In this apocalyptic hell that was once a popular suburb full of families, one phrase is constantly repeated by dazed survivors when asked about the missing.
“I think they’re all dead.” You hear it again and again.
It is little wonder. The stench of death is inescapable – and the desperation of rescue workers and the anguish of desolate villagers left alive almost palpable amid the constant pall of dust.
Just nine days ago, there were more than 900 homes here in Petobo, a neighbourhood of Palu City – most with children in them – when the Indonesian earthquake struck.
Now their inhabitants lie buried beneath our feet, swallowed up under collapsed buildings, sucked down by the quicksand effect of soil hit so hard by the 7.5 magnitude tremors it turned to liquid.
Above them, the traumatised living are still trying to piece together what happened.
Standing yards from his flattened house, oil and gas inspector Yonas Salim, 50, looks around, eyes empty. “We have lost everything. There were 940 homes here, now they’re all gone,” he says. “Many of them had children. Honestly, I think they’re all dead.
“There were 400 people found dead here in Petobo yesterday before being carried out in body bags. I’m sure there will be many more. You can smell the dead bodies.”
Yonas was spared purely by chance when the earthquake and tsunami hit Palu City – 930 miles north-east of Jakarta.
“I was lucky that I had to go out the night it happened. I left my house at 5pm and the earthquake hit about an hour later.
“As soon as I got back here afterwards I thought nobody could have survived. The rubble was stacked up 15 metres high on top of where houses used to be.”
Nearby, mum-of-four Rosita, 34, stands tightly grasping her kids Alifia, 12, Agis, 9, Aziz, 7, and Asifah, nine months, around her.
She had used her body as a human shield to protect her children from harm during the earthquake – and considers it a miracle they are all still alive.
But she fears 20 of her relatives were killed. None has been found.
“My husband has gone to look for them. They’re mostly his aunties, uncles and cousins,” she says.
“I think they are all dead – but I hope I am wrong. When the earthquake hit we were all thrown to the ground at a community centre where I work away from here. I threw myself over the children. But thankfully even though the roof and walls were shaking, they didn’t collapse. Everyone was crying and screaming. I thought it was the end.
“Our house is completely gone, but at least my children are safe.”
Yesterday, the death toll across the devastation wreaked by the Pacific Ring of Fire quake and tsunami edged toward 1,700.
More than 700 have already been buried in a mass grave the size of a football pitch to stop disease spreading.
In an area prone to quakes, last Friday’s devastation was made significantly worse due to poor warnings. An official alert drastically underestimated the scale of the 500mph waves.
It is also claimed sirens failed to sound along the coast and there were no warnings from police via loudspeaker vans. An estimated 160,000 homes have been completely destroyed, while 66,000 more are badly damaged.
Thousands of survivors are sheltering in squalid conditions in tents and in 140-plus official shelters crudely cobbled together from tarpaulin and debris.
They are in desperate need of medicine, food, clean water and safe toilet facilities. And the death toll is expected to double.
Red Cross spokesman Antony Balmain, 49, told us: “This is a human tragedy of mind-boggling proportions – and the true extent of suffering is only just starting to be uncovered.
“It’s the biggest disaster anyone in the province of Sulawesi has faced in living memory. All those I’ve met will take many years to get their lives back on track.”
Almost every single building in Petobo has been destroyed. Wrecked cars and vans, many flipped over on their roofs, are everywhere.
Children’s bikes, toys, beds and other household items and mementos lie flung among twisted metal and rubble.
Elsewhere, in the wider area of northern Sulawesi, several towns and villages have been wiped out and are still difficult for aid workers to reach. Fishing boats have washed up on land, the streets are strewn with debris from fallen buildings, and tent cities have sprung up in every district.
Back in Petobo, we find survivor Murline, 36, looking for what is left of her home.
Standing alongside her nephew Putra, 13, she fights back tears as she says: “I’ve nothing left. My home doesn’t even exist. It’s gone. When the earthquake hit, the building began to shake but I didn’t know what was happening. We were all terrified, but I managed to run and get to safety in the mosque. I am now in a tent next to the airport with my sister and brother. It isn’t easy.”
And the survivors are not safe yet. At mobile health clinics – where doctors are predominantly treating women and children – more than 100 people a day are now being diagnosed with skin rashes and cases of diarrhoea as well as stomach problems and flu.
And it is feared disease caused in the aftermath of the crisis could yet claim more lives.
The UN has allocated £11.5million to help and more than 25 countries have offered assistance, including the British Government. We have sent an RAF plane full of supplies, including 1,300 shelter kits, 2,300 water purifiers and 1,000 solar lanterns after pledging £3million in support.
A ship sent by the Red Cross yesterday arrived in Palu carrying aid and supplies, including seven water trucks, five field kitchens and, inevitable, 300 body bags.
And two more of their ships are also now on their way with more water, food, tarpaulins, mattresses, sleeping bags, an ambulance and hygiene kits.
But the efforts of some international aid agencies to reach survivors is being hampered by transport difficulties, including damage to the airport runway, as well as many roads and bridges.
British Red Cross Head of Global Emergencies Ben Webster said last night: “The humanitarian need in Sulawesi is extensive. Each day that passes our hope of finding more people alive fades.
“But we now have more than 400 volunteers on the ground providing search and rescue, medical care, clean water, food, shelter and much more.” Indonesia’s senior security minister, General Wiranto, said the government is now considering turning Petobo and another area Balaroa into mass graves.
But Yonas, standing by his flattened home, reckons it’s too late for that. “It is a mass grave already,” he says.
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