印度尼西亚：地震遇难人数超过800，还会上升

Indonesia's President Jokowi Widodo has authorized the acceptance of international help related to the earthquake and tsunami that hit the central island of Sulawesi.

Chair of Indonesia's Investment Coordinating Board Thomas Lembong made the announcement in a tweet Monday morning.

There were 844 confirmed deaths by early Monday, with the city of Palu on Sulawesi the hardest hit.

Indonesian officials say they fear the death toll from Friday's earthquake and tsunami could soar into the thousands when rescuers are able to get to remote areas.

The airport is barely functioning, most power plants have been knocked off-line, and roads are shattered and twisted.

Touring Palu Sunday, Indonesian President Joko Widodo said one of the immediate needs is to bring in the heavy equipment needed to move large pieces of rubble.

"We didn't expect it to be like this. So we hope and pray for the communities and be patient," he told disaster victims. "We know that there are a lot of things to do urgently, but the condition is not now possible."

He told soldiers deployed to the area to be ready to work nonstop.

Television pictures from Palu show buildings, cars and trees pushed together to form mounds of wreckage.

The 7.5-magnitude quake triggered a huge tsunami with waves as high as 6 meters, which inundated the cities of Palu and Donggala.

Authorities say hundreds of people were on the beach in Palu for a festival when the earthquake and tsunami struck, sweeping many away to their deaths when the giant waves arrived.

Indonesia and its 18,000 islands are located along the Pacific Ocean's "Ring of Fire" and are frequently struck by earthquake, volcano and tsunami activity.

A 9.1-magnitude quake in 2004 off Sumatra and subsequent tsunami killed about 230,000 people in 14 Pacific countries, with about half of those deaths occurring in Indonesia.

印度尼西亚总统维多多已授权接受苏拉威西岛中部岛屿地震和海啸灾难的国际援助。

印度西亚投资协调委员会主席周一早上在推特宣布这一消息。

周一早些时候确认的死亡人数为844人，苏拉威西岛的帕卢市受灾最严重。

印尼官员表示，他们担心，随着救援人员开始能到达偏远地区，周五发生的地震和海啸造成的死亡人数可能会飙升至数千人。

当地机场几乎停运，大多数发电厂都无法工作，道路则破碎而翘曲。

印度尼西亚总统维多多周日视察帕卢时说，一个迫切需要是引进能搬运大块瓦砾的重型设备。

他对受灾者说，“我们没想到会像这样。我们为社区祈祷，并保持希望和耐心，”他说， “我们知道有很多事情要尽快做，但现在的状况是不可能的。”

他对部署到当地的士兵们说，做好夜以继日工作的准备。

帕卢的电视画面显示建筑物、汽车和树木被挤成一堆废墟。

这次7.5级的地震引发了一场巨大的海啸，海浪高达6米，淹没了帕卢和东加拉等城市。

有关当局说，当地震和海啸袭来时，数百人正在帕卢的海滩上参加一个节日活动，巨浪将许多人卷走。

印度尼西亚及其18,000个岛屿位于太平洋的“火环”沿线，经常遭遇地震、火山和海啸的袭击。

2004年苏门答腊岛发生9.1级地震，随后的海啸造成14个太平洋国家约23万人死亡，其中有大约一半死于印度尼西亚。