Indonesia earthquake latest: Despair turns to anger as lack of aid forces authorities to permit looting

Red Cross says situation is ‘nightmarish’ as officials fear death toll – already 1,347 – could rise into multiple thousands

Anger among survivors of Indonesia’s devastating 7.5-magnitude earthquake and tsunami spilled over on Tuesday amid frustration at aid failing to reach disaster-hit region.

President Joko Widodo ordered more rescue workers to be deployed to the island of Sulawesi but told a meeting to coordinate recovery efforts that the “main priorities” must be “first is to evacuate, find and save victims”.

Officials said the confirmed death toll stood at 1,347 and almost 800 severely injured as of Tuesday afternoon, mostly in the port city of Palu and the neighbouring region of Donggala. But a disaster agency spokesman warned counting had not even begun yet in at least two significantly affected communities.

In Palu, signs lined the roads with messages like “We need food” and “We need support”. Earlier in the day, witnesses described growing tensions between armed police and survivors in Palu, as people fight over the limited food and essentials available. Officers fired warning shots into the air and aimed tear gas at people trying to loot a small shop, according to one BBC News reporter.

And with supplies running out in Donggala, local administrator Kasman Lassa said he was given no choice but to allow people to take what they needed from shops.

Residents of the city said they feared they had been forgotten as attention focused on the city of Palu, which has been easier to reach.

“Everyone is hungry and they want to eat after several days of not eating,” Mr Lassa said.

He said people going into shops “should take only cake, bread, rice. Do not take chairs, or television. Again, for cake, bread, rice, they can take it. The store owner also allows them to take food.”

Bodies are still being found and even some survivors were still being pulled from muddy wreckage on Tuesday. Key sites for rescuers included a Christian bible study camp where more than 80 students were reported missing.

Rescue workers said they found the bodies of 34 children under a church where they had huddled together for shelter when a powerful mudslide hit the Jonooge Church Training Centre in Sigi Biromaru, just outside Palu. Officials fear more could be trapped under the rubble of the church and other buildings.

The Indonesian Red Cross said the bodies were still being retrieved and the ages and identities of the children could not be confirmed, such were the “terrible” conditions created by the mudslide. Just reaching the site involved a 1.5-hour walk through mud from the nearest accessible road, a spokesperson said.

The four worst-hit districts on Sulawesi have a combined population of about 1.4 million people. Most of the confirmed dead have been in the small city of Palu, 1,500 km (930 miles) northeast of Jakarta.

The quake triggered tsunami waves as high as six metres (20ft) that smashed into the city’s beachfront, while hotels and shopping malls collapsed in ruins and some neighbourhoods were swallowed up by ground liquefaction.

About 50 people were believed to have been caught inside the seven-storey Hotel Roa Roa when it was brought down by the tsunami. Three have been rescued alive, while nine bodies have been recovered so far including one more on Tuesday.

Officials were poring over blueprints of the hotel to try and identify areas where space pockets might have emerged. “We suspect there are still some survivors trapped inside,” the head of one rescue team, Agus Haryono, told Reuters.

Indonesia has said it would accept offers of international aid, having shunned outside help earlier this year when an earthquake struck the island of Lombok.

The government said generators, heavy equipment and tents were among the most-needed items. Australia has pledged around 500,000 Australian dollars (£280,000) financial aid and is in talks to provide more, while the EU, US and China have also offered help.

Since Friday’s earthquake, multiple aftershocks have continued to rattle already jangled nerves.

And a particular horror in several areas in and around Palu has been liquefaction, which happens when soil shaken by an earthquake behaves like a liquid.

About 1,700 houses in one neighbourhood were swallowed up, with hundreds of people believed buried, the national disaster agency said.

Before-and-after satellite pictures show a largely built-up area just south of Palu’s airport seemingly wiped clean of all signs of life by liquefaction.

Elsewhere on the outskirts of Palu, lorries brought 54 bodies to a mass grave dug in sandy soil.

Most of the bodies had not been claimed, a policeman said, but some relatives turned up to pay respects to loved ones at the 50 metre (165 feet) trench, where the smell of decomposition was overpowering.

“It’s OK if he’s buried in the mass grave, it’s better to have him buried fast,” said Rosmawati Binti Yahya, 52, whose husband was among those placed in the grave, before heading off to look for her missing daughter.

Additional reporting by agencies