Indonesia considers making devastated areas mass graves
PALU, Indonesia — Search teams pulled bodies from obliterated neighbourhoods in the disaster-stricken Indonesian city of Palu on Saturday as more aid rolled in and the government said it was considering making devastated areas into mass graves.
Indonesia’s disaster agency said the death toll from the powerful earthquake and tsunami climbed to 1,649, with at least 265 people still missing, though it said that number could be higher. More nations sent aid and humanitarian workers fanned out in the countryside.
The dead were still being recovered more than a week after the double disaster. Eight victims in black body bags of the national search and rescue agency were arranged in a row in the crumpled Palu neighbourhood of Balaroa, destined for a mass grave.
Relatives cried as people placed long pieces of white cloth, to represent a Muslim burial rite, inside the bags.