Far from home, desperate Indonesians pray for family still missing after quake
▶ Oceans apart, anxious expatriates call home every day for news of loved ones still unaccounted for
An Indonesian woman living in the UAE says she does not know if her brother is alive or dead after an earthquake and tsunami left a trail of destruction in her homeland.
More than 1,400 people were confirmed dead after a 7.5-magnitude quake struck just off the central island of Sulawesi, triggering a tsunami that battered the coastal city of Palu.
With some remote areas still cut off after the twin natural disasters on Friday, and a volcano eruption yesterday that spewed ash 6,000 metres into the sky above North Sulawesi province, many are left anxiously waiting for news.
Almi Yahid, an Indonesian housemaid living in Dubai, is desperate for news of her 29-year-old brother.
“We don’t know if he is dead or alive,” she said.
“My family is trying to reach the area from our village in Morowali after failing to get in contact with him.
“He went there to work in a restaurant two years ago and he was planning to come back and get married next year.
“I pray for him all the time and I am always asking my family about him and if they have managed to find him, but I have heard nothing so far.”
Lisna Mallang, a waitress in Dubai, said she prayed every day for family members after the earthquake and tsunami.
Ms Mallang, 27, has been unable to contact her uncle and his family, who live in the Donggala area.
“We don’t know anything,” she said. “My family tried to call them many times but their phones are not working.
“It’s a tragic incident and when I found out about it I was shocked and couldn’t think straight.
“I called my mother to check if she had any news about my uncle but she didn’t.
“I pray every single day that my father will find my uncle and his family alive and safe, and I pray for the souls of the people who died in the tsunami.
Ms Mallang’s immediate family lives in Makassar city, South Sulawesi, about 900 kilometres from the affected area.
She said her village donated food, water, blankets and clothes to those trying to come to terms with life in the aftermath of the disaster.
“My father, along with other neighbours, collected all the items and they are now on their way to Donggala,” she said.
With the airport in Palu closed because of the devastation, the helpers had to fly from another airport and then drive for several hours to deliver supplies.
Donggala is home to about 300,000 people and is 34km north of Palu, the capital of the Central Sulawesi province.
Among those killed in the disaster were 34 children at a Bible study camp, a Red Cross official said.
Commercial airlines have struggled to restore operations at Palu’s damaged airport but military aircraft were able to rescue some survivors.
Indonesia is prone to deadly earthquakes because of its location on the 40,000km-long Ring of Fire, an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Ocean.
On December 26, 2004, a powerful 9.1-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Sumatra in western Indonesia caused a tsunami that killed 230,000 people across a dozen countries.
I pray every single day that my father will find my uncle LISNA MALLANG Indonesian UAE resident
A volcano erupted yesterday on the same Indonesian island that was devastated by an earthquake and tsunami last week in which more than 1,400 people were killed.
Authorities warned planes about volcanic ash in the air, but said there was no immediate threat to islanders.
Yesterday, the official toll from the earthquake and tsunami rose to 1,407.
National disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said 519 of the bodies had been buried.
Mount Soputan in North Sulawesi province blasted ash 6,000 metres into the sky, but authorities did not order the relocation of residents.
A government volcanologist said it was possible the eruption was accelerated by the 7.5 magnitude earthquake in Central Sulawesi on Friday.
“It could be that this earthquake triggered the eruption, but the direct correlation has yet to be seen as there had been an increase in the Mount Soputan activity,” said Kasbani, the head of Indonesia’s Vulcanology and Geology Disaster Mitigation agency.
Mr Kasbani said volcanic activity had increased at Soputan since August but stepped up considerably on Monday.
Nazli Ismail, a geophysicist at the University of Syiah Kuala, Banda Aceh on Sumatra island, said there was no concrete evidence to show the two incidents were linked.
“People talk about the butterfly effect – the concept is that when a butterfly flaps its wings, it can cause a catastrophe,” he said. “So it is possible for the earthquake to trigger the volcano eruption, but it’s not conclusive.”
Mr Nazli said the Soputan volcano eruption was not surprising because Indonesia sits on the seismically active Pacific Ring of Fire, and Soputan is one of the most active volcanoes on the island.
Soputan’s eruption status was raised from an alert to standby, four kilometres from the summit and up to 6.5km to the south-west. Standby status means the public should avoid the area nearest the volcano.