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Over 380 killed in devastating Indonesia tsunami, quake

Source: www.winknews.com - Saturday, September 29, 2018
An earthquake-spawned tsunami swept away buildings and killed at least several hundred people on the central Indonesian island of Sulawesi, dumping victims across a devastated landscape that rescuers were struggling to reach Saturday, hindered by damaged roads and broken communications. Disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said 384 people were killed in the hard-hit city of Palu alone. The nearby city of Donggala and the town of Mamuju were also ravaged by the magnitude 7.5 earthquake and tsunami but had not yet been reached by aid due to damaged roads and disrupted telecommunications. Nugroho said “tens to hundreds” of people were taking part in a beach festival in Palu when the tsunami struck at dusk on Friday. Their fate was unknown. In some places, the water rose as high as 6 meters (20 feet). “We got a report over the phone saying that there was a guy who climbed a tree up to 6 meters high,” Nugroho said. Palu, which has more than 380,000 people, was strewn with debris from collapsed buildings. A mosque heavily damaged by the quake was half submerged and a shopping mall was reduced to a crumpled hulk. A large bridge with yellow arches had collapsed. Bodies lay partially covered by tarpaulins and a man carried a dead child through the wreckage. The city is built around a narrow bay that apparently magnified the force of the tsunami waters as they raced into the tight inlet. Indonesian TV showed dramatic smartphone
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