Queen donates as Indonesia quake death toll tops 1,600

Search teams are finding more bodies as they work through the devastation left by the Indonesian earthquake, while international aid crews have arrived to offer assistance.

Indonesia’s disaster agency said 1,649 people have died and at least 265 people are missing after the September 28 earthquake, tsunami and mudslides.

Buckingham Palace confirmed the Queen has made a “private donation” to the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) appeal to help survivors.

The disaster saw 20ft waves crash onto the coast, destroying thousands of homes and causing devastation around the provincial capital of Palu, leaving Donggala and other coastal cities in ruins and without power.

Muslim Aid UK’s head of mission Fadlullah Wilmot, 75, who is in Palu, said a group of local survivors found 32 more bodies on Saturday morning.

He said: “The bodies were discovered near a mosque and there was a primary school nearby which was cut in half.

“I think that humanity has enormous resilience and people will be able to pick themselves up from this disaster.

“Families and communities who have lost life, their family homes and everything – they will have to rebuild from scratch.

“Indonesia is in the Ring of Fire (home to 75% of the world’s volcanoes and 70% of its earthquakes) so earthquakes and tsunamis are not unusual.

“It is not uncommon but when it hits, it hits hard. It hits livelihoods, families, business and tourism.

“What people like I can do is to give a bit of a helping hand to try and give them food, temporary accommodation and try to get the children back to school. It is about giving them a hand up, not a hand out.”

Mr Wilmot, a former university lecturer of St John’s Wood, north-west London, is organising for aid, which has been paid for by British donors, to be distributed in the badly-hit district of Donggala on Sunday.

The destruction left by the disaster means that the aid, which was bought in the Sulawesi capital Makassar, will take at least 24 hours to reach Palu. Muslim Aid UK is working with local organisation Global Medic which is providing water filtration units.

Mr Wilmot said he had passed four bodies by the road which had yet to be recovered, and he had seen search and rescue teams in the town working with heaving machinery.

Britons donated more than £6 million to try and help survivors in the first day of the DEC appeal, and a Japanese military plane landed at Palu’s airport on Saturday morning, complete with soldiers unloading tons of supplies including medicines and small portable generators.

The DEC appeal was launched on Thursday, with the UK Government pledging to match the first £2 million donated pound for pound.

The United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs said more than £38 million is required to deliver “immediate, life-saving” aid.

Mr Wilmot said: “Thousands of people have had to leave damaged homes and flee to relatives or friends, but they may not be able to stay indefinitely.

“There are 71,000 people who are currently internally displaced, but around 66,000 homes have been damaged and the average amount of members per family is five. People who are currently staying with relatives or friends need to rebuild their lives and homes.

“We may be looking at around 350,000 people without a secure home for the longer term, including the official figures for people needing emergency shelter right now.”

He said people have “nowhere else to go, as their homes no longer exist and there are many thousands of displaced people in this situation”.

Asif Sherazi, Muslim Aid UK’s head of humanitarian development, said: “Our in-country office will do everything possible to support those destitute and traumatised people. They need food, water, medicines, clothing, soap and other hygiene products.”