More than 1,400 are confirmed dead and many missing on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi following an earthquake and subsequent tsunami. Now those who escaped the disasters are in desperate need of food, water, and medicine.

CGTN’s Tony Cheng reports from one of the villages hit the hardest.

In Petobo Village, one of the biggest challenges for the search and rescue teams is this mud. It’s five meters in depth in some places, and literally came bubbling out of the ground like a volcanic eruption, swallowing the whole village.

Now six days after the tragedy, rescue teams are still looking for survivors. So far, they’ve found five survivors and 22 bodies. Still, there’s that hope some might be alive.

A motorcyclist takes photos of a damaged road in Petobo village in Palu, Indonesia’s Central Sulawesi on October 1, 2018, after an earthquake and tsunami hit the area on September 28. (AFP PHOTO / Bay ISMOYO)

“We’re still digging, because our searches indicate there are still signs of life,” Chandra Kresna of the National Search and Rescue Agency said.

When locals were asked about the sea of mud that engulfed them, a villager named Nasuha approached to tell her story. Her 19-year-old daughter, Nina, was a law student living in Petobo. Nasuha rode from her home, 700 kilometers away by motorbike, when she heard what happened, just to see her daughter one last time. She’s already faced the worst.

“I have to be strong, I am strong,” Nasuha said. “I rode all the way here because I had to find my daughter.”