Indonesia families anxious for news after school collapse

A woman weeps as rescue works are underway for victims (Image credits: AP)

SIDOARJO: Dozens of parents waited Wednesday near a collapsed school building on Indonesia’s main island of Java, an AFP correspondent said, as rescue teams searched for survivors under the rubble.At least three people died when the multi-storey building gave way in the town of Sidoarjo, with the national disaster mitigation agency saying 38 others were missing.Qoyyimah, a 42-year-old mother who like many Indonesians goes by one name, was in tears outside the flattened boarding school, desperate for news of her 15-year-son.”I first heard about the collapse from my relatives who live around here. I was shocked,” said the woman from the nearby island of Madura.Being away, “I couldn’t do anything,” she told AFP.”I couldn’t take it anymore, I couldn’t just wait for updates, I was restless and I had to see it for myself,” said Qoyyimah, who arrived on Tuesday, a day after the building collapsed.”I’m really worried,” she said.With rescue teams on the ground, an earthquake that struck overnight off the coast nearby brought their work to a brief halt.Local media reports quoted a school official as saying construction work had been ongoing for the past nine months. The building collapsed after its foundation pillars failed to support the weight of new construction on the fourth floor of the school, according to the national disaster management agency’s spokesman Abdul Muhari.Lax construction standards have raised widespread concerns about building safety in Indonesia, where it is common to leave structures, particularly houses, partially completed, allowing owners to add extra floors later when their budgets permit.Earlier this month, at least three people were killed and dozens injured when a building hosting a prayer recital collapsed in West Java province.