Jakarta (VNA) – Indonesia has decided to extend its search forvictims by one day on October 11, following the devastating earthquakes andtsunami that struck Palu city, Central Sulawesi province on September 28.

Spokesman of Indonesia’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) SutopoPurwo Nugroho said that the search and rescue efforts would end on October 12,at the request of the victims’ relatives.

According to the BNPB, as of 1pm on October 11, the powerful earthquakes andtsunami had left 2,073 people dead, 10,679 injured, and 680 missing. A total of78,994 people were evacuated to 112 safe locations in Central Sulawesi, while8,731 were moved off the island altogether.

Suwelasi was ravaged by two quakes measuring 6.1 and 7.5 on the Richter scaleon September 28. A subsequent tsunami rose after the second quake, hitting thearea sometime later in the afternoon.

Indonesia isfrequently struck by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis because ofits location on the "Ring of Fire", an arc of volcanoes and faultlines in the Pacific Basin.

A series ofearthquakes in July and August killed nearly 500 people on the holiday islandof Lombok, hundreds of kilometres southwest of Sulawesi.

In 2004, a substantial earthquake off the northern Indonesian island of Sumatratriggered a tsunami across the Indian Ocean, killing 220,000 people in 13countries, including more than 168,000 in Indonesia. –VNA