After an earthquake on Indonesian island on Friday, authorities have found 34 bodies of children who were attending Pusdiklat GPID Patmos “Jono Oge,” a church training center in Sigi, located outside the provincial capital of Palu.
Red Cross spokeswoman, Aulia Arriani stated that the children were attending a Christian Bible camp when they were killed.
According to Christian Headlines, more than 1,300 people died in the disasters but officials expect to find more bodies as the death toll continues to rise.
Also, in Palu, a military plane carrying supplies was unable to land because of crowd at the airport.
“There was a fear of the crowd mobbing the plane,” a representative for an aid organization said.
“People are so desperate for aid.” He added
Other reports say that stores have been “cleaned out” of supplies and there have also been some looting.
“Security on the ground is not great,” the aid worker said. “There’s no power, there’s limited food and no access to clean water. Our biggest concern is the security of our staff and making sure that their supplies will be going to the most needy.”
Spokesman for Indonesia’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, said the tsunami detectors buoys were not working, but a tsunami warning was still issued. Unfortunately, many in Palu did not receive the warning because of power outage
Nugroho also added that about 50,000 people have been displaced from their homes.
Yenni Suryani, of Catholic Relief Services, said power was still out “almost everywhere” and staff is having trouble reaching affected areas.
According to reports, the earthquake was a 7.5 magnitude quake and the tsunami waves were as high as 20 feet.
Volunteers in the area are working on digging a mass grave for the deceased persons.
By: Oluwaseyi Jeje
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