“The situation is chaotic, people are running on the streets and buildings collapsed. There is a ship washed ashore,” says Dwikorita Karnawati, who heads Indonesia’s meteorology and geophysics agency.
JAKARTA , SEPTEMBER 28 : A tsunami of up to 2 metres height hit a small city on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi after a 7.5 magnitude quake struck offshore on September 28, collapsing buildings and washing a vessel ashore, but there was no word on casualties, officials said.
The authorities received information that Palu had been hit, said Dwikorita Karnawati, who heads Indonesia’s meteorology and geophysics agency, BMKG, amid a rapid series of aftershocks.
“The 1.5- to two-metre tsunami has receded,” Ms. Karnawati told Reuters. “It ended. The situation is chaotic, people are running on the streets and buildings have collapsed. There is a ship washed ashore,” she added.
The BMKG had issued a tsunami warning, but lifted it within the hour.
Amateur footage shown by local TV stations, which could not immediately be confirmed by Reuters, showed waters crashing into houses along Palu’s shoreline.
The national search and rescue agency would deploy a large ship and helicopters to aid with the operation, said agency chief Muhammad Syaugi, adding that he had not been able to contact his team in Palu.
Palu, hit by a 6.2-magnitude quake in 2005 which killed one person, is a tourist resort at the end of a narrow bay famous for its beaches and water sports.
