PALU, Indonesia — The confirmed death toll from the devastating earthquake and tsunami on Indonesia’s Sulawesi island neared 2,000 on Monday, but thousands more are believed unaccounted for and officials said search teams plan to stop looking for victims later this week. The official toll hit 1,948, mostly in the hard-hit city of Palu, said Jamaluddin, an official from the disaster task force who uses one name. He corrected the number during a news conference in Jakarta after initially saying it was 1,944. “It is impossible to rebuild in areas with high liquefaction risk such as Petobo and Balaroa,” he said, adding villages there will be relocated. Rampangilei said life is starting to return to normal in some areas affected by the disaster.

Source: National Post October 08, 2018 07:08 UTC