A volcano erupted on Wednesday on the same central Indonesian island struck last week by a powerful earthquake and tsunami, and authorities warned planes about volcanic ash in the air.
Hopes have dimmed of finding people alive in the wreckage from the earthquake and tsunami that struck Palu in Indonesia with rescue teams struggling to reach some of the worst-hit areas.
To add to the rescue woes, Soputan Volcano in northern Sulawesi erupted on Wednesday, spewing volcanic ash up to 4,000 metres into the air.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb33mH0IoBc
A government volcanologist said it’s possible the eruption was accelerated by the magnitude 7.5 earthquake that struck last week Friday.
“It could be that this earthquake triggered the eruption, but the direct correlation has yet to be seen as there had been an increase in the Mount Soputan activity,” Kasbani, an Indonesian volcanologist who uses only one name, told online news site Tempo.
The death toll following the Indonesia tsunami and earthquake has risen to almost 1,400 on Wednesday with hundreds of people unaccounted for.
“The death toll is now 1,374 [and] 113 missing,” said Willem Rampangilei, head of Indonesia’s national disaster agency. “And there are still a few bodies trapped under the rubble. We don’t know how many. Our priority is still to find and save people.”
Indonesia has agreed to accept foreign aid for the disaster but the government told foreign rescue teams to “stand down”, insisting they had the disaster under control. The airport remained closed to foreign airlines wishing to transport aid into the area and the vice-president, Jusuf Kalla, said the government had rejected the offer of a hospital ship from the US government.
But those on the ground described scenes of hospitals being overwhelmed, people queueing for petrol for 24 hours and devastated areas the village of Wani in Donggala province remaining without help five days after the earthquake hit, the Guardian reports.
