Visits: 4
PALU, Indonesia — Munif Umayar, a survivor of the earthquake and tsunami that devastated the city of Palu, took up a laborious search for his house on Wednesday in the ruins of the Balaroa neighborhood. After a long hunt, and hard digging, he finally found it — at least 150 yards from where he guessed he used to live.
That was the power of the earthquake, turning the ground into jelly in a deadly churn that eradicated landmarks and sent buildings flowing sideways even as they were being sucked down into rubble.
“I had to dig hard to know that this was my house,” said Mr. Munif, a 50-year-old businessman. “When I found it, I put a flag on it, as a sign.” He fears his brother was trapped inside.
Balaroa is a middle-class collection of housing developments in Palu, and it is the center of some of the worst damage from the quake that hit Indonesia on Friday. In the midst of a disaster that killed with both water and earth over a wider stretch of Sulawesi Island — the official toll rose to at least 1,407 dead on Wednesday — Balaroa sustained almost no damage from the ensuing tsunami.
Instead, the neighborhood was laid waste when the earthquake caused a phenomenon known as liquefaction, undermining and destroying at least 1,747 homes in this part of town alone. Balaroa is now a vast wasteland of debris. Rooftops are all that remain of many houses. The minaret of a mosque, leaning precariously to one side, is one of the few structures still standing.
Across Palu and in neighboring areas, many people are still unaccounted for. Officials put the number of missing at 113, but that was only those who had been reported.
An untold number were swept away by the tsunami, especially by the third and final wave that was more than 20 feet high in some places. And many bodies are thought to still be buried under rubble in places like Balaroa. The quake struck at 6:02 p.m. local time, an hour when many would have been at home.
After days of makeshift efforts, heavy equipment was going to work around the city on Wednesday, used by military crews to help dig out bodies and clear roads.
The bodies were there, locals knew, because of the smell. As crews dug into the earth in one obliterated corner of Balaroa, a woman’s arm became visible, then her head. Pushing away rebar and concrete, the workers found more: a small child, clutching to her in their last moments.
In the devastated neighborhood, demolished buildings were covered in layers of corrugated iron roofing. Buckled rods and downed electric pylons jutted out. Cars and vehicles stuck up at improbable angles, many of them missing fuel caps — probably from scavengers siphoning off fuel.
The village of Petobo, which like Balaroa was built on soft soil in a low-lying area, was also demolished by liquefaction. At least 744 houses were destroyed there.
An Indonesian Red Cross team that reached Petobo on Wednesday reported that the village of 500 people had been obliterated. Fourteen bodies had been recovered.
“Red Cross responders are pushing their way through debris and damaged roads to reach new areas and try to help the survivors, and they are finding devastation and tragedy everywhere,” said Iris van Deinse of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. “When we arrived in Petobo, we found that it had been wiped off the map.”
Mercy Corps, another aid group helping in the devastated region, said fuel shortages were hampering the recovery and the delivery of aid. Many people are in dire need of assistance, the organization said, especially in outlying areas where roads and bridges were destroyed and access remains difficult.
“The situation in Palu remains grave,” said Arianto, a Mercy Corps team member who like many Indonesians uses one name. “Food and water is scarce, and many of the people I have spoken with haven’t eaten in days — and that is the situation in Palu, a city which is receiving support.”
All told, 4,413 buildings were said to have collapsed in Palu, and 773 more in the neighboring town of Donggala, said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, the spokesman for Indonesia’s disaster management agency.
Recovery efforts were starting to pick up on Wednesday, and there were scattered reports that more goods were becoming available. Some shopkeepers felt safe enough to reopen small stores and market stalls.
Assistance from other countries also was beginning to arrive, including from Singapore, Japan, South Korea and Britain.
Outside Palu, along the main road through the district of Donggala, houses on the seaward side had been smashed by the tsunami and houses on the inland side destroyed by the quake.
Some residents sat in front of the remains of their homes as goats roamed nearby. Others asked for donations along the roadside, including one woman wearing a hijab who carried her young son in one arm and a box with instant noodles and drinking water in the other.
Residents complained that aid was not being distributed fairly, with much of it going to Palu instead of the outlying areas.
In the subdistrict of Baladonda, south of Donggala, some young men aggressively sought “donations” from passing motorists. One driver handed over a box of instant noodles. The next coughed up a box of drinking water. Others got past by donating money.
Back in Balaroa, Mr. Munif and other survivors filtering back to assess their losses found their neighborhood unrecognizable.
Many were searching for missing relatives. Mr. Munif fears his brother was trapped in the house when the quake struck.
Both sad and angry, friends hugged and tried to lend one another the strength to continue.
Hardrah, 44, came to search for her son’s school graduation documents but found only ruins.
She was able to locate her house, but all that remained standing was a single wall.
Ms. Hardrah said she was home when the quake hit, but doesn’t really know how she managed to flee to safety.
“When it was over, I only saw the ruins and houses collapsed on the ground,” she said. “I’m still scared.”
Fira Abdurachman and Adam Dean reported from Palu, and Richard C. Paddock from Mamuju, Indonesia. Muktita Suhartono contributed reporting from Donggala, and Restidia Putri from Jakarta.