Watch as tsunami sweeps away houses in Indonesian city of Palu following earthquake
The 7.5-magnitude quake was more powerful than the series of tremors that killed hundreds on the island of Lombok earlier this year
A powerful earthquake hit central Indonesia on Friday, triggering a tsunami 3 metres (10 feet) high that slammed into a city on Sulawesi island. Officials said houses in at least two cities were swept away.
Disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said in a TV interview that the tsunami hit Palu, the capital of central Sulawesi province, and a smaller city, Donggala. He said houses were washed away and families were reported missing. Communications to the area were disrupted.
The shallow 7.5-magnitude quake sparked terror among locals who fled into the streets and raced to higher ground fearing tsunami waves.
The disaster agency briefly issued a tsunami warning before lifting it. But dramatic video footage filmed from the top floor of a parking ramp spiral in Palu, a city of 350,000 nearly 80km from the quake’s epicentre, showed a churning wall of whitewater mow down several buildings and inundate a large mosque.
Rahmat Triyono, head of the agency’s earthquake and tsunami division, later confirmed the city was struck by a freak wave.
People living hundreds of kilometres from the epicentre reported feeling the massive shake, hours after a smaller jolt killed at least one person in the same part of the Southeast Asian archipelago.