152 Missing Under Rubble

· 4 minutes read

PALU, KOMPAS – The government has extended the emergency response period in Central Sulawesi to Oct. 26, for victim identification and registration purposes. Search and rescue efforts will cease on Friday (12/10/2018). Hundreds remain missing, presumed to be dead or trapped under rubble.

Data from the joint emergency response task force show that as of Thursday (11/10), 2,071 dead bodies had been recovered, 680 remain missing and 152 bodies had been buried under rubble.

“The dead bodies buried by soil and rubble would have started decomposing. Identification will be difficult. The best option for us under these conditions will be to let [the bodies] rest where they are,” Central Sulawesi Governor Longki Djanggola said in Palu after leading a disaster management coordination meeting.

Longki said most bodies buried under rubble were in Petobo and Balaroa in Palu, as well as Jono Oge in Sigi regency. The three locations are where soil liquefaction occurred on Sept. 28. Many locals were buried under soil and rubble in the disaster. No official count of missing persons has been released. The government plans to turn the three locations into mass graves and green spaces.

“The victims’ next-of-kin have accepted the plan to let the bodies rest at the liquefaction locations,” Longki said.

National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) operations director Brig. Gen. Bambang Suryo said all Basarnas personnel would remain on standby. If more bodies are recovered, Basarnas will immediately take care of them. Bambang said Basarnas personnel had done everything they could to retrieve dead bodies, but conditions on the field were difficult, making it hard to retrieve bodies buried under soil and rubble.

Petobo resident Raisman, 58, said he had yet to find the body of his 3-year-old grandson Wahyu. He said Wahyu had been engulfed by mud during the earthquake. “I have let him go. We’ve been exhausted in trying to find him,” he said.

During the emergency response period until Oct. 26, the government will register victims and help them get back on their feet.

Victims’ data must be officially verified to prevent the mismanagement of aid distribution. The government has so far verified 78,994 displaced persons and 67,310 damaged houses.

Deputy Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Arcandra Tahar said the ministry would coordinate with local governments in arranging new housing for those who lost their homes to soil liquefaction as the sites were no longer inhabitable. “We will study whether to move the residents to temporary housing or to permanent housing,” he said.

Situbondo earthquake

A 6-magnitude earthquake that rattled northeast Situbondo in East Java on Thursday at 1:44 a.m. was triggered by a reverse fault similar to the recent earthquake in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara.

The earthquake served as a reminder that Java and Bali are highly prone to disasters. Apart from the faults below the two islands, their dense populations also poses a high risk.

“Looking at the source and strike-slip mechanism, the earthquake was similar to those in northern Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa and Flores. However, we need to further analyze the matter to find out whether or not the earthquake was directly linked to the Flores back arc thrust,” Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) deputy chief of geophysics M. Sadly said.

Gadjah Mada University seismologist Gayatri Indah Marliyani said the earthquake’s hypocenter could have been located on the westernmost tip of the Flores back arc thrust. “There are several faults in this location. Apart from the extension of the Flores back arc thrust, there are also the Rembang, Madura, Kangean, Sapudi and Kendeng fault lines. I tend to believe that this was an extension of the Flores back arc thrust,” she said. (AIN/IDO/JAL/AIK)

Editor:

tsunami EARTHQUAKE central sulawesi