Hope fades for survivors

The death toll in Indonesia's twin quake-tsunami disaster passed 1,400 yesterday, with time running out to rescue survivors and the UN warning of "vast" unmet needs that have fuelled looting.

Indonesian soldiers have been ordered to fire on those raiding stores on the quake and tsunami-struck island of Sulawesi, a colonel told AFP, after desperate survivors emptied shops of food and water.

Meanwhile the authorities have set a tentative deadline of Friday to find anyone still trapped under rubble, at which point -- a week after this devastating double disaster -- the chances of finding survivors will dwindle to almost zero.

Military spokesman M Thohir said the number of confirmed dead has risen to 1,411, while the disaster agency said 519 bodies have already been buried.

At a minimum, 150 people are unaccounted for beneath the rubble, officials said.

According to the UN's humanitarian office almost 200,000 people need urgent help, among them tens of thousands of children, with an estimated 66,000 homes destroyed or damaged by the 7.5-magnitude quake and the tsunami it spawned.

In yet another reminder of Indonesia's vulnerability to natural disasters, the Soputan Volcano in Sulawesi erupted yesterday, spewing volcanic ash up to 4,000 metres above the crater.

In Geneva, UN expressed frustration at the slow pace of the disaster response. WHO has estimated that across Donggala, some 310,000 people have been affected by the disaster.

Survivors are battling thirst and hunger, with food and clean water in short supply, and local hospitals are overwhelmed by the number of injured.

Ahmad Derajat, said survivors were scavenging for food in fields and orchards. Six of the Indonesian social affairs ministry's trucks laden with supplies were reportedly looted enroute to Palu.