Hope Fades for Missing in Indonesia Quake

PALU, Indonesia (AP) — She lay inside a medical tent in the stifling midday heat, wincing in pain at the deep gashes and cuts that covered her body. But all Anisa Cornelia could think about was the love of her life — the man she was supposed to marry this month. She had not seen him since a deadly tsunami smashed into the Indonesian city of Palu last week, separating the pair possibly forever as they strolled along a sandy beach at twilight. "Where is my fiancé? Please, do you have any news?" the badly bruised 22-year-old pleaded as medical staff came to check on her in the courtyard of Palu's main hospital. "Everyone is still searching for him," replied Dr. Andi Sengrengrele, pursing her lips in sympathy. "You have to be patient, OK?" One week after a magnitude 7.5 quake spawned a deadly tsunami on the island of Sulawesi, countless people have yet to find their loved ones — both survivors and the dead. As of Thursday, the government put the death toll at 1,424, with 113 people missing. Many families, though, never registered their losses with police. It's also unknown how many might have drowned, been swept out to sea or were swallowed up in two of Palu's neighborhoods where the quake turned the ground into quicksand-like soil. Lisda Cancer, who heads the local police's Department of Victim Identification, said about 600 of the bodies buried in mass graves in Palu alone were unclaimed. Until Wednesday, authorities had been photographing...
Source: JEMS: Journal of Emergency Medical Services News - Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Major Incidents News Mass Casualty Incidents Source Type: news