Indonesia extends search efforts by a day

Indonesia’s disaster agency on Thursday postponed the end of search and rescue efforts in some of the worst-hit areas of Sulawesi island, where an earthquake and tsunami last month killed 2,073 people. Officials previously said search efforts would cease Thursday in the neighborhoods of Balaroa, Petobo, and Jono Oge in Palu, but families of some of the missing people pleaded for an additional day, disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said. In a last-ditch attempt to find victims, firefighters and other responders burned debris and used excavators to dig through the rubble. Save the Children’s affiliate in Indonesia said as many as 1,500 children are likely still missing.

A 6.1 magnitude earthquake hit Sulawesi on Sept. 28, followed by a 7.5 magnitude quake that triggered a tsunami. A majority of the casualties occured in the city of Palu. The quake caused the soil in the communities to liquefy, burying thousands of people and houses. Sutopo said it could take the region two years to recover from the disaster.

On Wednesday night, a 6.0 magnitude earthquake centered at sea killed at least three people and collapsed homes on Indonesia’s Java island.