BPBD, Indonesian National Police (POLRI), Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) and local government agencies involved. Assessments as well as delivery of immediate assistance which includes first aid and basic medical services are also being undertaken alongside search, rescue and retrieval efforts. 

Referring to the damage and the impact from the earthquake, the president of Indonesia will coordinate with the ministries and province-level of Central Sulawesi to set the emergency status. In the meantime, PMI and the IFRC Country Cluster Support Team (CCST) in Jakarta are coordinating with BNPB and the Ministry of Social Affair (MOSA) to obtain more information on the humanitarian impact caused by the earthquake. 

Based on initial information from secondary sources as well as from PMI teams on the ground, immediate needs include evacuation and management of injuries, medical and health services including referral services, food and non-food items and emergency shelter.