Indonesia says death toll in Sulawesi quake rises past 2,000
Source: Associated Press
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — The death toll from the earthquake and tsunami on Indonesia’s Sulawesi island has climbed past 2,000, the disaster agency said Tuesday, as authorities prepared to end the search for thousands of victims feared buried in mud and rubble in the hardest-hit neighborhoods.
Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said the toll from the Sept. 28 twin disasters had climbed to 2,010. He said authorities will hold prayers Thursday to mark the end of the search in the Petobo, Balaroa and Jono Oge areas of Palu city, where the quake caused loose soil to liquefy, swallowing houses and burying the occupants with them.
Efforts to retrieve bodies, many entombed under mud and rubble as deep as 3 meters (10 feet), will not continue because of the difficult terrain and advanced state of decomposition that made the bodies unrecognizable and could cause contamination, Nugroho said.
“On Oct. 11, we will hold joint prayers in Balaroa, Petobo and Jono Oge to end the evacuation of bodies,” he told a daily news briefing on the relief efforts. While the official search will end, Nugroho said authorities will not stop villagers from continuing to dig through the ruins for their loved ones.
Read more: https://www.apnews.com/09aa713ba7dd42ceac4d3d77c7f9cc2b/Indonesia-says-death-toll-in-Sulawesi-quake-rises-to-2,010
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With everything going on in the world, this seems to have become a forgotten tragedy....so many dead and so many suffering...
