Rescuers redouble their efforts on Saturday to find survivors buried in the rubble after the strong earthquake that hit the island of Celebes in Indonesia the day before, killing dozens and injuring hundreds.
At least 46 people have died, according to a latest report, after the magnitude 6.2 earthquake on Friday which triggered panic among residents of the west of the island of Celebes already struck in 2018 by a major disaster.
Dozens of lifeless bodies were extracted from the rubble of collapsed buildings in Mamuju, the provincial capital of western Celebes with a population of some 110,000. Other victims were found further south, where a strong aftershock was felt on Saturday morning.
Medical reinforcements
Families have started burying the victims of the earthquake, an AFP journalist noted.
Planes and boats arrived with emergency supplies and equipment. The navy has sent a medical boat to supplement the only two hospitals still operating in Mamuju which are overwhelmed by the wounded, according to local media.
A shortage of heavy equipment is slowing the efforts of rescuers to extricate the victims, while thousands of residents take refuge in makeshift shelters or tents for shelter from heavy rains.
“We are running out of food. There has been no government assistance yet, ”Desti, 24, who had to flee her home in Majene, near the epicenter of the earthquake, told AFP.
“We need blankets and mattresses. Some sleep on coconut leaves, ”she explains, stressing that injured refugees also needed treatment.
Many residents cannot return to their damaged homes or have fled fearing aftershocks or a tsunami, notes Desti, who like many Indonesians has only one name.
15,000 refugees
Some 15,000 residents have moved to temporary shelters. Several hundred people were injured and some 190 were being treated for serious injuries, authorities said.
They did not say how many residents could still be under the rubble, including those from a collapsed hospital.
Among the survivors, rescuers extracted from the rubble two young sisters in Mamuju, who were transferred to hospital.
Pope Francis said he was “saddened” by the earthquake and expressed “his solidarity” to all those affected, according to a Vatican statement. “He prays for the rest of the dead, the healing of the wounded and the consolation of all those who mourn.”
Landslides that followed the earthquake and heavy rains cut off access to one of the province’s main roads.
The airport was also damaged as well as a hotel and the seat of the governor and part of the city remains without electricity.
The NGO Save the Children called for special attention to be paid to the youngest: “Although the scale of the disaster is not yet known, we know that children are often the most vulnerable after a disaster”. “It is essential that the priority response focuses on children, who may have witnessed the death of relatives or be separated from their parents.”
The epicenter of the magnitude 6.2 earthquake was located 36 km south of Mamuju, at a relatively shallow depth of 18 km, the USGS said.
The Indonesian archipelago, which lies on the Pacific ‘ring of fire’, an area of high seismic activity, often experiences earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
The region of Palu, further north on the island of Celebes, had already been hit in September 2018 by a very strong 7.5 magnitude earthquake followed by a devastating tsunami.
This disaster left more than 4,300 dead and missing and at least 170,000 displaced.
Another devastating 9.1-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Sumatra in 2004, causing a tsunami that killed 220,000 people in the region, including about 170,000 in Indonesia.