Search for survivors as toll from Indonesia quake hits 81

Advanced Search

The story appears on

Page A10

January 18, 2021

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Search for survivors as toll from Indonesia quake hits 81

Source: AP | 00:05 UTC+8 January 18, 2021 |

Print Edition

Indonesian rescuers yesterday retrieved more bodies from the rubble of homes and buildings toppled by a strong earthquake, raising the death toll to 81, while military engineers managed to reopen ruptured roads to clear access for relief goods.

More heavy equipment reached the hardest-hit city of Mamuju and the neighboring district of Majene on Sulawesi island, where the magnitude-6.2 quake struck on Friday, said Raditya Jati, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency’s spokesperson.

Power supplies and phone communications have begun to improve in the area.

Thousands of people were left homeless and more than 800 were injured, with more than half of them still receiving treatment for serious injuries, Jati said.

The disaster agency’s data showed that nearly 27,850 survivors were moved to shelters.

Most of them went to makeshift shelters that have been lashed by heavy monsoon downpours. Only a few were lucky to be protected by tarpaulin-covered tents.

They said they were running low on food, blankets and other aid, as emergency supplies were rushed to the hard-hit region.

“We are unable to return to our destroyed homes,” said a father of three who identified himself only as Robert.

He and his family are among thousands of displaced people who took shelter in a hilly area.

He said the bed was shaking when he awoke and realized that it was an earthquake. He then removed a drip from his hand and ran out. He had seen several nurses helping patients who were unable to move before the building collapsed.

“I cried when I saw the hospital where I was being treated collapse with people still inside. I could have died if I got out late,” he said.

Rescuers managed to retrieve four survivors and four bodies from the rubble of the flattened hospital, according to the Search and Rescue Agency.

Jati said at least 1,150 houses in Majene were damaged and that the agency was still collecting data on damaged houses and buildings in Mamuju.

Mamuju, the provincial capital of nearly 300,000, was strewn with debris from collapsed buildings.

Many on Sulawesi are still haunted by a magnitude-7.5 earthquake that devastated Palu city in 2018 and set off a tsunami that caused soil to collapse in a phenomenon called liquefaction. More than 4,000 people were killed.

Indonesia, home to more than 260 million people, is frequently hit by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis because of its location on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.

World

About Us
|
Terms of Use
|
RSS
|
Privacy Policy
|
Contact Us
|
Shanghai Call Center: 962288
|
Tip-off hotline: 52920043

沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
|
互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
|
网络视听许可证：0909346
|
广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
|
增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012

Search for survivors as toll from Indonesia quake hits 81

Email this to your friend