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Damaged roads and bridges, power outages and a lack of heavy equipment on Saturday hampered Indonesia’s rescuers after a 6.2 magnitude earthquake left at least 45 dead and hundreds injured on the island of Sulawesi.
The operations focused on about eight locations in the worst-hit city of Mamuju, where people are believed to be still trapped after Friday’s night quake, said Saidar Rahmanjaya, who heads the local search and rescue agency.
Cargo planes carrying food, tents, blankets and other supplies from Jakarta landed on Friday night for distribution to temporary shelters. Still, thousands spent the night out in the open fearing aftershocks and a possible tsunami.
Sadly Ashari Said / AP
Rescuers search for victims in the ruins of an earthquake-damaged building in Mamuju, West Sulawesi, Indonesia.
45 bodies were sent to a police hospital for family members to identify after rescuers recovered 36 victims in Mamuju and nine more in neighboring Majene district, West Sulawesi police spokesman Syamsu Ridwan said. .
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More than 200 people are receiving treatment at the Bhayangkara Police Hospital and several more in Mamuju alone. Another 630 have been injured in Majene, said the director of the National Agency for Disaster Mitigation, Doni Monardo.
At least 300 houses in Majene were damaged and some 15,000 people were moved to shelters. Many survivors said help has not yet reached them due to damaged roads and disrupted communications.
Among those rescued was a girl who was trapped in the rubble of a house with her sister.
Sadly Ashari Said / AP
Damaged roads and bridges, power outages, and a lack of heavy equipment have hampered rescue efforts.
The girl was seen in a video posted by the disaster agency on Friday asking for help. She is being treated in a hospital.
He identified himself as Angel and said his sister, Catherine, who did not appear in the video, was next to him under the rubble and was still breathing.
The fate of Catherine and other family members was unclear. Yusuf Latif, the spokesman for the rescue agency, had no information about them.
The earthquake caused landslides in three places and blocked a main road connecting Mamuju with Majene. Power and telephone lines were down in many areas.
Mamuju, the capital of the Western Sulawesi province with almost 75,000 inhabitants, was littered with rubble from collapsed buildings. The governor’s office building was nearly destroyed by the earthquake and a shopping mall was reduced to a crumpled old town. A large bridge collapsed and patients with drippings stretched out on folding beds under canvas tents outside one of the damaged hospitals.
Uncredited / AP
The earthquake caused extensive damage to the island of Sulawesi.
Two hospitals in the city were damaged and others overwhelmed.
Two boats headed to the devastated areas from the nearby cities of Makassar and Balikpapan with rescuers and equipment, including bulldozers.
State-owned AirNav Indonesia, which oversees the aircraft’s navigation, said the earthquake did not cause significant damage to the runway at Mamuju airport or the control tower.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo said on Friday that he instructed his cabinet ministers and military and disaster officials to coordinate the response.
In a telegram sent by the Vatican on behalf of Pope Francis, the pontiff expressed “the most sincere solidarity with all those affected by this natural disaster.”
Sadly Ashari Said / AP
Police officers stand guard to prevent looting in a shopping center partially damaged by the earthquake.
The Pope prayed for “the repose of the dead, the healing of the wounded and the consolation of all who suffer.” Francis also offered encouragement to those continuing the search and rescue effects, invoking “the divine blessings of strength and hope.”
Indonesia, home to more than 260 million people, is frequently affected by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis due to its location on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanoes and faults in the Pacific Rim.
In 2018, a 7.5 magnitude earthquake in Palu on the island of Sulawesi triggered a tsunami and caused the ground to collapse in a phenomenon called liquefaction. More than 4,000 people died, many of the victims buried when entire neighborhoods were swallowed up by the collapsing ground.
A 9.1 magnitude earthquake off the island of Sumatra in western Indonesia in December 2004 triggered a tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a dozen countries.
