The death toll from Indonesia’s quake and tsunami disaster nearly doubled to 832 on Sunday and was expected to rise further, prompting authorities to announce mass burials in a desperate attempt to stave off disease. “The casualties will keep increasing,” said national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, whose agency announced the jump in the toll from 420 earlier. One survivor, Adi, was hugging his wife by the beach when the tsunami struck on Friday. Some waterfront homes appeared crushed but a resident said most people fled to higher ground after the quake struck. The initial quake struck as evening prayers were about to begin in the world’s biggest Muslim majority country on the holiest day of the week.

Source: Punch September 30, 2018 14:47 UTC