Aid workers have begun distributing vital supplies to survivors of a powerful earthquake and tsunami that struck the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia last week, killing at least 1,400 people.
The airport has reopened in Palu, a city of around 350,000 people, where the magnitude 7.5 earthquake and 10-foot tsunami hit hardest on Friday, allowing relief flights to transport desperately needed aid and rescue workers.
Indonesia’s disaster agency, BNPB, confirmed that the death toll had risen to at least 1,407 in a news conference in Jakarta on Wednesday, adding that at least 2,500 people were severely injured. The figure is likely to rise as the number of deaths is yet to be confirmed in Donggala, a more rural area with a population of 300,000.
During a second visit to the devastated island on Wednesday, Indonesian President Joko Widodo said that foreign aid is beginning to reach the area.
“What I’ve observed after returning now is heavy equipment has arrived, logistics have started to arrive, although it’s not at maximum yet, fuel has partly arrived,” he told reporters.
Soldiers and other forces have been deployed in Palu to guard key infrastructure, fuel depots, and the airport, Air Chief Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto, Indonesia's military chief, said. He added that the military will clamp down on looting, after people desperate for food were raiding shops.
Thousands have been displaced by the disaster. Many are hoping to leave Palu, but flights are full with aid workers and volunteers, according to the Jakarta Post.
Photographs show residents scrambling through rubble to salvage their belongings. The Red Cross estimated that 60% of Palu’s buildings were destroyed.
For safety and religious reasons, hundreds of the dead have already been buried in mass graves. A single mass grave at Poboya, near Palu, is reported to have been prepared to hold 1,300 bodies.
As search and rescue teams continued to battle difficult conditions in their effort to find survivors on Wednesday morning, a volcano eruption in north Sulawesi sent a 19,700-foot column of ash spewing into the sky. Mount Soputan, located about 375 miles northeast of Palu, erupted at around 8:47 a.m. local time, prompting authorities to put out an alert.
No evacuations have been ordered, but the Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation warned residents to stay out of a 2.5- to 4-mile radius around the volcano, while BNPB distributed dust masks.
Residents warned to steer clear as Mt. Soputan continues to erupt #jakpost https://t.co/sH5ejZNGj9
The head of the government’s Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation agency, who goes by the name of Kasbani, told online news portal Tempo that the eruption could have been triggered by the earthquake.
“It could be that this earthquake triggered the eruption, but the direct correlation has yet to be seen, as there had been an increase in the Mount Soputan activity,” he said.