More bodies found as death toll from Indonesia quake nears 2,000
Palu, Oct 8 : Nearly 2,000 bodies have been recovered from Indonesia's disaster-ravaged Palu city, an official said Monday, as the search for victims ended at a hotel destroyed in the powerful earthquake and tsunami.
The death toll from the twin disaster on Sulawesi island that erased whole suburbs in Palu has reached 1,944, said local military spokesman M. Thohir.
"That number is expected to rise, because we have not received orders to halt the search for bodies," Thohir, who is also a member of the government's official Palu quake taskforce, told AFP.
Authorities have said as many as 5,000 are believed missing in two hard-hit areas since the September 28 disaster -- indicating far more may have perished than the current toll.
Hopes of finding anyone alive have faded and the search for survivors amid the wreckage has turned to gathering and accounting for the dead.
The disaster agency said the official search for the unaccounted would continue until October 11 at which point they would be listed as missing, presumed dead.
But rescuers called off the search Monday at Hotel Roa-Roa, which was reduced to a tangled mess of twisted rebar and smashed concrete by the force of the quake.
The hotel emerged as an early focus of efforts to extract survivors, with seven people pulled alive from its mangled ruins in the immediate aftermath.
But nobody else was saved as the days passed, and optimism faded as corpses surfaced from the wreckage.
"The SAR (search and rescue) operation at Hotel Roa-Roa has ended, because we have searched the entire hotel and have not found any more victims," Bambang Suryo, SAR field director in Palu, told AFP.
Agus Haryono, another SAR official at the scene who confirmed the search was off, said 27 bodies were recovered from the hotel including three pulled from the debris Sunday.
Among the confirmed dead were five paragliders in Palu for a competition, including an Asian Games athlete and a South Korean, the only known foreign victim in the disaster.
Authorities believed the 80-room hotel was near capacity when the district was ravaged by a 7.5 magnitude quake and tsunami and estimated 50 to 60 people could be trapped inside.
Rescuers have struggled to extract bodies from the wreckage of Palu, a job made worse as mud hardens and bodies decompose in the tropical heat.
The government has said some flattened areas will be declared as mass graves, and left untouched.
Balaroa resident Sarjono agreed with sealing off the obliterated neighbourhood where vast numbers of bodies are believed trapped beneath the ruins.
"But only if they help us relocate elsewhere. If they don't, where will we live?" the 50-year-old told AFP near the debris of his former home.
Gopal, whose aunt and uncle were missing in Balaroa, picked through wreckage knowing just days were left to find his loved ones.
"Even if they (search teams) stop looking, we will still try to find them ourselves," said the 40-year-old who, like many Indonesians, goes by one name.
"When we can no longer do it ourselves, we leave it to Allah." Excavators and rescuers combed Balaroa on Monday, where a massive government housing complex was all but swallowed up by the disaster.
Officials say as many as 5,000 people were feared buried at Balaroa and Petobo, another decimated community.
Petobo, a cluster of villages, was subsumed when vibrations from the 7.5-magnitude quake turned soil to quicksand -- a process known as liquefaction.
Relief efforts have escalated to assist 200,000 people in desperate need. Food and clean water remain in short supply, and many are dependent entirely on handouts to survive.
Helicopters have been running supply drops to more isolated communities outside Palu, where the full extent of the damage is still not entirely clear.
The Red Cross said Monday it had treated more than 1,800 people at clinics and administered first aid to a similar number in the immediate disaster zone.
Indonesia sits along the world's most tectonically active region, and its 260 million people are vulnerable to earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions.
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Rains lash several parts of Tamil Nadu, cyclonic storm brewing
Chennai (PTI): Rains lashed several parts of Tamil Nadu on Tuesday, and the India Meteorological Department said the depression over Bay of Bengal has formed into a deep depression and it is likely to intensify into a cyclonic storm on November 27.
Chief Minister M K Stalin chaired a high-level meeting here at the Secretariat to review the precautionary measures and rushed NDRF and State teams to Tiruvarur, Mayiladuthurai, Nagappatinam and Cuddalore districts.
Chennai and nearby districts of Chengelpet, Kanchipuram and Tiruvallur, the northern coastal city of Cuddalore and Cauvery delta areas, including Nagapattinam were among the places that received rainfall, which was mild to moderate in many areas and heavy in a few places.
Due to the rains, heavy traffic congestion was witnessed here in many areas including the arterial OMR Road and traffic flow was affected in several areas as roads came under sheets of water. Also, in Chennai, there was delay in the landing of 7 flights.
State-run Aavin said it has taken all steps to ensure unhindered milk supply to the people and announced that eight of its parlours here will be open 24 x 7.
Stalin, through video conferencing, reviewed the action plan to tackle the situation. Very heavy rainfall forecast covers the districts of Mayiladuthurai, Villupuram, Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur, Thanjavur and Cuddalore. District collectors and IAS officials, tasked with monitoring and coordinating rain-related tasks took part in the meeting.
Collectors apprised the chief minister that adequate number of relief camps and medical teams were on standby and all other necessary arrangements were in place too. Stalin told officials that relief centres must be 'ready with all the amenities' and people should be evacuated in advance from low lying areas.
An official release here said that two NDRF teams have been dispatched to Thanjavur district. For each of the districts of Tiruvarur, Mayiladuthurai, Nagappatinam and Cuddalore, two teams ---one from NDRF and the other from the State-- have been dispatched.
Also in such districts, first-responders and volunteers are also ready for deployment. "Already, fishermen have been advised against venturing into the sea and a majority of boats have returned to shore."
As regards fishermen who have gone for deep sea fishing, they have been informed to move to the nearest harbours.
The state and district level emergency operation centres are functioning 24 x 7.
Minister for Revenue and Disaster Management, KKSSR Ramachandran, Chief Secretary N Muruganandam and top state officials participated in the meeting chaired by the chief minister.
According to the IMD, the depression over Bay of Bengal intensified into a deep depression and it is about 770 km south-southeast of Chennai and 570 km south-southeast of Nagapattinam.
In its update, the IMD said on 'X': "It is very likely to continue to move north-northwestwards and intensify further into a cyclonic storm on 27th November. Thereafter, it will continue to move north-northwestwards towards Tamil Nadu coast skirting Sri Lanka coast during subsequent 2 days."
