Number of dead continues to rise in Indonesia disaster

As rescuers continue to search for survivors, Indonesian officials on Tuesday raised the death toll to 1,234 people after an earthquake and tsunami on the island of Sulawesi. Disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho confirmed the casualties and said 799 other people sustained severe injuries. The death toll is likely to increase when officials run a count in the communities of Sigi and Balaroa. A 6.1 magnitude earthquake hit the island on Friday evening, followed by a 7.5 magnitude quake that triggered a tsunami. The disaster displaced more than 50,000 people.

In the city of Palu, responders recovered 12 people from a collapsed seven-floor hotel, but only three survived. Indonesia Red Cross spokeswoman Aulia Arriani told Agence France-Presse that workers recovered the bodies of 34 students after a landslide covered a church at a training center in the Sigi Biromaru district. Arriani said authorities initially reported 84 students were missing from a Bible camp there. In the city of Dongala, which was closest to the epicenter and cut off by inaccessible roads, residents called for government support. Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Tuesday ordered the national search and rescue agency to deploy more officials to assist affected districts.