Indonesia quake death toll over 1,700, rescue effort to wrap up on Thursday – authorities

Local rescue efforts to recover the bodies of victims from the earthquake and tsunami that devastated the Indonesian island of Sulawesi last month will cease on Thursday, the country’s National Board for Disaster Management said in a statement Sunday. The official death toll from the September 28 disaster has been rising steadily, with the number of victims now at 1,763, with 2,632 people seriously injured. More than 5,000 people remain missing. Rescue workers continue to recover bodies from the ruins of buildings in the city of Palu and in neighborhoods to the south which have been hit by liquefaction, a phenomenon where the force of a quake liquefies the soft soil causing a quagmire.