Print

Mail

wiki links

Tsunami death toll jumps to 654

The death toll from this week's tsunami on the island of Java rose to 654 yesterday, as the beachside resorts hardest hit began slowly moving back towards normalcy.

The country's national disaster agency said 101 new bodies had been found following Monday's disaster, which was triggered by a 7.7 magnitude undersea earthquake.

The agency said another 329 were still missing and that 978 people were injured. Just under 110,000 people remain displaced, mainly around the sleepy tourist resort of Pangandaran, which bore the brunt of the giant waves.

For the first time since the tsunami struck, a semblance of normalcy returned to Pangandaran yesterday as businesses and restaurants reopened and people returned home during the daytime.

In the Ciamis district, residents were flocking to the town's main market and shopkeepers were already lifting their shutters, according to district spokesman Wasdi bin Umri.

"The market and many shops are already opened today [yesterday], and although they are not operating fully, things are slowly returning to normal," bin Umri said.

He said a Friday night town meeting had instructed workers to begin cleaning up debris and rubble to allow home owners and business owners to salvage whatever belongings they could.

"This is in accordance with instructions from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono," said bin Umri, referring to the Indonesian leader who made a whirlwind visit to Pangandaran on Friday.

Bin Umri said officials had also instructed army-led rescuers to continue searching for bodies trapped under the rubble on both the eastern and western sides of Pangandaran's beach.

"While continuing to clean up the beach, we are also carrying on the search for bodies for another two weeks," he said.

While town life was picking up during the day, thousands of residents still preferred to spend the night in special camps set up for survivors rather than return to their homes, the spokesman said.

"We are calling for residents whose homes are still intact to return home, so that we can focus more on those who are homeless," he said.

Soldiers were still scouring the beaches for bodies yesterday.

"We do not expect to find a large number of corpses in one particular place, but we are still finding one or two bodies every hour or two," army officer Deden Drajat, leading a 27-strong rescue team, said.

Many small business owners said they wanted to go back to work because their customers needed to buy provisions and they needed to make some money.

"About 70 percent of shops and stalls have reopened for business. On Wednesday, those who dared to open numbered less than 20. More opened on Thursday but the market is really alive today," rice seller Mamat Rahmat said.

Rahmat said although people did not feel entirely safe in Pangandaran, they also needed provisions.

"If we don't open for business, where would people get their necessities? We also have to live and make some money," Rahmat said.

"I'm still very much afraid and every time there is a rush of people or motorcycles, my knees go weak," said 28-year-old beachware shop owner Yenni.

"My daughters, 10 and six years old, both did not want me to return here, they are very much traumatized by the tsunami and refused to come here again," she said.

Last week's tsunami is just the latest in a string of natural disasters to hit Indonesia over the past two years.

Some 168,000 Indonesians died in the December 2004 tsunami.

Less than two months ago Java was hit by a 6.3 magnitude quake that killed more than 5,800 people.
This story has been viewed 1645 times.