Death Victim of Donggala Palu Tsunami Reaches 1,944 Souls

The latest data on the number of deaths in the earthquake and tsunami disaster in Donggala and Palu, Central Sulawesi, until Sunday (7/10), at 17.00 WITA reached 1,944 people. Head of Information of Central Sulawesi Integrated Joint Task Force Command (Kogasgabpad Sulteng) Colonel Inf. Muh Thohir said, as many as 815 bodies were buried en masse in Poboya, 35 mass buried in Pantoloan, 1,059 bodies were buried by their families.

"In addition, 35 bodies in Donggala have also been buried and 8 bodies were buried in Biromaru, Sigi Regency," Thohir said as quoted by Antara.

Thousands of people were injured

Meanwhile, the number of injured was recorded at 2,549 people, missing victims 683 people, number of refugees as many as 74,444 people, and damaged homes reached 65,733 units.

Thohir who was also the Head of Information about the Kodam XIII / Merdeka informed about the continuous efforts of the TNI along with the relevant agencies in finding and evacuating victims. This is as done by the Task Force Battalion of the 431 / SSP Kostrad Raiders, who managed to evacuate 20 bodies in Petobo Village, one of the areas that became isolated due to the earthquake.

Victim searches are still being carried out

Yonif's Natural Disaster Dansatgas of Kostrad Major 431 / SSP Raider Inf AA Geda Rama said his team was also trying to evacuate victims in Jono Oge Village, Sigi Regency which was also isolated.

"The village was affected by liquefaction, the soil turned into mud because the water-rich reservoir was shaken violently by the earthquake. The surrounding land was split and released large water from the ground," he said.

The PR 431 / SSP Battalion soldier with a strength of 250 people then focused on searching for victims and cleaning up the ruined buildings.

Thousands of military-civilian personnel were deployed.

Based on data from BNPB, the number of fatalities per 7 October 2018 at 1:00 p.m. WIB was 1,763 people died. According to BNPB Head of Information Data and Public Relations Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, the process of evacuation of victims continues until the emergency response period ends on October 11, 2018.

"It is hoped that there will be no isolated areas, there is no shortage of aid and normal community support capacity," he said at a press conference at Graha BNPB this afternoon, Sunday (7/10).

The Human Resources (HR) in the field to handle the earthquake and tsunami in Palu were 8,223. They consist of 6,338 military personnel, 1,560 civilian personnel, and 325 foreign military personnel. Other resources include equipment used in handling earthquake and tsunami as many as 87 units in the form of motor vehicles, heavy equipment, defense equipment, KRI, Hely and aircraft.