Nearly 400 killed in Indonesia tsunami-earthquake, death toll may rise

The Indonesian media, citing the national disaster agency, said the death toll from the Sulawesi earthquake and tsunami had risen to 384 on Saturday. A three-meter high (10 foot) tsunami triggered by a magnitude 7.5 earthquake Friday smashed into two cities and several settlements. Palu, the capital of Central Sulawesi province, was strewn with debris from collapsed buildings. Seawater still pooled inland and a mosque heavily damaged by the quake was half submerged. A shopping mall in the paralyzed city of more than 380,000 people had been reduced to a crumpled hulk. The city is built around a narrow bay that apparently magnified the force of the tsunami waters as it raced into the tight inlet.