832 people were killed when a powerful quake sent a tsunami barreling into the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, officials said Saturday, as hospitals struggled to cope with hundreds of injured and rescuers scrambled to reach the stricken region.
Waves up to 3m (10ft) high swept through Palu on Sulawesi city with around 350,000 people.
Thousands of buildings collapsed and evacuations were still underway Saturday in Palu City in the Donggala region of Sulawesi, Indonesia's Disaster Management Agency
The U.S. Geological Survey said that a 7.5 quake magnitude centered at a depth of 6 miles, about 35 miles northeast of the town of Donggala triggered the tsunami.
Earlier Friday, the same area was hit by a magnitude 6.1 earthquake that killed one person, injured 10 and damaged dozens of houses.
The warning was lifted within the hour, but officials asked people to remain on the alert as a number of moderate aftershocks hit. The earlier quake destroyed some houses, killing one person and injuring at least 10, authorities said.
In 2010, about 430 were killed when a huge quake sparked a tsunami off the coast of Sumatra, while more than 600 were killed in a quake-tsunami disaster on Java island.
