Thousands died when an earthquake and tsunami struck Palu, Indonesia – but could more lives have been saved? Accusations have been made of a host of failings: alert systems that were out of action, sirens that didn’t sound, a government slow to give emergency help - even people who were too busy filming the disaster to run away. How much truth is there to this? Was everything done to warn people beforehand, and rescue people in the aftermath? We speak to experts on the ground and around the world to find out.

Contributors include:

Lian Gogali – Founder, Institute Mosintuwu
Harald Spahn – Consultant geologist 2006-2013, German-Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning System project
Harkunti Pertiwi Rahayu – Chair, Indonesian Association of Disaster Experts & Assistant Professor, Bandung Institute of Technology
Mark Astarita – Former Director of Fundraising, British Red Cross

Presenter: Kavita Puri
Producer: Beth Sagar-Fenton

(A man looks for his belongings amid the debris of his destroyed house in Palu, Central Sulawesi, Sept 29 2018.
Photo credit: Bay Ismoyo/Getty Images)