A powerful earthquake rocked the Indonesian island of Sulawesi on Friday, triggering a 3m tall tsunami that an official said swept away houses in at least two cities.
Just 34 minutes after the latest major earthquake to strike Indonesia, officials called off a tsunami warning. Aid agencies and others - still dealing with the aftermath of a devastating quake in August - breathed a sigh of relief.
What they didn't know was, just about that same time, a 3m wall of seawater was tearing through the city of Palu.
Amid the roar of onrushing sea and terrified cries for help, the tsunami tore homes off their foundations, snapped palm trees and dragged away victims - some preparing for a beach festival. Bodies were later left on sands as the waters receded, and some were dragged out to sea.
A man stands amid the damage caused by a tsunami in Palu yesterday. Photo / AP
More than 420 died in Palu alone, officials said yesterday as they began to take stock of the devastation. Among the dead was a young Indonesian air traffic controller who stayed at his post when the earthquake hit to ensure that a plane carrying hundreds of passengers took off safely.
The death toll was expected to rise significantly as rescue officials race to reach another city, Donggala, and some settlements completely cut off by the quake and tsunami triggered by a 7.5 magnitude earthquake off the central Indonesian island of Sulawesi, about 1300km northwest of Jakarta.
Indonesian vice president Jusuf Kalla, in an interview with local media, said the toll could reach well into the thousands.
Indonesian officials also may face another reckoning over why the tsunami alerts were pulled even while a disaster was roaring ashore, raising questions about the level of monitoring and post-quake analysis in a nation along some of the world's most active fault lines.
Relatives search for the body of their loved ones following the tsunami which hit Palu yesterday. Photo / AP
"People were still going about their activities on the beach, and did not immediately run," said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman for Indonesia's National Disaster Management Agency, who said that hundreds were gathered in Palu for a beach party. The number of deaths, he said, will "continue to rise as the search continues."
Indonesian officials and aid agencies struggled with battered communications, destroyed roads and landslides. Even aid deliveries by sea have been a challenge since Palu's port was badly damaged by the tsunami.
The second badly-hit city, Donggala, remained inaccessible after a main bridge collapsed.
"We're now getting limited communications about the destruction in Palu city, but we have heard nothing from Donggala and this is extremely worrying," the Red Cross said in a statement. "There are more than 300,000 people living there. This is already a tragedy, but it could get much worse."
The ruin of a mosque badly damaged by earthquake and tsunami is seen in Palu yesterday. Photo / AP
Rescue officials will now have to deal with the impact of the second major earthquake in Indonesia in two months.
In August, a 6.9 earthquake and a series of strong aftershocks hit the island of Lombok, south of Sulawesi, killing more than 450 people. World Vision, a relief agency, planned to send assessment teams to Palu and expected to reach Sunday. But still had many of their staff in Lombok responding to the destruction and widespread loss of homes there.
"Our own staff have been affected and their own homes damaged. We are deploying in teams but at this stage communications with Palu, on the island of Sulawesi, is extremely challenging so we, like others, are grappling with understanding the full impact of this disaster," said the aid agency's national director in Indonesia, Doseba Sinay.
Palu's airport was closed Saturday, its runway badly cracked from the quake, and so rescue workers have resorted to long drives through blocked roads and with the constant threat of landslides.
Yenni Suryani, country manager for Catholic Relief Services in Indonesia, said getting access to both cities is a "huge problem."
A motorbike passes the wreckage of a car following earthquakes and a tsunami in Palu yesterday. Photo / AP
"With the airport damaged, emergency responders and local aid groups are having to drive over land 10 to 12 hours," Suryani said. Catholic Relief Services' partners were trying to drive to Palu but only got halfway there and had to resume travel in the morning, she said.
"Those long hours on the road are going to mean hours lost getting assistance to people who need it in the next few days," she added.
Nugroho, the disaster agency's spokesman, said thousands of homes, hotels, shopping centers, hospitals and other public facilities were damaged. Hospital patients in Palu are being treated outside the building to avoid the danger of potential aftershocks.
In Palu, about 17, 000 people have been evacuated, scattered across centres in 24 locations.
Indonesia is prone to earthquakes because of its location on the "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin. Last month, a powerful earthquake hit the island of Lombok, followed by a series of strong quakes throughout the month. More than 500 people were killed.
In December 2004, a magnitude 9.1 earthquake off Sumatra in western Indonesia triggered a tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a dozen countries.
