An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.4 on the Richter scale followed by tsunami hit on Friday last week causing a loss of at least 1400 people in Donggala, Palu and other nearby towns and villages in Central Sulawesi.
The death toll has risen from day to day with 113 more people are still missing feared dead under the ruins of buildings especially in the provincial city of Palu.
Banks and many of hundreds of shops and business centers in selling essential goods in the district of Donggala, the second hardest hit by the natural disasters, have resumed operation.
The ATMs of three state lenders, Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) Bank Mandiri and Bank Rakyat Indonesia have functioned normally.
The military has been involved in the national effort to recover the disaster hit areas.
International aid has also arrived and used in the recovery efforts.
"We are not alone in facing this difficult time," President Joko Widodo said commenting on the inflows of international aid, which also includes the use of foreign aircraft for transport.
Only certain types of aircraft not larger than Hercules aircraft could land on the Palu airport which has only a 2,000 meters runway.
Communications over land could not operate immediately as many bridges have collapsed. Sea transport would take too long time from other areas such as Java . Meanwhile the hungry and sick people need immediate treatment.
There are thousands of people in Palu and Donggala seriously injured and have to be treated at hospitals.
Meanwhile search continued for missing people using heavy equipment digging and removing piles of the ruins of buildings such as shopping building and hotels that collapsed hit by the quake.
The authorities said more than 1,000 bodies have been buried in mass burial place.
Reporting Genta Tenri Mawangi
Editing by A. Saragih
Reporter: Antara
Editor: Yosep Hariyadi
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
