People survey damage outside a shopping mall following the tsunami in Palu. (AP)
As the death toll in the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit Indonesia’s island of Sulawesi increased to 832 on Sunday, shocking videos of the trail of destruction left behind have begun to emerge. With rescuers scrambling to try to find trapped victims in collapsed buildings in the city of Palu, a video showed how a portion of land turned into mud and resulted in a landslide. Several roads have been severely damaged and blocked by landslides, making it difficult to reach some regions.
This is very scary. Land become weakness, become a mud and moving all around to the lower place. Moving very fast as a landslide with hundreds meters from its origin during 7.4 magnitude earthquake in Sigi near Palu. #PrayForPalu #PrayForDonggala #PrayForSulteng #PrayForSulawesi pic.twitter.com/fyVt8VCqcu
— Anggunesia (@Anggunesia) September 29, 2018
Another video shows a man trying to warn people as the tsunami approaches Palu, which was hit by waves as high as 20 feet following the 7.5 magnitude earthquake on Friday. The video shows water-bearing whirls of debris rushing in as people shout in alarm and flee the spot.
Dramatic video shows a man trying to warn people as a tsunami approaches the Indonesian city of Palu; at least 420 people killed pic.twitter.com/3JYOVrWC7A
— BNO News (@BNONews) September 29, 2018
With most of the confirmed deaths from Palu, authorities are bracing for the death toll to rise further as reports filter in from outlying areas, in particular, Donggala, a region of 300,000 people north of Palu and close to the epicentre of the quake, and two other districts. Vice President Jusuf Kalla said the toll could rise into the thousands.