Two-metre-high tsunami hits Indonesian city after strong earthquake

[Hindustani78]

Two-metre-high tsunami hits Indonesian city after strong earthquake
Reuters
Jakarta , September 28, 2018 16:18 IST
Updated: September 28, 2018 21:18 IST

This handout photograph taken and released on September 28, 2018 by Indonesia’s National Agency for Disaster Management shows a collapsed shopping mall in Palu, Central Sulawesi, after a strong earthquake hit the area. | Photo Credit: AFP


The quake hit as dusk fell and communications were down and the airport closed, making it impossible to assess the damage to life and property.
A tsunami up to two metres high hit a small city on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi on September 28 after a major 7.5 quake struck offshore, collapsing buildings and washing a vessel ashore, but officials could provide no information on casualties.

The quake hit as dusk fell and communications were down and the airport closed, making it impossible to assess the damage to life and property, officials said.

National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said communications had been cut both in the city of Palu, a sleepy but growing tourist resort, and the nearby fishing town of Donggala, closest to the epicentre of the quake 80 km away.

Officials hope to be able to gauge the scale of the damage at daybreak after the strongest of a series of earthquakes that continued late into the evening.

“The 1.5- to two-metre tsunami has receded,” Dwikorita Karnawati, who heads Indonesia's meteorology and geophysics agency, BMKG, told Reuters. “It ended. The situation is chaotic, people are running on the streets and buildings collapsed. There is a ship washed ashore.”

BMKG had earlier issued a tsunami warning, but lifted it within the hour.

Amateur footage shown by local TV stations, which could not immediately be confirmed by Reuters, showed waters crashing into houses along Palu's shoreline.

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.

Palu, hit by a 6.2-magnitude quake in 2005 which killed one person, is at the end of a narrow bay famous for its beaches and water sports.

A patient is evacuated from a hospital following a strong earthquake in Poso, central Sulawesi, Indonesia on September 28, 2018. | Photo Credit: AP


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.

Earlier on September 28, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said it was having difficulty reaching some authorities in Palu and the fishing town of Donggala, closest to the epicentre of the quake 80 km away at a shallow 10 km underground.

The Palu airport was closed.

The area was hit by a lighter quake earlier in the day, which destroyed some houses, killing one person and injuring at least 10 in Donggala, the authorities said.

Some people took to Twitter saying they could not contact loved ones. “My family in Palu is unreachable,” Twitter user @noyvionella said.

The U.S. Geological Survey put the magnitude of the second quake at a strong 7.5, after first saying it was 7.7.

More than 600,000 people live in Donggala and Palu.

Indonesia sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire and is regularly hit by earthquakes.

A series of earthquakes in July and August killed nearly 500 people on the holiday island of Lombok, hundreds of kilometres southwest of Sulawesi.

 

[Hindustani78]

Indonesia quake-tsunami death toll jumps to 384

AFP
Palu, Indonesia, September 29, 2018 13:16 IST
Updated: September 29, 2018 13:51 IST

Residents carry a victim after an earthquake and a tsunami hit Palu, on Sulawesi island on September 29, 2018. | Photo Credit: AFP


Palu Airport shut; concerns over whereabouts of hundreds of people preparing for a beach festival

Nearly 400 people were killed in the earthquake and the tsunami it caused barrelling into the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, officials said on Saturday. Hospitals struggled to cope with hundreds of injured and rescuers scrambled to reach the stricken region.

The national disaster agency put the official death toll so far at 384, all of them in the tsunami-struck city of Palu, but warned the figure was likely to rise.

In the city -- home to around 350,000 people -- partially covered bodies lay on the ground near the shore, the day after tsunami waves 1.5 metres (five feet) came ashore.

There were also concerns over the whereabouts of hundreds of people preparing for a beach festival due to start Friday evening, the disaster agency said.

Hospitals were overwhelmed by the influx of injured, with many people being treated in the open air, while other survivors helped to retrieve the remains of those who died.

One man was seen carrying the muddy corpse of a small child.

The tsunami was triggered by a strong quake that brought down buildings and sent locals fleeing for higher ground as a churning wall of water crashed into Palu, where there were widespread power blackouts.

'I just ran'
Dramatic video footage captured from the top floor of a parking ramp in Palu, nearly 80 kilometres (50 miles) from the quake's epicentre, showed waves of water bring down several buildings and inundate a large mosque.

"I just ran when I saw the waves hitting homes on the coastline," said Palu resident Rusidanto, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.

The shallow 7.5 magnitude tremor was more powerful than a series of quakes that killed hundreds on the Indonesian island of Lombok in July and August.

Indonesian president Joko Widodo said the military was being called in to the disaster-struck region to help search and rescue teams get to victims and find bodies.

Earlier, the head of the country's search and rescue agency Muhammad Syaugi told AFP that local staff had found "many" dead bodies.

"We're particularly concerned about the impact of the earthquake on children, who are more vulnerable to being swept away in tsunamis," said Tom Howells, NGO Save the Children's Program Implementation Director.

People living hundreds of kilometres from the epicentre reported feeling the massive shake, which came hours after a smaller jolt killed at least one person in the same part of the country.

The quake hit just off central Sulawesi at a depth of 10 km just before 1100 GMT -- early evening in Sulawesi -- the US Geological Survey said. Such shallow quakes tend to be more destructive.

Pictures supplied by the disaster agency showed a badly damaged shopping mall in Palu where at least one floor had collapsed onto the storey below, while other photographs showed major damage to buildings and large cracks across pavements.

The agency also said homes and a local hotel were flattened while a landmark city bridge was destroyed.

