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TSUNAMI - JAKARTA. The National Disaster and Mitigation Agency (BNPB) has said most of the victims in Palu, Central Sulawesi, were killed by the tsunami that slammed into the city after a 7.4-magnitude earthquake hit the province on Friday.
“Most of them died because of the tsunami,” BNPB spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told reporters on Saturday.
The agency was still trying to count the number of fatalities following the earthquakes and tsunami that affected three regions in the province: Palu, Donggala and Mamuju.
The latest official death toll released by the BNPB shows that at least 384 people were killed and 540 injured in the disaster. It is believed that the number of victims was likely to increase because rescue teams have yet to reach all affected areas.
As of Saturday afternoon, most of the residents in Palu and Donggala had to spend the night without electricity because state-owned electricity company PLN was able to fix only two of the seven damaged power stations in Palu and Donggala.
A string of earthquakes hit the Central Sulawesi regency of Donggala on Friday afternoon, one of which reached 7.4-magnitude on Friday at 6:02 p.m. local time.
The largest earthquake was followed by waves, which were 0.5 to 3 meters high, on parts of Donggala’s coast and Talise Beach in Palu.
