AG百家乐在线官网

Eyewitness

Indonesia's race to find survivors after earthquake and tsunami

As the number of dead climbs to 1,558, the deadline for finding survivors after the earthquake and tsunami is fast approaching.

Families are angry about how long the search has taken
Image: Families are angry about how long the search has taken since the earthquake hit last Friday
Why you can trust Sky News

More than 1,558 people are thought to be dead, missing or injured after the 7.5 magnitude tremor and tsunami in Indonesia.

Meanwhile, the UK government has pledged to match the first £2m of public donations to the Disaster Emergency Committee's earthquake appeal, taking the government aid up to £5m.

And a plane carrying shelter kits, solar lanterns and water purifiers took off from Doncaster Sheffield Airport on Thursday night, bound for Sulawesi, where 70,000 people have been left homeless.

Sky's Siobhan Robbins is on the island, where the desperate search for survivors continues.

Rescuers search the rubble for victims
Image: Rescuers are continuing to search the rubble for victims

At the edge of a crumbled office block we're witnessing what Indonesia's recovery operation looks like up close.

A team has been sent in to retrieve a body in Palu.

We've attached our camera to one of their helmets, so we can see what they see.

More on Indonesia

Around them, the concrete has been pulverised, metal girders are twisted and bent.

:: 1,000 earthquake and tsunami victims still missing in Indonesia

First a digger is sent in to move the biggest pieces of debris, then the team scrapes at the smaller bits of rubble until the young mother trapped there is revealed.

Ween has left behind a three-year-old son
Image: Mother Ween Megawati has left behind a three-year-old son

Ween Megawati, 35, was at work when Friday's earthquake hit.

She didn't have time to get out before the building collapsed.

Her family is watching the recovery operation anxiously - after six days of waiting, they want to bring her home.

"I want to her body back so we can have a funeral," her mother, Marsiati Longulo tells me.

"Her father has already seen the body but I can't."

A coffin is brought to the edge of the wreckage as a priest watches on.

Indonesia earthquake: 'My husband's body was swallowed by the ground'
Indonesia earthquake: 'My husband's body was swallowed by the ground'

The risk of disease means Surianti cannot take him home - he must lie with hundreds of others killed in Indonesia's disaster.

Ween's brother cries when her phone is found
Image: Ween's father cries when they find her body

Ween's three-year-old son is too young to understand that his mother is gone, his grandmother too angry to mourn.

"I'm really disappointed that the search team came too late, so my daughter couldn't saved," she says.

The damage caused to the office block by last Friday's earthquake is catastrophic.

There was just 20% chance of survival in this situation
Image: There was just 20% chance of survival in this situation

The second and third floor crashed down, crushing the people below, there was no time to escape.

"In this situation, the chance of survival is just 20%," explains the search and rescue unit commander, Rusmadi Adi Putra.

The team pulls Ween's phone from the wreckage and hands it to her brother.

From his face you can see his heart is breaking.

It's a familiar scene across Palu where the bodies have been piling up.

Ween's brother looked heartbroken when her phone was found
Image: Ween's brother looked heartbroken when her phone was found
Why the ground turns to liquid in an earthquake
Why the ground turns to liquid in an earthquake

The deadline for finding people alive under the rubble is fast approaching.

Officials say a week on from the quake-tsunami the chance of survival will have dropped to almost zero.

After hours digging, rescuers call for a bodybag; the recovery is over, it's time for a young mother to go home.

Her father sobs as her body is laid in a coffin and carried to a waiting ambulance.

An aid plane left the UK on Thursday night for Indonesia
Image: An aid plane left the UK on Thursday night for Indonesia

His grief is raw and overwhelming.

It's a grief which has taken a hold of Palu city, where more than a thousand are already confirmed dead.

And with possibly a thousand more people still unaccounted for, many more families will have to make the journey Ween's family is making, as more of the missing are recovered.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

The Disasters Emergency Committee has launched an appeal following the Indonesian earthquake and tsunami.

:: Donations can be made at , on the 24-hour hotline on 0370 60 60 900; or by texting the number mentioned above. You can also give money over the counter at any high street bank or post office.