Sulawesi Earthquake and Tsunami

On Friday 28th September at 18.03, Sulawesi in Indonesia was hit by a 7.5 magnitude earthquake, triggering a 6m tsunami caused by an underwater landslide. The most affected areas are Donggala, Parigi, Moutong, Sigi and Palu.

The death toll on Thursday climbed to 1,424 with thousands more injured. More than 66,000 homes were destroyed and at least 600,000 children have been affected by the quake, many sleeping on the streets among ruins. The bridge is completely destroyed, roads are blocked and the airport was closed and reopened soon after. Flooding of turbid water polluting clean water supplies has led to increasing concerns over lack of food, fuel and water. The difficult terrain is making reaching people extremely difficult and it is taking 30 hours to transport supplies from the nearest functioning port, Makassar, to the worst-affected areas. Electricity pylons are also down causing power cuts and at least 92 people have been arrested for looting goods in areas devastated by the earthquake. Local television reported that the detainees were caught with goods including motor oil, tires, ceramic tiles, and farming equipment as people are in desperate need of supplies.

Repeated tsunami warnings were sent to residents via text message but they might not have been received due to power cuts and there were no sirens by the coast. The tsunami was predicted to be 1m high so a warning was given but was lifted 30 minutes after. Due to the shape of the coast, waves were channelled into the inlet increasing the height of the wave and the effects of the earthquake have also caused over 200 aftershocks and cases of soil liquefaction in Palu and Sigi which are exacerbating conditions.

The ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management (AHA Centre) currently estimates that 1.5 million are “potentially affected”. ActionAid in Indonesia has sent teams with experience in emergency and field data collection to Palu and Dongalla. The teams assessed the needs and gathered information, and will be providing equipment and a limited amount of essential supplies to affected people, e.g. electricity generator, solar lamps, tents and tarpaulins. Over the next few days the coalition plans to deploy further relief supplies to Palu and Donggala, including food, clothes, blankets, sanitary products for women and nappies. The Indonesian military are currently delivering aid to Palu in the form of 1400 rescuers and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is appealing for $22m to help Indonesia. 20 countries offered help and Australia announced it will send 50 medical professionals as part of a $3.6m aid package.