On September 28, a magnitude 7.5 quake and a subsequent tsunami razed swathes of Palu on Sulawesi island, killing some 2,200 people and displacing more than 220,000.

Thousands more are missing, presumed dead, after entire neighbourhoods were swallowed up by liquefaction — a process where a strong quake makes the ground start behaving like a liquid, turning it into a kind of quicksand.

Desperate to stave off disease, authorities last week dropped disinfectant from helicopters on the worst-hit parts of Palu, where some 5,000 rotting corpses are feared buried beneath the ruins.

Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency said the move was crucial to preventing the proliferation of disease-laden flies, cockroaches and rats.

But aid groups say there has been an increase in cases of diarrhoea and respiratory infection, while there are also suspected cases of mosquito-borne illnesses, including malaria and dengue fever.

Heavy monsoon rains predicted for the months ahead threaten to make a bad situation worse.

“It is likely we’re going to see more and more people getting sick… given how hard it is to maintain hygiene standards, with the rains providing the perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes, and with hundreds, if not thousands of bodies, believed to be decomposing in the ground,” said Selina Sumbung, chairperson of Save the Children’s partner in Indonesia, Yayasan Sayangi Tunas Cilik.

‘Difficult to keep clean’

Safe play spaces and temporary schools have provided some solace for kids — including many left orphans or still separated from surviving parents — but children are at particular risk from any illness outbreak.

Local and international relief efforts have accelerated over the past month after initial delays sparked looting as food and water ran out.

Telephone reception and electricity have been restored to many areas with shops, restaurants and markets open.

Disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said Friday that things were “getting better” for people in the worst-affected areas.

But numerous challenges remain.

The hundreds of thousands left homeless by the disaster are scattered across Palu and beyond.

Many squat outside their ruined homes or are bunkered down in makeshift camps and entirely dependent on handouts to survive.

Safe drinking water has to be trucked into encampments, while tarpaulins, blankets and tools are still in short supply in some areas.

“We know when people are living in temporary conditions — in tents or under tarpaulins — that always poses a problem for hygiene,” said Andreas Weissenberg, team leader of the Red Cross field assessment team in Palu.

“People stay closer together. It’s difficult to keep clean. They may not have access to water and latrines.”

Elsewhere, monsoon rains have already turned roads to mud and primed slopes for landslides in some remote areas — hampering access for relief teams.

Indonesian authorities lifted a state of emergency on Friday, after which a “transition period” is to continue before that ends on December 25.

Indonesia has said that damage to the devastated area has topped $900 million while the World Bank has offered the country up to $1 billion in loans to get Palu back on its feet.

Seventy percent of Palu has been cleaned up and water supply will return to normal by December, Central Sulawesi governor Longki Djanggola said Thursday.

More than 1,400 tents have been erected for classes and 1,200 semi-permanent shelters — each with a dozen rooms — are expected to be finished in two months’ time.

For many, however, life is still far from returning to normal.

“I just hope I can get a decent place, permanent housing and a job,” said 65-year-old Abdurrahim Laadu.

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Now, both have backtracked.

Speaking to Al Jazeera’s 101 East in an exclusive interview yesterday, Najib confirmed that he could not verify the source of the RM2.6bil.

He said he assumed that the donations were connected to Saudi Arabia after the monarch then, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, had assured him that he would support him.

“The question is when I received the funds, was I aware of the source of the money … certainly in my capacity I would not have access to banking knowledge.

“Because whoever owns the fund is protected by the secrecy of banking laws so when I received the funds, in all honesty I thought it was a genuine donation and at that particular time, the knowledge that I had was based on a conversation with King Abdullah,” he told Al Jazeera in the 101 East interview that will air at 11.30am today.

However, in a Facebook post later the same day, Najib backtracked and maintained that the RM2.6bil was indeed a donation from the Saudi government.

“Even though Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Adel Ahmed Al-Jubeir has stated twice that the nation of Saudi Arabia had donated the money to me, Foreign Minister (Datuk) Saifuddin Abdullah said today that Adel informed him that the money had nothing to do with the Saudi government,” he said.

Najib also linked a previous post, dated Sept 13, with photos of documents that supposedly supported his claims.

He said these documents “proved that most of the funds that were channelled into my account came straight from Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Finance, as well as from the Saudi princes”.

Adel completed a three-day visit to Malaysia yesterday, where he met his counterpart Saifuddin as well as Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

According to Saifuddin, Adel in his visit to Wisma Putra had informed him that the RM2.6bil received by Najib had nothing to do with the Saudi government.

Saifuddin said Adel had earlier expressed the Saudi government’s stand when they met at the 73rd United Nations General Assembly in New York last month.

