The official death toll is 1,944, but bodies are still being recovered and authorities say as many as 5,000 persons are missing within the two worst-hit areas.
However, nobody knows exactly how many individuals died, and plenty of consider the number is far higher.
At one state highschool, teenagers wearing gray and white uniforms swept up broken glass in classrooms. Trophies fell from the damaged school display case and the basketball court was cracked.
“It’s sad to see our college on this condition,” said Dewi Rahmawati, 17, who expects to graduate next 12 months and desires to check economics at university.
Students learned concerning the must report to highschool from messages on Facebook and WhatsApp.
The school’s principal, Kasiludin, said the authorities had ordered all teachers to report back to work on Monday to gather information concerning the number of scholars.
“We will not force students to return because many of them have been traumatized. But we need to start again soon to keep their spirits up and to ensure they don’t get left behind,” he said.
He added that the school lost at least seven students and one teacher.
Hopes of finding anyone alive faded, and the search for survivors among the wrecks focused on collecting and accounting for the dead.
The disaster agency said the official search for the unaccounted for people would continue until October 11, when they were reported missing and presumed dead.
The government has said it will consider these communities razed in Palu as mass graves and leave them untouched.
Gopal, whose aunt and uncle were missing, struggled through the wreckage on Monday, knowing there were only a few days left to find his loved ones.
“Even if they (search teams) stop looking, we will still try to find them,” said a 40-year-old woman in Balaroa, one of the districts hardest hit by the disaster.
“When we can no longer do it ourselves, we leave it to Allah,” added Gopal, who like many Indonesians uses one name.
On Monday, excavators and rescuers combed Balaroa, where the disaster almost completely engulfed an enormous complex of presidency buildings.
For now, I do not think we’re ready. Many children are traumatized and scared
Rescuers struggled to extract the decomposing bodies from the tangled mess left behind.
At SMP Negeri 15 Palu Junior High School, lower than 50 of 697 students showed up.
School principal Abdul Rashid said he knew of 4 students who died within the earthquake.
“Classes haven’t started. We are only collecting data to find out how many students are safe,” he said.
“I am still waiting for the Ministry of Education to tell us when to start classes. For now, I don’t think we’re ready. Many children are traumatized and scared.”
One boy, talking to some friends on the college grounds, said he was upset that so few of his classmates showed up.
“I want school to start as soon as possible so I can find out how my friends are doing,” said Muhamad Islam Bintang Lima, wearing his school uniform of a white shirt and navy blue pants.
“I have not heard from that lots of them. I would like to think positively; I hope they’re okay.
Most of the victims of the earthquake and tsunami were in Palu, the region’s essential urban center. Data is coming in for more distant areas, but there seem like fewer deaths there than in the town.
Sulawesi is certainly one of the five essential islands of Indonesia. Earthquakes and sometimes tsunamis occur steadily within the archipelago.
In 2004, an earthquake off the coast of Sumatra triggered a tsunami within the Indian Ocean that killed 226,000 people in 13 countries, including greater than 120,000 in Indonesia.
Reports by Reuters and Agence France-Presse
This article appeared within the print edition of the South China Morning Post as: Schools counting students in city hit by earthquake and tsunami
