Death toll in Indonesia quake passes 2,000 as searches for survivors called off
Disaster agency says rescue efforts ending in some areas because of difficult terrain and contamination risks
The death toll from the earthquake and tsunami on Indonesia’s Sulawesi island has climbed past 2,000, the country’s disaster agency said Tuesday, as authorities prepared to end the search for thousands of victims feared buried in mud and rubble in the hardest-hit neighbourhoods.
Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said the toll from the September 28 twin disasters had climbed to 2,010. He said authorities will hold prayers on Thursday to mark the end of the search in the Petobo, Balaroa and Jono Oge areas of Palu city, where the quake caused loose soil to liquefy, swallowing houses and burying the occupants with them.
Efforts to retrieve bodies, many entombed under mud and rubble as deep as 3 metres (10 feet), will not continue because of the difficult terrain and advanced state of decomposition that made the bodies unrecognisable and could cause contamination, Nugroho said.
“On October 11, we will hold joint prayers in Balaroa, Petobo and Jono Oge to end the evacuation of bodies,” he told a daily news briefing on the relief efforts.
While the official search will end, Nugroho said authorities will not stop villagers from continuing to dig through the ruins for their loved ones.
The areas, which now look like vast wastelands, will be turned into memorial parks to remember the victims, and survivors will be relocated to safer locations, he said.