In a tragedy of magnetic proportions at the time of filing the report as many as 384 people according to media reports were killed while several hundreds are missing when a powerful tsunami triggered by a magnitude 7.5 earthquake has hit the Indonesian island of Sulawesi
Here’s the moment a #tsunami of up to three metres hit #Indonesia pic.twitter.com/jQUKVk6mlP
— ABC News (@abcnews) September 29, 2018
The national disaster agency has put the death toll at 384 so far in in the tsunami-struck city of Palu. It could rise in the days ahead. Many bodies were found on Saturday along the shoreline of Palu, the scenic tourist town. In the city — home to around 350,000 people — partially covered bodies lay on the ground near the shore, the day after tsunami waves 1.5 metres (five feet) came ashore.
There were also concerns over the whereabouts of hundreds of people preparing for a beach festival due to start Friday evening, the disaster agency said.
The tsunami was triggered by a strong quake that brought down buildings and sent locals fleeing for higher ground as a churning wall of water crashed into Palu, where there were widespread power blackouts.