Desperation as aid struggles to reach Indonesia disaster victims
The death toll is expected to rise from 844 as authorities reach cut-off areas.
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Desperation was visible on Tuesday in parts of Indonesia’s central Sulawesi island that were heavily damaged by a massive earthquake and tsunami.
Four days after the disaster, teams were searching for trapped survivors under destroyed homes and buildings, but they needed more heavy equipment to clear the rubble.
Signs propped along roads read “We Need Food” and “We Need Support,” while children begged for cash in the streets and long lines of cars created traffic jams as people waited for fuel.
The desperation was evident across Palu, a city of more than 380,000 people that was struck by both the quake and the tsunami, its force apparently magnified in the surrounding inlet.
An eight-storey hotel in the city collapsed, while many people were believed trapped under shattered houses in the Balaroa neighbourhood.
The earthquake caused the ground to heave up and down violently, said disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho.
“I and about 50 other people in Balaroa were able to save ourselves by riding on a mound of soil which was getting higher and higher,” resident Siti Hajat told MetroTV, adding her house was destroyed.
In the Petobo neighbourhood, the quake caused loose, wet soil to liquefy, creating a thick, heavy mud that caused massive damage.
“In Petobo, it is estimated that there are still hundreds of victims buried in mud,” Mr Nugroho said.
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Residents who found loved ones, alive and dead, over the weekend expressed frustration that it took rescue teams until Monday to reach Petobo.
The confirmed death toll of 844, mostly from Palu, is expected to rise as authorities reach cut-off areas.
The regencies of Donggala, Sigi and Parigi Moutong — with a combined population of 1.2 million — had yet to be fully assessed.
The magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck at dusk on Friday and generated a tsunami said to have been as high as 20ft in places.
About 3,000 residents flocked to Palu’s airport, trying to board military aircraft or one of the few commercial flights using the facility only partially operating due to damage.
Video showed some of them screaming in anger because they were not able to get on a departing military plane.
“We have not eaten for three days!” one woman yelled. “We just want to be safe!”
Nearly 50,000 people have been displaced from their homes in Palu alone, Mr Nugroho said, and hospitals were overwhelmed.
The Indonesian air force confirmed that a Hercules aircraft carrying an unspecified number of survivors was able to leave Palu for South Sulawesi’s capital of Makassar.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo authorised the acceptance of international help, Mr Nugroho said, adding that generators, heavy equipment and tents were among the most-needed items.
The European Union and 10 countries have offered assistance, including the United States, Australia and China, he said.
“We will send food today, as much as possible with several aircraft,” Mr Widodo told reporters in the capital, Jakarta, adding that a supply of fuel was also set to arrive.
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The coastline at Palu was strewn with rubble and a few brightly coloured cargo containers poking out of the water.
Buildings near the water were ruined shells. The arches of a large yellow bridge rested in the water and eerie drone footage showed a Ferris wheel, untouched, on a beach scraped bare by the waves.
Rescuers searching a collapsed building on Monday night were able to pull 38-year-old Sapri Nusin alive from the rubble.
He was talking to his rescuers as they took him away but his condition was not known.
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 powerful quake on the island of Lombok killed 505 people in August.
The vast archipelago has more than 17,000 islands home to 260 million people. Roads and infrastructure are poor in many areas, making access difficult in the best of conditions.