A key access road had been badly damaged and was blocked by landslides, the disaster agency said.

Airport closed
The main airport in Palu, capital of South Sulawesi province, was shut after the tsunami struck and was expected to stay closed for at least 24 hours, complicating any disaster relief efforts.

Friday's tremor was also felt in the far south of the island in its largest city Makassar and on neighbouring Kalimantan, Indonesia's portion of Borneo island.

The initial quake, which was followed by a series of powerful aftershocks, struck as evening prayers were about to begin in the world's biggest Muslim majority country on the holiest day of the week, when mosques are especially busy.

Disaster-prone nation
Indonesia is one of the most disaster-prone nations on the Earth. It lies on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", where tectonic plates collide and many of the world's volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur.

Earlier this year, a series of powerful quakes hit Lombok, killing more than 550 people on the holiday island and neighbouring Sumbawa.

Indonesia has been hit by a string of other deadly quakes, including a devastating 9.1 magnitude tremor that struck off the coast of Sumatra in December 2004. That Boxing Day quake triggered a tsunami that killed 220,000 throughout the region, including 1,68,000 in Indonesia.

In 2010, about 430 were killed when a quake sparked a tsunami off the coast of Sumatra, while more than 600 were killed in a quake-tsunami disaster on Java island.

 

[Hindustani78]

Prime Minister's Office
30-September, 2018 10:07 IST
PM condoles loss of lives due to tsunami and earthquake in Central Sulawesi in Indonesia

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has condoled the loss of lives and devastation due to tsunami and earthquake in Central Sulawesi in Indonesia.

“Deeply saddened by the loss of lives and devastation due to tsunami and earthquake in Central Sulawesi in Indonesia. I offer deepest condolences. India stands with its maritime neighbour in this difficult hour”, the Prime Minister said.



***

 

[Hindustani78]

Officials say he refused to leave his post until he got an Batik Air plane off the ground, while his colleagues who were not handling aircraft departed. https://www.thehindu.com/news/inter...ller-hailed-as-quake-hero/article25088163.ece

An Indonesian air traffic controller is being posthumously hailed as a hero for refusing to leave his post despite devastating earthquakes so that he could guide a passenger jet safely off the ground.

Twenty-one-year-old Anthonius Gunawan Agung was on duty in the air traffic control tower at Palu’s Mutiara SIS Al-Jufrie airport when a series of earthquakes struck the city in Sulawesi island on Friday.

Officials say he refused to leave his post until he got an Batik Air plane off the ground, while his colleagues who were not handling aircraft departed.

“When the quake happened, he was giving clearance to Batik Air to take off and waited for the plane to be safely airborne before finally leaving the ATC cabin tower,” said AirNav Indonesia spokesman Yohanes Harry Sirait.

After Flight 6231 was safely in the air the quakes became ever-stronger, culminating in a 7.5 magnitude jolt and tsunami. At least 832 people are confirmed dead. Eventually, Mr. Agung jumped from the top of the crumbling four-storey tower in a desperate bid to escape, breaking his leg and suffering serious internal injuries.

He was taken to a nearby hospital where he received basic treatment, but died before a helicopter could arrive to transport him to a better-equipped facility. The company will raise Mr. Agung’s rank by two levels as a sign of appreciation for his extraordinary dedication, AirNav said in a statement. Local station Metro TV was among those who hailed Mr. Agung’s “heroic act”.

The Indonesian archipelago sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, where tectonic plates collide and many of the world’s volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur.

 

[Hindustani78]

Republic of India dispatches relief material to tsunami-hit Indonesia
Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI, October 02, 2018 17:26 IST
Updated: October 02, 2018 18:56 IST
https://www.thehindu.com/news/natio...t-indonesia/article25104069.ece?homepage=true

Indian Air Force has deployed one C-130J and one C-17 transport aircraft to ferry medical teams and relief material. | Photo Credit: Indian Air Force PR

Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a telephonic conversation with Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Monday and offered all possible assistance.


After India’s offer of assistance to tsunami-hit Indonesia, Indian Air Force (IAF) and Navy launched Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) efforts on Tuesday to deliver relief material to the South East Asian country.

Indian Navy has diverted three ships INS Tir, Sujata and Shardul on deployment to Singapore to Palu in Indonesia. IAF has deployed one C-130J and one C-17 transport aircraft to ferry medical teams and relief material.

Besides HADR bricks or material normally carried by all ships, these ships also have on board 30,000 L of bottled drinking water, 1500 L of packaged juices, 500 L milk, 700 kg of biscuits and 20 tents. The ships were dispatched at first light on Tuesday morning, a Navy officer said.

A massive 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck the Indonesian province of Sulawesi on Friday triggering a tsunami leaving at least 1,234 dead. On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a telephonic conversation with Indonesian President Joko Widodo and offered all possible assistance.

The IAF C-130J aircraft is carrying a field hospital from Agra while the C-17 aircraft is carrying National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) load, mainly consisting tents, generators and medicines.

The C-130 carrying 37 medical personnel has taken off from Hindon Air Force station to Chennai. From Chennai the aircraft will fly to Kualanamu international airport and from there move to Palu.

“The medical teams have been instructed to be self-contained for 10 days. Accordingly they are carrying their rations, generators, fuel oil lubricant, tentage. In addition, light medical equipment including an X-ray machine and medicines are being carried,” one IAF officer said.

The C-17 was loaded at Palam with relief material received from NDMA, including 15.66 tonne of tentage and generators and 16 tonne of medicines. The aircraft is headed to Makkasar in Indonesia.