SANDALS POINT TO VICTIMS IN MOSQUE
50 worshippers likely inside building when it collapsed in Sunday’s disaster
ASHATTERED mosque in quake-hit northern Lombok, where sandals remain scattered outside its entrance, has become a focal point of the rescue effort after one weeping man was hauled out of the wreckage.
An unknown number of worshippers were praying at the Jabal Nur mosque here on Sunday when the 6.9-magnitude quake sent deadly tremors coursing through the ground.
Congregants described chaotic scenes as the quake hit, bringing down walls and bending the minaret. Some got out before the roof came down, others did not.
“We were praying when suddenly an extremely strong shaking occurred,” said Tara.
“I immediately grabbed my grandson, who is 3. Everyone was then scrambling to get out.”
As many as 50 people might have been in the mosque at the time of the quake, another witness named Kelana said.
“Our imam ran, so the others followed,” the 53-year-old said, adding he couldn’t tell how many people escaped.
Police, soldiers and volunteers had worked frantically to remove debris from the site in scenes repeated across the picturesque volcanic island.
On Monday, there was a brief moment of success. Video posted by rescuers online showed a dazed and disorientated man, dust-covered and still wearing his prayer cap, pulled alive from the twisted remains of the building.
“You’re safe sir, you’re safe,” one rescuer said as the man burst into sobs.
But the emergency crews have also had to contend with death. Three times now they have come across and removed broken bodies crushed under the weight of tonnes of concrete and rebar.
Rescuers had used concrete cutters and excavators to claw through the rubble, while shattered roads had hampered efforts to bring heavy machinery into the village.
Rescuers said they would not stop looking.
“We estimate there are more victims because we found many sandals in front of the mosque,” national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said yesterday.
Across much of Lombok, once bustling villages had been turned into virtual ghost towns, with residents sleeping out in the open, scared to stay near their shattered homes.
Aerial footage in Tanjung district in the island’s north showed streets deserted, save for a few nervous residents and motorcycles passing along the dusty main road.
More than 20,000 people were believed to have been made homeless, with 236 injured. Officials expected the toll to rise.