As recovery efforts in the aftermath of the 7.5-magnitude earthquake on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi continue, authorities announced on October 8 that the death toll is nearing 2,000 with more than 5,000 still feared missing.

This video, filmed by photographer Richard Alma, shows the reality from a first-person viewer perspective.

Victims of the earthquake and tsunami are treated at an airport near Palu ahead of a visit by Indonesian president Joko Widodo.

Rivers of soil swept away entire neighbourhoods in the towns of Baleroa and Petob, where a process known as soil liquefaction – where soil becomes saturated with water, causing it to erupt into torrents that topple buildings – is likely responsible for thousands of missing persons.

More than 60,000 people have been displaced.

More than 450 aftershocks rocked the island since the earthquake hit on September 28.

Almost all of the dead have been buried in mass graves, local media reported.