Indonesia school collapse leaves families gripped by grief and fury

SIDOARJO, Indonesia – Zainul Fatih, 16, lost consciousness when his boarding school collapsed on him and his friends. He awakened to their cries for help from behind concrete slabs. But he managed to crawl to light.

He is one of just 14 known survivors from

the Islamic school disaster

in East Java, Indonesia, on Sept 29, left deeply bruised and brutalised. And his ordeal continued on Oct 3 at a shelter near where he had nearly died, where he and his family waited for news about his still-missing cousin and at least 58 others confirmed or presumed to be dead.

“He is still traumatised now, feeling emotionally shaken and refusing to talk to people,” said Mr Abdus Syakur, 45, Zainul’s father.

Rescuers

pulled eight more bodies

from the rubble on Oct 3, bringing the official death toll to 13, the National Search and Rescue Agency said.

But dozens of bodies remained trapped a day after rescuers determined there could be no more survivors. Some relatives stormed the site out of frustration and anger that the search for bodies was taking so long.

“You keep telling us to wait, but it’s already the fifth day!” one woman shouted furiously at the rescue team. “Don’t you feel sorry for us?”

Some family members demanded that they be allowed to help directly in the recovery effort.

The rescuers said the recovery effort was a complex operation because the cramped location made it challenging for heavy equipment to pass through and remove large slabs and debris.

The parents and relatives of the missing students filled a four-storey dormitory building that officials have transformed into a temporary shelter. The families slept on thin mattresses distributed by the Indonesian government.

Mr Lutfi Andik, 37, was waiting for news about his 14-year-old son, Muhamad Azam Habibi, who was in his second year of secondary school. Mr Andik rushed to the school as soon as he learned that his son’s school had collapsed and searched every building shouting his son’s name.

“For the first three days, I was still hopeful,” Mr Andik said with teary eyes. “But now, I’m losing hope. I’ll just accept fate.”

Indonesian officials blamed “technological” failure for the collapse of the school, which had been undergoing construction to add a fourth floor.

Workers had been pouring concrete on the top floor when its pillars crumbled, sending the upper part of the structure crashing onto a lower floor where students were praying, officials said.

Officials declined to comment on whether the construction had been authorised.

Hoping for a body at least

Many Indonesians send their children to boarding schools like the one that collapsed – the Al Khoziny school in Sidoarjo, East Java Province – so they can study Islam. Religious study, learning how to read the Arabic alphabet and strengthening one’s faith are an essential part of life for many here.

Mr Khoiri, 45, who ran a chicken satay stall in a nearby city, had also sent his youngest child, Moh Davin, 13, to the school. The boy was still missing on Oct 3.

“I only wish that I could finally meet my son in an intact body,” Mr Khoiri, who goes by one name, said as he looked at a photo of his son on his phone.

The collapse of the school, which is in the middle of a dense residential area full of narrow alleys, has also left the community around it in shock. Many heard the rumble and rushed outside just as it was falling on the students.

On Oct 3, neighbours were giving food, water, clothes, blankets and mattresses to the relatives of the students. They also helped government officials run a public kitchen for the relatives.

Mr Mochamad Solichan, 71, who lives nearby, said he had seen students fleeing the building, covered in blood.

“I felt so scared when I saw students were running away for their life,” he said while giving out drinks in front of the search-and-rescue information centre. “It was devastating.” NYTIMES