Death toll from Indonesia quake climbs to 2,073

By Mahmut Atanur

JAKARTA, Indonesia

The death toll from last month’s earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia has climbed to 2,073, according to the country’s national disaster agency on Thursday.

Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, the spokesman of the National Disaster Management Agency, said that the death toll from the Sept. 28 earthquake and tsunami has reached 2,073 and over 10,000 people were injured.

The spokesman also said the most deaths happened in Palu with 1,663, mainly because of the tsunami.

Nugroho added that the state of emergency will continue until the end of October.

Last month, a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck Sulawesi Island, which triggered a tsunami in the cities of Donggala and Palu that towered up to 10 feet (3 meters) high. The death toll has climbed to 2,065.

Indonesia lies within the Pacific Ocean’s "Ring of Fire" where tectonic plates collide and cause frequent seismic and volcanic activity.

On Dec. 26, 2004, a magnitude 9.1 earthquake struck the eastern coast of Sumatra, triggering a tsunami that killed around 230,000 people as it tore along the coasts of Sri Lanka, India, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.