“He said that the donation had nothing to do with the Saudi government. Today, he reiterated it,” Bernama quoted Saifuddin as saying.

Adel had first supported Najib’s claims at the 13th Summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in Istanbul on April 15, 2016.

He was asked by a reporter whether he was aware of the background and details regarding the donation.

“We are aware of the donation and it is a genuine donation with nothing expected in return.

“We are also fully aware that the Attorney General of Malaysia has thoroughly investigated the matter and found no wrongdoing,” Adel had said, referring to then AG Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali.

“So, as far as we are concerned, the matter is closed,” he added.

In its civil forfeiture suit, the US Department of Justice has alleged that the RM2.6bil had originated from 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) and ended up in Najib’s personal bank accounts before being transferred to another account controlled by fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low.

Earlier this week, Najib was summoned by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) over 1MDB’s dealings with Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC).

On Thursday, both Najib and former Treasury secretary-general Tan Sri Dr Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah pleaded not guilty to six charges of criminal breach of trust involving RM6.6bil.

This was regarding a payment of more than US$1.2bil (RM5.04bil) made to IPIC by 1MDB in a settlement over a US$6.5bil claim made by the former.

It is understood that Najib, who was chairman of 1MDB board of advisers, would be held liable for his role in the debt settlement.

He is already facing 32 charges ranging from corruption, criminal breach of trust and money laundering.

Sirisena’s office announced the surprise decision moments after he sacked incumbent premier Ranil Wickremesinghe, despite opponents saying he had no power to do so under the constitution.

Wickremesinghe insisted he was still the legitimate prime minister and would fight his dismissal in court.

“I am addressing you as the prime minister of Sri Lanka,” Wickremesinghe told reporters at a nationally televised press conference. “I remain as prime minister and I will function as the prime minister.”

The president’s United People’s Freedom Alliance party had earlier Friday quit the coalition that had governed with Wickremesinghe’s party.

Speaking to jubilant supporters outside his Colombo home, Rajapakse called on Wickremesinghe to step down.

Members of Wickremesinghe’s party must “respect democracy, respect the country and respect the law”, the ex-president said through a loudhailer from a balcony.

Rajapakse loyalists stormed two state-owned television networks overnight — which they regard as loyal to the outgoing government — and forced them off the air.

Video footage from private networks showed police overwhelmed by mobs at the Rupavahini national TV station but elsewhere in the capital streets remained calm.

Rajapakse was sworn in by Sirisena in a ceremony at the president’s office before the smiling ex-president headed to worship at a Buddhist temple.

A defiant Wickremesinghe, whose United National Party commands a majority in parliament, said he was calling on speaker Karu Jayasuriya to convene the legislature.

The speaker said he was seeking legal advice and would announce Saturday if he recognises Rajapakse as the new prime minister.

Sirisena won elections against Rajapakse in 2015 on a platform of economic reform and accountability for atrocities committed during his opponent’s 10-year iron-fisted rule which saw the bloody end of Sri Lanka’s brutal civil war.

Colombo was on the verge of facing economic sanctions from Western nations over Rajapakse’s human rights record before his government lost office.

Sirisena’s decision to appoint his former foe prime minister threatens the Indian Ocean island nation with fresh turmoil just as it was trying to emerge from the shadow of the civil war.

The legality of the move is disputed after a constitutional amendment passed in 2015 removed the president’s power to sack the prime minister.

“The appointment of Rajapakse as the prime minister is unconstitutional and illegal. This is an anti democratic coup,” finance minister Mangala Samaraweera wrote on Twitter shortly after the appointment was announced.

The dramatic developments came after deepening disagreements between Sirisena and Wickremesinghe over economic policy and day-to-day administration of the government.

– Simmering power struggle –

In May, Sirisena asked his prime minister to end their power struggle and said the coalition should commit to a reform agenda to revive the country emerging from a decades-long ethnic war that claimed more than 100,000 lives.

But Sirisena has reneged on a pledge not to run for re-election, sparking tensions with Wickremesinghe who is believed to have his own presidential ambitions.

Sirisena is also believed to have been behind a failed attempt to impeach Wickremesinghe in April.

Rajapakse lost the presidency in January 2015 and the subsequent parliamentary elections in August 2015.

However, his new Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) party won local council elections in February and he had been attempting to engineer a dramatic comeback ahead of presidential elections slated for 2019.

The strongman put down the decades-old Tamil Tiger separatist struggle in May 2009 through a military assault that killed up to 40,000 ethnic Tamil civilians, according to rights groups.

His regime refused to acknowledge war-era abuses, and bitter divisions between minority Tamils and majority Sinhalese persist.

