James Massola, Karuni Rompies & Amilia Rosa, Jakarta – At least 384 people have been killed after a series of earthquakes and a tsunami struck the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, with hundreds more people feared dead as rescue workers scramble to reach the hardest hit areas.
A magnitude 7.5 earthquake was the strongest of the more than two dozen earthquakes that hit central Sulawesi on Friday, while a tsunami up to six metres high also struck coastal areas.
National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said on Saturday afternoon that in addition to the 384 dead in Palu, the regional capital, 540 people have been injured and 29 people are missing.
There are no figures yet available for the nearby city of Donggala – the hardest hit area.
"The intensity of the earthquake in Donggala is higher than in Palu, so we suspect we'll see a high number of victims in Donggala, although Palu has a larger population than Donggala," Sutopo said.
Donggala is a city of about 270,000 people, while the nearby city of Palu is home to about 330,000 people.
Sutopo said the bodies of numerous people killed by the tsunami had been found on the shores of local beaches, but there was no official word yet on how many lives had been lost. He said the speed of the tsunami as it was approaching the shore had reached 800km/h.
The Disaster Agency spokesman added that authorities believed hundreds of people were preparing for a festival due to be held near the beach in Palu on Sunday, and that they were now missing because of the tsunami.
Thousands of buildings have collapsed in Palu city, including the four-storey Antapura hospital, the eight-storey Roa-Roa hotel, a shopping mall and a bridge.
Indonesian authorities are working frantically to restore electricity and communications.
"The most important things to do right now are fixing the electricity, communications, sending in food, also food for children and babies, tents, drugs. We need drugs for field hospitals. We also need people to help the victims. That's why TNI and police have sent some 700 personnel, there are also some volunteers," Sutopo said.
Palu's main airport has sustained heavy damage to its runway and to its control centre. New navigation equipment for the airport was dispatched by helicopter from Makassar on Saturday morning.
Commercial flights to Palu have been suspended until October 4, with only emergency and humanitarian flights allowed to land.
Smaller airports were still operating but are unable to receive heavy aircraft, while Palu's port was also damaged and the road between Poso and Palu has been blocked because of a landslide. A large ship was washed 70 metres inland by the wave.
Some of the worst hit areas include the districts of South Banewa, Central Banewa, Sinhue and Soyol in Donggala Regency, "but we have not been able to access these areas" Sutopo said.
An earlier magnitude 6.1 quake in central Sulawesi killed several people, injured 10 and damaged dozens of houses.
The strongest quake struck at 6.02pm local time (8.02pm AEST) on Friday and tsunami. It was followed by at least two dozen aftershocks. Sulawesi is about 1600 kilometres north-east of Jakarta.
Amateur footage of the tsunami has gone viral on social media and has been shown on local TV stations. It depicts huge waves crashing into houses along Palu's shoreline.
A spokeswoman for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs said it was not aware of any Australians that have been affected by the earthquake but was continuing to make enquiries with local authorities.
"At this time, details and impacts of the 7.5 magnitude earthquake [reported as 7.7 locally] on Minahassa Peninsula, Sulawesi, and a subsequent tsunami are still emerging, and extent of the damage is unknown," the spokeswoman said.
This latest quake comes after a series of earthquakes in July and August killed at least 623 people and destroyed hundreds of thousands of buildings on the Indonesian island of Lombok, which is situated hundreds of kilometres south-west of Sulawesi.
Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo tweeted late on Friday evening: "At sunset an earthquake hit Central Sulawesi and surroundings. I am monitoring [the development] and keep my staff on alert to deal with all possibilities after the quakes. Hoping all our brothers and sisters there staying calm and safe".
The national search and rescue agency would deploy a large ship and helicopters to aid with the operation, said agency chief Muhammad Syaugi, adding that he had not been able to contact his team in Palu.
Indonesia sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire and is regularly hit by earthquakes. In 2004, an earthquake off the northern Indonesian island of Sumatra triggered a tsunami across the Indian Ocean, killing 226,000 people in 13 countries, including more than 120,000 in Indonesia.
– with Reuters