Jakarta _ Agencies
The National Agency for Disaster Control in Indonesia (NSA) said the number of people killed in the quake and the aftermath of the tsunami had risen to 384, while persons were still missing, as rescue teams had not yet been able to reach them.
An earthquake measuring 7.5 on the Richter scale hit the city of Palo, with a population of about 350,000, after it was hit by a 1.5-metre-high tidal wave, Friday, after a violent earthquake.
The Indonesian authorities warned that the death toll could rise rapidly in the presence of dozens of people under the rubble of buildings, homes, hotels and hospitals devastated by the quake.
"We believe that dozens or hundreds have not been recovered from the rubble," said an Indonesian official. The main commercial centre of Palo Rivers and the Rua Roa Hotel collapsed with 80 rooms, including 76 busy rooms.
The quake hit the island of Sulawesi, which was more powerful than a series of earthquakes that left more than 500 people dead and about 1,500 wounded in August on the island of Lombok, which is adjacent to Bali.