The legacy of the conflict has proved a divisive topic in parliament.

Earlier this month, lawmakers passed legislation to pay compensation to victims of the civil war, but Rajapakse’s supporters voted against the bill, arguing that it amounted to compensating separatist Tamil rebels.

Rajapakse’s hardline government was also accused of corruption and murdering political opponents. Several of Rajapakse’s close family and associates face corruption prosecutions.

Sirisena had pledged accountability for war atrocities, but has faced international criticism for being slow to deliver on justice.

International rights groups have called for the prosecution of both the military and the Tigers, who were notorious for suicide bombings and enlisting child soldiers.

Cesar Sayoc, 56, a registered Republican with a criminal past, born in New York and who lived in a van covered in pro-Trump and anti-liberal stickers, was arrested outside a strip mall in Florida.

The van was impounded and Sayoc charged with five federal crimes, including mailing of explosives and threats against former presidents, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced.

If put on trial and convicted, he faces up to 48 years in prison in what politicians on both sides of the aisle have condemned as domestic terrorism.

“We do believe that we’ve caught the right guy but… there’s a lot of work still to be done, which means there are still plenty of unanswered questions,” FBI director Christopher Wray told a news conference.

The 13 bombs were sent through the mail, many of them through a US Postal Service processing center in Florida, and Sayoc was tracked down based on fingerprint and possible DNA evidence, agents said.

The Republican president congratulated law enforcement for what he called a “fantastic job” which he likened to “finding a needle in a haystack.”

Speaking before his supporters at a North Carolina campaign rally later that evening, he called the attempted attacks “terrorist actions” that must be punished “to the fullest extent of the law.”

“Political violence must never ever be allowed in America and I will do everything in my power to stop it,” he said.

In southern Florida, FBI agents and police swarmed the strip mall in Plantation, where an AFP photographer saw a van covered in blue tarpaulin loaded onto a truck by authorities and driven away.

Trump denies blame

Sayoc is accused of mailing explosives to 11 prominent Democrats or liberal critics of the president, including former president Barack Obama and Trump’s opponent in the 2016 presidential election, Hillary Clinton.

The other targets were ex vice president Joe Biden, Hollywood star Robert De Niro, billionaire donor George Soros, former CIA director John Brennan, former intelligence chief James Clapper, former attorney general Eric Holder, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, and Senators Cory Booker and Kamala Harris.

Waters and Biden were each sent two packages. All the targets are loathed by Trump supporters for their public opposition to the US president and for being the recipients of his toxic remarks in the past.

The president acknowledged the suspect’s political allegiance, but denied any responsibility that his incendiary rhetoric could have played a role in motivating the spree.

“I heard he was a person that preferred me over others,” he told reporters. “There is no blame,” he insisted, despite being hounded by political opponents for his response to the crisis in which he lashed out at the media.

“The media has been unbelievably unfair to Republicans, conservatives, and certainly to me,” he said Friday. “But with all of that being said, we’re winning. So I like that.”

Asked about the role that rhetoric could have played, the FBI demurred.

“It’s too early at this stage for us to be discussing motivation in this particular case,” Wray told reporters in Washington. “We’re concerned about people committing acts of violence under any motivation.”

Each of the homemade bombs included six inches of PVC pipe, a small clock, a battery, wiring and energetic material, defined by Wray as potentially explosive.

The first package was intercepted Monday at Soros’s Bedford, New York home. The most recent ones on Friday in California, Florida and New York.

Obama marked with red X

The Clapper and Brennan packages were marked care of CNN, a television network often critical of the administration and long provoking Trump’s ire.

Trump has come under fire for his response to the spree, which politicians on all sides have branded domestic terrorism, stretching from New York, Maryland, Florida, Delaware and Los Angeles.

On Friday, shortly before news of the arrest broke, he complained that the packages were slowing momentum for his Republican Party ahead of the November 6 elections, remarks that enraged his opponents.

Double Oscar winner and biting Trump critic De Niro on Friday urged people to vote in the midterms, one day after a device was discovered at the Manhattan offices of his production company.

“I thank God no one’s been hurt, and I thank the brave and resourceful security and law enforcement people for protecting us,” he said. “There’s something more powerful than bombs, and that’s your vote. People MUST vote!”

The packages were sent in manila envelopes lined with bubble wrap, each stamped with six postage stamps bearing the picture of an American flag.

Each envelope listed Debbie Wasserman Schultz, former chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, as the sender, and misspelt Florida as “Florids,” according to the criminal complaint.

The typed addresses included misspellings in Clinton, Obama and Waters’s first names. The package destined for the former president included a photograph of Obama marked with a red X, according to the criminal complaint.