Survivor search stepped up to beat deadline
RESCUE workers in Indonesia stepped up their search for victims of an earthquake and tsunami yesterday, hoping to find as many bodies as they can before this week’s deadline for their work to halt, as the official death toll rose to 2010.
The national disaster mitigation agency has called off the search from tomorrow, citing concern about the spread of disease. Debris would be cleared and areas where bodies lie would eventually be turned into parks, sports venues and memorials.
As many as 5 000 victims of the 7.5 magnitude quake and tsunami on September 28 have yet to be found, most entombed in mud flows that surged from the ground when the quake agitated the soil into a liquid mire.
Most of the bodies have been found in the seaside city of Palu, on the west coast of Sulawesi island, 1 500km north-east of the capital, Jakarta.
More than 10000 rescue workers are scouring expanses of debris, especially in three areas obliterated by soil liquefaction south of the city.
“We’re not sure what will happen afterwards, so we’re trying to work as fast as possible,” said rescue worker Ahmad Amin, 29, referring to the deadline, as he took a break in the badly hit Balaroa neighbourhood.
At least nine excavators were working through the rubble of Balaroa yesterday, picking their way through smashed buildings and vehicles. At least a dozen bodies were recovered.
“There are so many children still missing, we want to find them quickly,” said Amin, who is from Balaroa and has relatives unaccounted for. “It doesn’t matter if it’s my family or not, the important thing is that we find as many as we can.”
The state disaster mitigation agency said the search was being stepped up and focused more intensely on areas where many people are believed to be buried.
The decision to end the search has angered some relatives of the missing, but taxi driver Rudy Rahman, 40, said he had to accept it.
“As long as they keep searching, I will be here every day looking for my son,” said Rahman, who lost three sons in the disaster. The bodies of two were found, the youngest is missing.
“This is the only thing I can do, otherwise I would go insane,” he said, choking back tears.