Reuter: More than 40,000 people have been left homeless after a devastating earthquake followed by a large tsunami hit the coastal towns of Palu and Donggala in Sulawesi, Indonesia.

The confirmed toll of 832 dead looked certain to rise on Monday (October 1) as rescuers slowly reached devastated outlying communities by the magnitude 7.5 quake and subsequent tsunami waves as high as six meters (20 feet) on Friday (September 28).

National Search and Rescue (SAR) and disaster mitigation agency teams are racing to evacuate those still trapped under rubbles of hotels and homes. Most of the confirmed deaths were in Palu, a city of 379,000 people.

Sulawesi is one of the earthquake-prone archipelago nation’s five main islands and is known to sit astride fault lines. Numerous aftershocks have rattled the region.

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