The national disaster agency on Saturday put the official death toll so far at 384, all of them in the tsunami-struck city of Palu, but warned the toll was likely to rise.
In the city - home to around 350,000 people - partially covered bodies lay on the ground near the shore, the day after tsunami waves 1.5 metres came ashore, Al Jazeera reported.
There were also concerns over the whereabouts of hundreds of people preparing for a beach festival due to start Friday evening, the disaster agency said.
Hospitals were overwhelmed by the influx of injured, with many people being treated in the open air, while other survivors helped to retrieve the remains of those who died.
The city, built around a narrow bay that apparently magnified the force of the tsunami waters, was strewn with debris from collapsed buildings.
Seawater pooled inland and a mosque heavily damaged by the quake was half submerged. A shopping mall in the paralysed city had been reduced to a crumpled hulk.
The tsunami was triggered by a 7.5 magnitude earth quake that brought down buildings and sent locals fleeing for higher ground as a churning wall of water crashed into Palu, where there were widespread power blackouts.
