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Associated Press

The rebuilding of an Indonesian city shattered by an earthquake and tsunami will take two years, a disaster official said on Thursday, as the search for victims buried in obliterated neighbourhoods neared its end.
The national disaster agency’s spokesman, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, told a news conference that the official search and rescue effort was extended by a day and would end on Friday.
“Because of the demands of the residents to lengthen the search for victims, we have extended the search and evacuation process for one day,” he said.

Officials plan prayers in areas such as Balaroa, Petobo and Jono Oge where the force of the September 28 quake liquefied soft soil and tore apart neighbourhoods.
Assessments of the cost of reconstruction are still being carried out, Nugroho said.
“Judging the conditions now, the reconstruction period will be from 2019 to 2020,” he said. “We expect full recovery by 2021.”
The agency said the official death toll had risen to 2,073 as of Thursday, with most of the fatalities in Palu.

Officially, 680 people are missing but officials have acknowledged the number could be several thousand because hundreds of homes were sucked into the earth.
Save the Children’s affiliated organisation in Indonesia said there could be as many as 1,500 children missing.
Selina Sumbung, the organisation’s chief, said the end of the search mission is accepted with a “heavy heart”.
“Children are particularly vulnerable in disasters, and to think that so many will never have the chance to grow up is heart breaking,” she said in a statement.

Central Sulawesi Governor Longki Djanggola said the disaster relief period, due to expire on Saturday, was extended by two weeks to October 26.
Firefighters, soldiers and other personnel searched the rubble on Thursday in a last push to find victims. They also burned debris and excavators dug into the tangled remains of buildings.
Heavy equipment hasn’t been able to operate in neighbourhoods where the earth turned to mud, hampering the search effort, and many bodies have decomposed beyond recognition due to the tropical heat.
Kilometres of coastline were trashed by the tsunami that followed the quake, with houses swept off their foundations, trucks crumpled and numerous ships beached.


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Indonesia

Indonesian city of Palu hit by earthquake and tsunami will take two years to rebuild

Rescuers work among ruins in Palu. Photo: Xinhua

TOPSHOT - Residents salvage items at soil liquefaction-hit Balaroa village in Palu on October 11, 2018, following the September 28 earthquake and tsunami that hit the area. - Indonesia on October 11 called off the grim search for those killed in the quake-tsunami, with no hope of retrieving around 5,000 bodies believed to be still buried under the ruins nearly two weeks after the disaster. (Photo by MUHAMMAD RIFKI / AFP)

Men push a motorbike recovered from the rubble at Petobo neighborhood which was hit by the earthquake and liquefaction in Palu, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia, October 11, 2018. REUTERS/Jorge Silva

Men carry gas canisters recovered from the rubble at Petobo neighborhood which was hit by the earthquake and liquefaction in Palu, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia, October 11, 2018. REUTERS/Jorge Silva

How ‘fake news’ has complicated relief efforts in Palu, spreading panic after deadly quake and tsunami

Among the hoaxes declared false by the government are that the mayor of Palu was killed in the disaster, that free flights were available to Palu for families of the victims and that Bili Bili dam in South Sulawesi had cracks and was about to burst

(181003) -- PALU, Oct. 3, 2018 (Xinhua) -- A local resident stands on the ruins at Petobo, in Palu, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. Oct. 3, 2018. The death toll from Indonesia's multiple earthquakes and an ensuing tsunami jumped to 1,407 on Wednesday, the country's disaster management agency said. (Xinhua/Agung Kuncahya B.)(dh)

Search and rescue teams recover victims in Palu. Photo: Xinhua

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Firefighters, soldiers and other personnel searched the rubble on Thursday in a last push to find victims. They also burned debris and excavators dug into the tangled remains of buildings


Firefighters, soldiers and other personnel searched the rubble on Thursday in a last push to find victims. They also burned debris and excavators dug into the tangled remains of buildings.


Earthquakes

Natural disasters