Dozens of dead pulled from church as Indonesia reels from quake

The bodies of dozens of students have been pulled from their landslide-swamped church in Sulawesi, officials said Tuesday, as an international effort to help nearly 200,000 increasingly desperate Indonesian quake-tsunami victims ground into gear.

The discovery adds to the already-high death toll from Friday’s disaster, when a powerful earthquake triggered a tsunami that smashed into the seaside city of Palu.

At least 1,234 people are already known to have died, but officials say that number is certain to rise – perhaps into the thousands – as isolated communities are reached and the scale of the disaster becomes clearer.

Survivors are battling thirst and hunger, with food and clean water in short supply, and local hospitals are overwhelmed by the number of injured.

Some survivors clambered through detritus hunting for anything salvageable, some crowded around daisy-chained power strips at the few buildings that still have power, others queued for water, cash or petrol being brought in via armed police convoy.

“The government, the President have come here, but what we really need is food and water,” said Burhanuddin Aid Masse, 48.

Rescue efforts have been hampered by a lack of heavy machinery, severed transport links, the scale of the damage, and the Indonesian government’s reluctance to accept foreign help.