Tidal waves kill eight in Central Sulawesi

Tidal waves kill eight in Central Sulawesi

JAKARTA (JP): The tidal waves that struck several villages along the western coast of Central Sulawesi on Monday left eight people dead, Antara reported yesterday.

All eight were residents of Tonggolobibi village in the Donggala regency, the news agency said, quoting officials in Palu, capital of the province. A woman has been reported missing, it added.

Tidal waves, some reported as high as five meters, hit the Donggala and Tolitoli regencies in the province on Monday immediately after a powerful earthquake struck the area. The tremor, with an epicenter in the Makassar Strait, measured seven on the Richter scale.

Tides remained high in the area, covering the Lingayan, a tiny islet across Bangkir village, and inundating 85 houses. Some 500 people have had to be evacuated to safer ground.

The quake combined with the tidal waves also destroyed more than 400 houses and scores of government buildings in the Tolitoli regency.

A company from the 713rd Battalion based in Gorontalo, North Sulawesi, has been sent to help with relief and rebuilding operations.

Relief supplies have began to trickle in have been hampered because the road from Palu to the affected areas is virtually impassable. The authorities have ruled out transporting them by boat because of the rough seas.

In Sumatra, the road linking Aceh and North Sumatra was reopened yesterday, Antara reported. It has been closed since Friday due to floods that inundated the highway and destroyed a number of bridges.

The flash floods in Aceh, said to be the worst in 50 years, left 16 people dead and forced thousands of people to flee their homes.

Hundreds of intercity buses, trucks and sedans were stranded in Kualasimpang, a town on the Aceh-North Sumatra border, for the past five days as they waited for the water to recede. They were cleared by yesterday afternoon. (emb)