Large earthquake in Sulawesi. Palu struck by tsunami.
Another Indonesian earthquake, this time a shallow 7.5 magnitude tremor that was more powerful than the quakes that killed hundreds on Lombok island during July and August, has hit the central Indonesian island of Sulawesi.
Rescuers are still scrambling to reach villages in central Indonesia to assess the damage after the earthquake hit, causing buildings to fall down and triggering a tsunami alert.
Tsunami waves reached a maximum height of 1.5 metres with video taken on the coast of Palu shows the wave slamming into the coast. Deaths directly following the tsunami are not yet clear.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsfXRKb2HGE
VIDEO: Petani Kota87
The video was filmed from the top floor of a car park ramp in Palu, 80 kilometres from the epicentre of yesterday’s late afternoon earthquake. The quake hit on the holiest day of the Muslim week and devotees were just reporting for evening prayers when the quake struck.
A smaller jolt killed at least one person in the same part of the Southeast Asian archipelago an hour before the bigger quake. Rescuers believe the death toll will rise throughout Saturday and Sunday as they reach some of the affected areas. Reports so far say that many buildings have been destroyed. In Palu, an entire floor of a shopping mall has collapsed.
The earthquake jolted central Sulawesi at a depth of 10 kilometres just before 6pm Friday. Experts acknowledge that shallow quakes like this tend to be more destructive.
Palu’s main airport was closed immediately after the quake and remains closed as of Saturday morning.
