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Witness: Scenes From the Indonesian Tsunami Witness: Scenes From the Indonesian Tsunami
(about 20 hours later)
When the New York Times photographer Adam Dean arrived in Palu, Indonesia, this week, he found death and devastation at every direction.When the New York Times photographer Adam Dean arrived in Palu, Indonesia, this week, he found death and devastation at every direction.
The earthquake and tsunami that struck the Indonesian island of Sulawesi on Friday had killed more than 1,200 people — a number likely to rise — and destroyed thousands of buildings. Hungry people were begging for aid and armed men were scavenging ripped-open stores. Soldiers with medical masks shielding their faces buried the decomposing dead in mass graves. Rescuers, lacking heavy equipment, were clawing through the rubble by hand, still hoping to find survivors. The earthquake and tsunami that struck the Indonesian island of Sulawesi on Friday has killed more than 1,400 people — a number that could still rise — and destroyed thousands of buildings. Hungry people were begging for aid and armed men were scavenging ripped-open stores. Soldiers with medical masks shielding their faces buried the decomposing dead in mass graves. Rescuers, lacking heavy equipment, were clawing through the rubble by hand, still hoping to find survivors.
By Tuesday, they were still trying to reach more remote areas, where there could be thousands more dead. By Wednesday, the extent of the damage was finally becoming evident.
Among the survivors, the injuries ran the gamut. On Monday, Mr. Dean met a woman at a hospital named Sarah Wati, who was in tears. Ms. Wati, 20, an unemployed mother of one, had been caught in a crowd that was trying to loot an A.T.M. The police fired shots to disperse the looters and a bullet struck her foot. One of the worst hit areas of Palu, a neighborhood called Balaroa, saw almost no damage from the wall of water brought on by the tsunami, but suffered severe damage from the earthquake and subsequent liquefaction. The process caused soil to flow like liquid, crumpling houses as the ground churned. Many were buried in their homes, now a pile of twisted concrete and rebar. Cars came to rest at improbable angles and a once-beautiful golden-roofed mosque with a minaret askew lay teetering in the chaos.
The next day, he met another mother who had been even less fortunate. Ling Ling lay weeping and wailing on her son’s fresh grave, clutching at the headstone. Search and rescue teams started to work their way through the damage there on Wednesday. Local residents pointed out where they thought the dead were buried based on odor.
“I’m broken. I don’t have any hope anymore,” she wailed as her husband tried to console her. “I wish I had died instead of him.”
Here are images by Mr. Dean and others of the quake and tsunami aftermath.Here are images by Mr. Dean and others of the quake and tsunami aftermath.