New health threats emerge for Sulawesi survivors

Water shortages and cramped conditions are posing new problems in Indonesia’s Central Sulawesi province, where medical workers are reporting increasing cases of diarrhoea, skin rashes, and respiratory infections.

The confirmed death toll has climbed above 2,000 after earthquakes and a tsunami crippled the provincial capital of Palu and nearby areas on 28 September. Authorities say the missing may number in the thousands, buried under collapsed homes or in flattened neighbourhoods swallowed up by the earthquakes. The country’s disaster management agency says it’s preparing to call off the official search for survivors later this week.