Time running out as Indonesia toll tops 1,400

The death toll in Indonesia’s twin quake-tsunami disaster passed 1,400 yesterday, with time running out to rescue survivors and the UN warning of “vast” unmet needs. Authorities have set a tentative deadline of Friday to find anyone still trapped under rubble, at which point -- a week after this devastating double disaster on Sulawesi island -- the chances of finding survivors will dwindle to almost zero. Military spokesman M. Thohir said the number of confirmed dead has risen to 1,411, while the disaster agency said 519 bodies have already been buried.

Government rescue workers seeking survivors are focusing on half a dozen key sites around the seaside city of Palu -- the Hotel Roa-Roa where up to 60 people are still believed buried, a shopping mall, a restaurant and the Balaroa area where the sheer force of the quake turned the earth temporarily to mush. At least 150 people are unaccounted for beneath the rubble, officials said.

According to the UN’s humanitarian office almost 200,000 people need urgent help, among them tens of thousands of children, with an estimated 66,000 homes destroyed or damaged by the 7.5-magnitude quake and the tsunami it spawned. Survivors are battling thirst and hunger, with food and clean water in short supply, and local hospitals are overwhelmed by the number of injured. Officials on the ground said that while the govt was now inviting offers of help, there is still no “mechanism for this to be implemented”.