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Celeng Rescue: Meet the volunteers who recover the dead after disasters
Following a “calling of the soul”, some Indonesians have dedicated their lives to recovering the bodies of disaster victims – a job that takes compassion and skill.
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The mentor: Guntur trains rescue volunteers at a session organized by the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas).
(Basarnas-National Archive/Courtesy of Basarnas-National Search and Rescue Agency Wonosobo)
(Basarnas-National Archive/Courtesy of Basarnas-National Search and Rescue Agency Wonosobo)
W
hen disaster strikes, time starts ticking for search and rescue teams to save as many people as they can. Every second counts because lives are on the line.
The Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) is one of the world's best, demonstrated by its 99.18 percent rescue success rate last year. However, sometimes, time does run out, and once it does, everything changes. The operation becomes more of a mission to recover the bodies of the dead.
The operation sees a significant drop in personnel and support, but some people remain. Among them are members of Celeng Rescue Indonesia. The team works to find bodies trapped under the ruins of buildings in the aftermath of earthquakes, landslides and other disasters.
Guntur Geni formed Celeng Rescue Indonesia on Dec. 26, 2004, just after the Aceh tsunami. The team was directly involved in the recovery of the remains of victims of the disaster, which took more than 220,000 lives.
"[The Aceh tsunami] was terrible. We kept finding bodies. Alhamdulillah [Thank God], we were able to help for three months in the region and stayed safe in the process," said the 50-year-old farmer who lives Pacarmulyo, Wonosobo, Central Java.
The ‘celeng’ philosophy
There is a reason why the group chose celeng (boar) as their name. "Boars rarely go backward. They rush forward. That’s how we are. We won’t stop going forward until we finish our mission."
