A 7.5 magnitude earthquake hit Indonesia’s island of Sulawesi Sept. 28, followed by a deadly tsunami. The official death toll has hit 1,753 people and authorities have just confirmed that there could be more than 5,000 people missing from the island. Mass graves have been dug all over the island.
‘’This must be done for health and religious reasons,’’ claims Willem Rampangilei, chief of Indonesia’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency in an article by the South China Post Morning.
Officially, 265 people have been reported missing in Sulawesi’s largest city, Palu.
Due to soil liquefaction, a process where dirt mixes with water underground to create a deadly combination that can rip the ground open, there have been more than 1,000 houses and buildings that have been consumed by the raging Earth.
With 451 aftershocks and even 82,000 people helping, the region has been struggling without aid from international efforts. They are in need of water, food and rescue equipment, as much of their technology is outdated, leaving people to dig with their hands. More than 62,000 people have been displaced on the island and according to the United Nations, 200,000 people are in need of desperate assistance.   
Officials said Oct. 3 that time was running out to save trapped victims and earthquake survivors because north of the disaster zone, a volcano alert at level three has been sent out. Located on the Ring of Fire, a coastline of the world’s most active volcanoes, it is believed that this eruption could have triggered the earthquake and the tsunami.

In North Sumatra, another island in Indonesia, an elementary school was wiped out from a flood Oct. 14 and 11 of the 20 people who were pronounced dead were children.
As of Nov. 1 the death toll has hit 2,038 and the official number of people missing is 4,434 people.