Credit earth.com
Indonesia's disaster agency claim they have recovered more than 1,800 bodies so far from the 7.5-magnitude and subsequent tsunami that struck Sulawesi on September 28, a further 2,000 have been killed in subsequent landslides however these deaths are not being reported for some reason. Full story Jakarta Post
However, a new report claims a further 5.000, people who have not been found," agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told reporters Sunday.
"Nevertheless, officials there are still trying to confirm this and are gathering data.
According to AFP, the search for the unaccounted would continue until October 11, at which point they would be listed as missing, presumed dead.
The figure drastically increases the estimates for those who disappeared when the disaster struck 10 days ago.
Officials had initially predicted some 1,000 people were buried beneath the ruins of Palu.
But the latest tally speaks to the considerable destruction in the worst-hit areas of Petobo and Balaroa as the picture on the ground has become clearer.
- Wiped out -
Petobo, a cluster of villages in Palu, was virtually wiped out by the powerful quake and wall of water that devastated Palu.
Much of it was sucked whole into the ground as the vibrations from the quake turned the soil to quicksand.
It was feared that beneath the crumbled rooftops and twisted rebar, a vast number of bodies remain entombed.
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