Children return to school in the seismic city of Indonesia to find friends

PALU, Indonesia (Reuters) – Children in the Indonesian city of Palu started returning to school on Monday to clean up their classrooms and collect data on their numbers 10 days after the earthquake and tsunami hit their city.

The magnitude 7.5 earthquake of September 28 destroyed many buildings in the small town of Sulawesi, located 1,500 km northeast of Jakarta, as the waves of the tsunami crashed on the front sea.

But the most deadly was probably the liquefaction of the soil, which occurs when a powerful earthquake turns the soil into a liquid quagmire that clears several neighborhoods of Palu.

The official death toll is 1,944 but the bodies are still recovering. Nobody knows how many people are missing, especially in areas affected by liquefaction, but they could reach 5,000 people, the National Disaster Agency said.

In a state high school, teenagers dressed in gray and white uniforms swept the broken glass in the classrooms. The trophies had fallen from a broken school showcase and the basketball court was cracked.

"It's sad to see our school like this," said 17-year-old Dewi Rahmawati, who is hoping to graduate next year and wants to study economics at the university.

Students discovered that they had to get to school through messages on Facebook and WhatsApp.

School director Kasiludin said the authorities had ordered all teachers to report for work starting Monday to gather information on the number of students.

"We will not force students to come back because many are traumatized. But we must start again soon to keep up the morale and avoid being left behind, "he said.

The school has lost at least seven students and one teacher, he said.

Across the city, nine schools were destroyed, 22 teachers were killed and 14 were reported missing, the agency said in a disaster, adding that 140 tents had been set up for classes.

GRAPHIC: Catastrophe in Sulawesi – tmsnrt.rs/2OqQlUo

POSITIVE THOUGHT

At SMP Negeri 15 Palu College, fewer than 50 out of 697 students showed up.

School principal Abdul Rashid said he was aware of the deaths of four students during the earthquake.

"The classes have not started. We only collect data to know how many students are safe, "he said.

"I'm still waiting for the Ministry of Education to give us instructions on how to start classes. For the moment, I do not think we are ready. Many children are traumatized and scared.

A boy who was chatting in school with friends said that he was sad and that few of his classmates had come forward.

"I did not hear a lot of them. I want to think positively; I hope they are doing well, "said Muhamad Islam Bintang Lima, dressed in school uniform consisting of a white shirt and a navy blue pants.

Most of the victims of the earthquake and tsunami were in Palu, the main urban center of the region. The numbers for the more remote areas are arriving, but they seem to have suffered fewer deaths than the city.

Sulawesi is one of the five main islands of Indonesia. The archipelago is the scene of frequent earthquakes and occasional tsunamis.

In 2004, an earthquake on the island of Sumatra caused a tsunami in the Indian Ocean, claiming 226,000 lives in 13 countries, including more than 120,000 in Indonesia.

A spokesman for the National Disaster Mitigation Agency said Sunday that body research would stop on Thursday.

Debris would be cleaned up and areas affected by liquefaction would be transformed into parks and sports venues and include memorials.

Indonesia is organizing a meeting this week of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank on the island of Bali, which has drawn some criticism from the political opposition.

"What is the benefit for us Indonesian people, especially in this time of disaster," said on Twitter Fadli Zon, deputy speaker of the parliament of the nationalist Gerindra party, opposing government spending for the meeting.

The government has allocated 560 billion rupees ($ 37 million) to earthquake victims.

GRAPHIC: Destruction at Palu – tmsnrt.rs/2IDFukK