SEARCH teams in Indonesia have pulled more bodies from neighbourhoods in the earthquake and tsunami-stricken city of Palu as further international aid arrived and humanitarian workers fanned out.
Indonesia’s disaster agency said the death toll had climbed to 1649, with at least 265 people still missing, although it said that number could be higher.
A Japanese military plane landed at Palu’s airport on Saturday morning, and soldiers unloaded tons of supplies including medicines and small portable generators in boxes emblazoned with the Japanese flag and the words “From the People of Japan”.
The dead were still being recovered more than a week after the double disaster. Eight victims in black body bags were arranged in a row at the crumpled neighbourhood of Balaroa, destined for a mass grave. In the dusty one-road village of Pewunu, excited children shouted “Red Cross! Red Cross!” as one of its medical teams arrived. One villager said they had survived by ransacking shops.
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