Indonesia's rubble still has 5,000 people missing

Rescuers walk past debris at Perumnas Balaroa village in Palu. Pic/AFP

The number of people believed missing from the quake and tsunami that struck Indonesia's Palu city has soared to 5,000, an official said Sunday, an indication that far more may have perished in the twin disaster than the current toll.

There are fears that two of the hardest-hit neighbourhoods in Palu - Petobo and Balaroa - could contain thousands more victims, swallowed up by ground that engulfed whole communities in a process known as liquefaction.

"Based on reports from Balaroa and Petobo, there are about 5,000 people who have not been found," agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said on Sunday. "Nevertheless, officials there are still trying to confirm this and are gathering data. It is not easy to obtain the exact number of those trapped by landslides, or liquefaction, or mud," he said, adding that the search for the unaccounted would continue until October 11, at which point they would be listed as missing, presumed dead.

Haiti quake kills 11
A 5.9-magnitude earthquake struck just off the northwest coast of Haiti late Saturday, killing at least 11 people and causing damage to buildings in the Caribbean nation, authorities said. Government spokesman Eddy Jackson Alexis said 11 people were so far reported dead.

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