Tue, Oct 02, 2018 page6

• Palu begins burials after quake, tsunami

  • AP, PALU, Indonesia
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  Bright-colored body bags were yesterday placed side-by-side in a freshly dug mass grave, as a hard-hit Indonesian city began burying its dead from the devastating earthquake and tsunami that killed more than 840 people and left thousands homeless.

  The death toll, largely from the city of Palu, is expected to keep rising as areas cut off by the damage are reached. The magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck at dusk Friday and generated a tsunami said to have been as high as 6m in places.

  Local Army Commander Tiopan Aritonang said that 545 bodies for the grave would be brought from one hospital alone.

  The trench dug in Palu was 10m by 100m and can be enlarged if needed, Indonesian National Disaster Mitigation Agency chief Willem Rampangilei said.

  “This must be done as soon as possible for health and religious reasons,” he said.

  Indonesia is majority Muslim, and religious custom calls for burials soon after death, typically within one day.

  Local military spokesman Mohammad Thorir said the area adjacent to a public cemetery can hold 1,000 bodies.

  All of the victims, coming from local hospitals, have been photographed to help families locate where their relatives were buried. Video footage showed residents walking from body bag to body bag, opening the tops to check to see if they could identify faces.

  Around midday, teams of workers, their mouths covered by masks, carried 18 bodies and laid them in the trench. A backhoe waited to push soil on top of the dead. More burials were expected to follow.

  Military and commercial aircraft were delivering some aid and supplies, but there was a need for heavy equipment to reach possible survivors buried in collapsed buildings, including an eight-story hotel in Palu where voices were heard in the rubble.

  People suffering from a lack of food and supplies were also becoming more desperate. Local television said about 3,000 residents had flocked to the Palu airport trying to get out. Footage showed some people screaming in anger because they were not able to board departing military aircraft.

  The airport has resumed only some commercial flights.

  “We have not eaten for three days,” one woman yelled. “We just want to be safe!”

  Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo authorized for the country to accept international help, disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said, adding that generators, heavy equipment and tents were among the items needed.

  He said the EU and 10 nations have offered assistance, including the US, Australia and China.

  “We will send food today, as much as possible with several aircraft,” Widodo told journalists in the capital, Jakarta, adding that a supply of fuel was also set to arrive.

  Nugroho said conditions in the Balaroa area of Palu were particularly bad because the earthquake caused the ground to violently heave up and sink down in places, trapping many people under destroyed houses. In Petobo, another area of the city, the temblor caused liquefaction, when loose, water-filled soil near the surface loses its strength, causing massive damage.

  “In Petobo, it is estimated that there are still hundreds of victims buried in mud material,” he said.

  The confirmed death toll of 844 released by Nugroho yesterday afternoon was an increase of only 12 since the previous day, with nearly all of those from Palu.

  The regencies of Donggala, Sigi and Parigi Moutong — with a combined population of 1.2 million — had yet to be fully assessed. Nearly 50,000 people have been displaced from their homes just in Palu, Nugroho said.
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