Hard-hit Indonesian city buries its dead as toll tops 840

PALU, Indonesia (AP) — Brightly coloured body bags were placed side-by-side in a freshly dug mass grave Monday, as a hard-hit Indonesian city began burying its dead from the devastating earthquake and tsunami that killed more than 840 people and left thousands homeless.

The death toll, largely from the city of Palu, is expected to keep rising as areas cut off by the damage are reached.

The magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck at dusk Friday and generated a tsunami said to have been as high as 20 feet in places.

Local army commander Tiopan Aritonang said 545 bodies would be brought to the grave from one hospital alone.

The trench dug in Palu was 33 feet by 330 feet and can be enlarged if needed, said Willem Rampangilei, chief of Indonesia’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency.

“This must be done as soon as possible for health and religious reasons,” he said.

Indonesia is majority Muslim, and religious custom calls for burials soon after death, typically within one day.

Local military spokesman Mohammad Thorir said the area adjacent to a public cemetery can hold 1,000 bodies.

All of the victims, coming from local hospitals, have been photographed to help families locate where their relatives were buried.

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