A 7.5 magnitude earthquake triggered a tsunami which struck the city of Palu on the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia. At least 384 have been reported to be killed and 29 are missing. 540 are being treated in local hospitals. The wall of water smashed into buildings and swept away homes in the coastal city of Palu city, the capital of Central Sulawesi Province and home to 350,000 people. The city is built around a narrow bay that apparently magnified the force of the tsunami waters as they raced into the inlet. 

Preparations had been underway for a beach festival when the tsunami hit on Friday evening. Rescue workers have not yet reached all areas thought to have been affected, and it was feared that the death toll could still rise.

“It is not just the people in the large urban areas. There are a lot of people also living in remote communities who are hard to reach” Jan Gelfand, head of the International Red Cross in Indonesia, told CNN. 

Indonesia is frequently hit by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis because of its location on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.

In December 2004, a massive magnitude 9.1 earthquake off Sumatra island in western Indonesia triggered a tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a dozen countries. On Aug. 5, a powerful quake on the Indonesian island of Lombok killed 505 people, most of whom died in collapsing buildings.

Indonesia earthquake: Hundreds dead in Palu quake and tsunami – BBC News