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Searching for home in the Indonesian village swallowed by quake
PALU, Indonesia, Oct 7, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Stepping gingerly through the
pulverised remnants of her Indonesian village, Nonlis Kando spotted a
familiar white shoebox imprinted with neon red lips among the ruins and burst
into tears.
The 35-year-old office worker had found her home — or what was left of it
after an earthquake and tsunami obliterated parts of Palu on Sulawesi island.
A week after the twin disaster killed more than 1,700 people, with a
further 5,000 believed missing, Kando returned to her neighbourhood for the
first time since running for her life as the world around her collapsed.
Petobo, a cluster of villages in Palu, was one of the worst-hit.
Much of it was sucked whole into the ground, as the vibrations from the
quake turned soil to quicksand in a process known as liquefaction.
It is feared that beneath the crumbled rooftops and twisted rebar, many
bodies remain entombed.
Aghast at the totality of devastation, barely a vertical structure
remaining, Kando joined shell-shocked neighbours as they staggered through
their unrecognisable community.
But her mood quickly shifted from horror to grief as she spotted the empty
shoebox, and realised the sickening mash of mud and concrete at her feet once
housed her worldly possessions.
“Now, the house is here, behind me. But before it was right over there,”
she said, staring in disbelief.
“That’s my home, down there,” she said, pointing at a soil-clad rug and
some familiar tiles, a few things that hold memories on top of this giant
stinking pile of mud. She noticed a binder holding certificates and important
personal documents, the reason she returned in the first place.
This will make it easier to rebuild her life, she said.
But the impact of her discovery — and realisation of everything that was
lost — overwhelmed her.
“I feel like when it happened the first time. My feet haven’t stopped
trembling,” she said, her voice cracking.
The scale of the task ahead is enormous. For now she is living with her
parents, many miles away.
But she struggles to imagine what life will now be like for her, her
husband Michael and their two young daughters. “I don’t know what I’m going
to do now,” she said.
For now, she will make do with the documents and the comfort of a few
fragments her old life salvaged from her home.
A pair of metal bowls, a serving tray, a man’s watch and a chipped plate.
BSS/AFP/ARS/1754 hrs