Child quake survivors go sightseeing

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Tue, 06/27/2006 3:51 PM  |  Jakarta

Intan Ismawati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

As they swarmed around a storyteller Monday at Ancol's Dunia Fantasi in North Jakarta, the children from Bantul, Yogyakarta, just looked excited to be there.

Their big smiles made it easy to forget many of them are not coping very well with the deaths of loved ones, or what they saw on May 27, when an earthquake hit Central Java and Yogyakarta.

Bantul was one of the worst-affected districts.

Astri, 14, and her younger sister, Utami, said they thanked God every day because their entire family survived the disaster.

""I was washing the clothes and my dad was feeding the cows outside when the ground started to shake,"" Astri said.

She said her father had screamed at them to get out of the house.

Sheltering under a coconut tree, the children witnessed houses falling to the ground and panicked neighbors running for safety.

""I felt like it was kiamat (doomsday). It was horrifying to see the corpses of neighbors lying stretched out on the ground, said Siti ""Atun"" Muslihatun who lost her grandfather in the disaster.

""We couldn't get him out of the house in time. He was pronounced dead on the way to the hospital"", Atun told The Jakarta Post while wiping away tears.

One-hundred-and-thirty-five children from Bantul arrived in the city Saturday for a three-day holiday funded by the Jakarta chapter of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).

They were taken to recreational sites like Taman Mini Indonesia Indah in East Jakarta, Dunia Fantasi in North Jakarta, and National Monument park in Central Jakarta.

Party spokesman Dedi Supriadi said, ""The children have endured the greatest sorrow.

""We took them on vacation so they could get their confidence back far away from their devastated villages.""

The elementary and junior high school students were selected by the PKS in Yogyakarta to go on the trip based on their personal circumstances.

Aside from sightseeing, they also tried their hand at pottery.

""We wanted them to see they can still be productive and creative despite all they have been through,"" said Een Andriani from event organizer Bee Production, which the PKS got on board to make the event happen.

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