Hundreds of students flocked to the campus yard. Instead of going into the classrooms, they entered big tents that the National Alms Agency (BAZNAS) donated as emergency classrooms because a lot of buildings at the campus area were damaged.
According to Abidin Djafar, who is in charge of the Islamic institute`s academic activities, the classes had officially been resumed on Thursday.
The tents, however, cannot accommodate all students. Therefore, several teaching staff were seen teaching their students at the university`s terraces.
The 7.4-magnitude earthquake that rocked the city of Palu and districts of Donggala and Sigi on Friday (September 28), followed by a tsunami, had destroyed and damaged most of the Islamic institute`s buildings, including the library center.
In this first semester, the students should be able to attend at least eight lectures for every subject they have, he noted.
Considering the importance of education for the children in the disaster zones around Palu city, the emergency response unit of the Army Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) has recently set up a Quran teaching center in a refugee camp.
"The social life of the city`s residents has gradually got back to normal, and we support the trauma healing for the survivors, particularly children," Commander of Kostrad`s 16/SBC Air Defense Artillery Unit Let.Col. Agung Rakhman Wahyudi remarked.
The Quran teaching center was set up at a temporary shelter in Kayumalue Village, Palu Utara Subdistrict, he noted here on Friday.
The trauma healing was carried out through a spiritual approach by teaching the Muslim children about how to read the Quran.
The recent catastrophe killed more than two thousand people, and, according to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency, caused the Central Sulawesi Province to suffer material losses of at least Rp10 trillion.
The central government, as revealed by Vice President Jusuf Kalla, has set a target to complete the rehabilitation and recovery endeavors within two years.
Reporting by Muhammad Hajiji
Editing by Rahmad Nasution
Reporter: antara
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
