Posted on 09/30/2018 5:20:29 AM PDT by BenLurkin
"The death [toll] is believed to be still increasing since many bodies were still under the wreckage, while many have not been reached," Nugroho said.
Aerial video showed the battered coastline around the hard-hit city of Palu, population 380,000, on the island of Sulawesi. In Donggala, a city near the epicenter, footage from MetroTV showed destroyed houses and huge areas inundated by water.
Nugroho, at the disaster agency, said "tens to hundreds" of people were taking part in a beach festival in Palu when the tsunami struck.
The city is built around a narrow bay that apparently magnified the force of the tsunami waters as they raced into the tight inlet. Indonesian TV showed dramatic smartphone video of the moment the wave hit, with people screaming and running in fear.
A heavily damaged mosque was half submerged and a shopping mall was reduced to a crumpled hulk. A large bridge with yellow arches had collapsed. Bodies lay partially covered by tarpaulins and a man carried a dead child through the wreckage.
The disaster agency has said that essential aircraft can land at Palu's airport, though AirNav, which oversees aircraft navigation, said the runway was cracked and the control tower damaged.
AirNav said one of its air traffic controllers, aged 21, died in the quake after staying in the tower to ensure a flight he'd just cleared for departure got airborne safely.
More than half of the 560 inmates in a Palu prison fled after its walls collapsed during the quake, said its warden, Adhi Yan Ricoh. He said there was no immediate plan to search for the inmates because the prison staff and police were consumed with the search and rescue effort.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
Sad. I suppose the world will expect us infidels to go over andbail them out, with a carrier task force. Will any the Muslim nations band together and assist?
Doubtful. But wouldn’t be surprising if the ChiComs show up looking for an toehold.
It’s not like many muslim nations have a shortage of cash.
Prayers for the victims and the rescuers who are risking their own lives to save others.
The Chinese have already established a massive presence in Central Sulawesi, so much so that the locals are very annoyed. Last year, my daughter and her husband went there to explore the possibilities of setting up some heavy equipment spare parts business, but found that Chinese companies already had it all covered. They have built one huge industrial estate that employs some 8000 Chinese workers, most of them illegally.
Same daughter had tickets to fly to Palu with her children on Saturday, but did not make the trip. She has a business partner in Palu and has a share in her automotive spare parts business. Her partner lost one car to the tsunami, and part of the roof of her house collapsed from the temblor. She and her kids have been sleeping in their van for the last two nights. It is a huge mess there, and will take a long time to repair the city.
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