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INDONESIA-BURIES-EARTHQUAKES
Indonesia buries 1,411 bodies from earthquakes in Central Sulawesi
PALU, Indonesia, Oct 04, 2018 (BSS/XINHUA) — Head of Central Sulawesi
province’s Tsunami Emergency Response Joint Command (Satgasgab) Tiopan
Aritonang has said that 1,411 bodies from the earthquake and tsunami disaster
in Indonesia have already been buried in mass grave and public cemeteries.
He said burial process in the mass grave have been conducted properly. The
identified bodies have been returned to their families and buried in
preferred cemeteries, he said on Wednesday.
Part of the families were willing to have bodies of their relatives buried
in mass grave due to their difficult situations.
The provincial government has provided mass grave for bodies in Poboya
Indah cemetery, located in the city’s eastern higher ground.
The burial of those bodies in the mass grave started earlier this week,
carried out by troops and police.
Speaking to Xinhua recently a family member said he can still recognize
the body bags contained his father’s body when it was put on the ground by
the military personnel. “Actually there was another bag covering my father’s
body, but luckily I still remember the inner body bag which has particular
sign. I watched it when it was unloaded from truck and put on the ground.
That was enough,” 22-year-old Eka Setiabudi told Xinhua in the mass grave
location here on Tuesday.
Body of 54-year-old Mujiono, Eka’s father, was retrieved from under a
debris a day earlier in Petobo village, a most devastated area from the
tsunami.
Eka said his family has nothing left to bury his father properly after the
tsunami.
“The important thing is that I watched the process and has documented it,”
Eka sid, adding that his family was still expecting information on his 20-
year-old sister who remained missing.
Search teams and volunteers have intensified efforts to look for more
bodies.
Retrieval of bodies from under the debris and rubbles were conducted later
after the search team marked the locations and places where they were found,
with assistance of excavators.
Distribution of aids have been carried out in last a few days to camps of
refugees, Tiopan said, adding that delivery of aids to the province’s remote
areas like Lindu, Kulawi and Pipikoro villages, would be done through
helicopters.
Tiopan also said aid supplies would be distributed swiftly to those who
needed them the most in refugee camps.
Last Friday’s tsunami that hit Palu after a strong quake off the city’s
coast also injured around 800 people and displaced over 60,000 others.
BSS/XINHUA/IJ/1252 hrs