Score dead in the earthquake on Friday hits Indonesia's Sulawesi Island and the subsequent powerful tsunami.

Announcing that the death toll has reached 1,200 National Disaster Agency Management (BNPB) spokesperson Sutopo Purwo Nugroho warned that, "The casualties will keep increasing. We will start the mass burial of victims to avoid the spread of disease."

Nugroho said that many of the bodies are still underneath and cannot be reached.

Nugroho said that a search and rescue team of 1,400 people in the region is working, said that they have problems in communication due to the interruption of electricity and internet lines in the region.

Power outages continued in the region said the authorities and reported the problems for fuel, food and especially drinking water.

Dozens of people were reported to be trapped in the rubble of several hotels and a mall in the small city of Palu, 1,500 km (930 miles) northeast of Jakarta, with hundreds more were feared buried in landslides that engulfed villages.

President Joko Widodo told reporters getting those people out was a priority.

"The evacuation is not finished yet, there are many places where the evacuation couldn't be done because of the absence of heavy equipment, but last night equipment started to arrive," Widodo said.

After a 7,7-magnitude earthquake in the depths of 10 kilometers, the cities of Donggala and Palu were hit by waves of 3 and 6 meters high tsunami.

ILKHA