REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, PALU -- The death toll of the Central Sulawesi earthquake and tsunami rose to 1,944. Col. Muh Thohir, the chief spokesman of the regional military command of Central Sulawesi, said the military unit of the army strategic command (Kostrad) found 20 bodies from below ruins of buildings in Petobo on Sunday increasing the death toll to 1,944 until 05.00 pm local time.

Thohir said the death toll could rise any time with 683 people still reported missing feared dead and 2,549 others injured. He also said the number of evacuees reached 74,444 people and the number of houses damaged and destroyed reached 65,733 units.

He said the military soldiers were involved in the search and rescue mission and in removing the ruins of buildings.

A citizen takes picture of Arkam Bab Al Rahman Mosque or Floating Mosque that survived the 7.4-magnitude earthquake and tsunami at Kampong Lere, Palu, Central Sulawesi, Sunday (Oct 7).

Earlier, Pleiades and Sentinel 2 Satellite images indicated that 180 hectares (ha) of residential area in Petobo, Palu, and 202 ha in Jono Oge, Sigi District, Central Sulawesi, vanished following a magnitude-7.4 earthquake on Sept 28 evening. An emergency response team of the National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (LAPAN) here on Thursday issued data based on the interpretation visual image method that 2,050 buildings were destroyed and 168 others likely damaged in Petobo.

In Jono Oge, 366 houses were destroyed and 23 others were likely damaged. The data compared visual images of July 6, 2018, of Plediades and September 17, 2018, of Sentinel 2, with those of October 2, 2018.

Sentinel 2 Satellite belonging to the European Union offers free download, while Pleiades visual images are used to identify building damage, Priyatna, head of the dissemination unit of LAPAN's Center for Remote Sensing Utilization, stated.

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