The residents of Timika, the capital city of Mimika District, have organized a mass prayer at different houses of worship while conducting fundraising activities to help the earthquake and tsunami victims in the city of Palu and Donggala District.
Parish priest of the Catholic Church of Santo Stefanus Sempan Maximilianus Dora OFM stated here on Monday that the Catholic community members prayed for the residents of Palu and Donggala District, who lost their beloved and properties due to the natural disasters.
Meanwhile, local community members have also conducted fundraising activities by assigning volunteers at several intersections and sending them to schools, houses, markets, mosques, and to crowded places around Timika for collecting public donations.
Agung, the fundraising coordinator, noted that the fundraising has been conducted from Saturday (Sept 29) to Thursday (Oct 5) during which the donated funds will be distributed to the needy in the disaster zones through the Timika-based alms agency.
As of Sunday, a total of Rp110,526,000 was collected by the fundraising volunteers.
"We welcome all residents of Timika, who want to donate a sum of money for our brothers and sisters in Central Sulawesi," Agung, who is also a member of Arema Timika Family Community, remarked.
The earthquake that hit several parts of Central Sulawesi Province on Friday afternoon was followed by tsunami, which had badly smashed the coasts of Palu and Donggala District.
The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) recorded that, as of Sunday at 1 p.m. Western Indonesia Time, the earthquake and tsunami had killed 821 people in Palu and 11 others in Donggala District.
In response to this catastrophe, President Joko Widodo had expressed his condolences to those affected by the earthquake and tsunami.
On the meantime, National Police Spokesman Brig. Gen. Dedi Prasetyo had earlier remarked that a large number of rotting corpses of the earthquake and tsunami victims in the disaster zones would be buried in mass graves on Monday.
"Most of the corpses have started rotting, so we are going to bury them in mass graves as quickly as possible to prevent the risk of spread of epidemic diseases," he stated.
The rescue workers of a joint-emergency task force have been working hard to evacuate the dead victims and survivors from the rubble of damaged and destroyed buildings in the disaster zones, he noted.
At the same time, the police and military personnel had been dispatched to safeguard several gas stations and minimarkets around Palu to prevent them from being looted.
"The police and military personnel will secure the gas stations and minimarkets to prevent a number of local people, in need of food, from looting them," he added.
Reporting by Evarianus Supar
Editing by Rahmad Nasution
Reporter: Evarianus Supar
Editor: Bustanuddin
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
