At least 832 people have died in the earthquake and tsunami that hit Indonesia.
832 has been confirmed the death toll from the earthquake and tsunami that struck the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, however, the vice-president, Jusuf Kalla, has warned it could become thousands.
As of Monday, October 1st, officials have stated that more than 48,000 have been displaced by the disaster.
Friday’s 7.5-magnitude earthquake triggered a tsunami responsible for waves around three meters (just under 10 ft.) tall.
More than 150 aftershocks have followed the 7.5-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami, causing the collapse of thousands of homes, shopping malls and hotels.
According to The Guardian, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, the spokesman for the BNBP disaster agency, stated “Deaths are believed to be still increasing since many bodies were still under the wreckage while many have not able to be reached”, emphasising that access to Donggala, as well as the towns of Sigi and Boutong, was very limited, making the final death toll impossible to predict in an exact number.
Rescue efforts are continuing for dozens of people still trapped in the collapsed ruins of the eight-storey Roa Roa hotel in Palu. The Guardian has reported that at least 540 people had been badly injured while hospitals struggled to cope with the influx of casualties, installing open-air clinics to treat the injured that cannot receive proper space inside the installations.
The Indonesian president, Joko Widodo, who visited the region on Sunday, said earlier the military was being called to the region to help search-and-rescue teams.
Indonesia is one of the most disaster-prone nations on earth. It lies on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, where tectonic plates collide and many of the world’s volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur.
