Paluchain: When Nature Throws a Wild Party and Leaves a Trunk of Missing People
Shake, Shiver and Shattered
On September 28, a 7.5‑meter tremor hit Palu, Indonesia, and the city didn’t just feel it—it felt it. Shopping malls, hotels, and even the local stadium lost their footing. The tsunami that followed was like a punch‑line that everybody missed.
And the real kicker? Soil liquefaction—when the ground turns from solid rock to a swampy mess. It swallowed entire neighborhoods and turned houses into fudge‑filled pockets of mud. Picture a giant grizzly bear licking up a building; that’s how good liquefaction is at being nasty.
Lost and Found: The Numbers are Mysterious
Rescuers can’t even put a glassy number on how many folks are missing—probably a few hundred, but who’s counting? The official death toll now sits at 1,763. Meanwhile, bodies keep coming out of the chaos: one site yielded 34 already Saturday, and more were found Sunday.
Families in the Crossfire
- Hajah Ikaya (60) – She’s grieving the loss of her sister, brother‑in‑law, and niece, all still nowhere to be found in the Balaroa neighborhood.
- Dede Diman (25) – From Petobo, he’s furious that searches haven’t even started where his sister vanished. His mom’s body was found, but the girl’s still missing.
- Mohammad Irfan (25) – He rushed back from Bali to search for his grandfather, with a gloomy heart if the raid ends.
- Ondre (38) – A toy‑maker who lost his wife, older daughter, and mysterious two‑year‑old. He used up all his energy on a doomed mission yet still keeps looking for the little one.
The Agency’s Ultimatum
Local disaster officials have decided that the massive search operation will end on October 11. “Limited searching may be done,” say the spokesperson, but the “big‑scale, big‑budget” effort will stop. It’s like saying, “I’ve been looking for that missing sock for a month, but I’m tired now. It’ll be fine—just give up the search.”
In the aftermath plan, the rubble will become parkland, sports arenas, and even a playground for everyone to troll and try to move. Yet this may also push some families into even more precarious places, so they’re going to give a whistle to “conflicting relocation.”
Faith & Frustration
The psychological fallout shows up in a mix of tears and prayer. Christians set up makeshift services around ruined churches to thank their survival and mourn the lost. In Palu’s Jono Oge, the community dwindled to a few dozen kids and teenagers, all buried in the mud after the church’s cafeteria was swallowed.
Sheer faith keeps people together, but faith is unique, too: “We’re relieved to be alive, but it saddens us that so many of our friends died.”
A Road Ahead, Somehow
Even with the huge numbers of missing people and the agency’s call to stop searching, the affected families aren’t giving up. One community says, “If they give up, we won’t.” The vision remains grounded: find the missing, rebuild the neighborhood, and offer a proper, honest burial to those who got buried. That’s the heartbeat of Palu.
