Rain hampers rescue efforts

Safer outside: People injured in the earthquake resting at a makeshift ward outside a hospital due to aftershock concerns in Mamuju. — AFP

TORRENTIAL monsoon rains hampered the hunt for anyone still buried alive under buildings flattened by a powerful earthquake on Indonesia’s Sulawesi island, after the huge tremor killed at least 81 and left thousands homeless.

Excavators and cranes were deployed across the devastated seaside city of Mamuju, where buildings were reduced to a tangled mass of twisted metal and chunks of concrete, including a hospital and the regional governor’s office.