NPR

Parents Search For Lost Children After Indonesia's Disaster

They were separated in the chaos after the earthquake and tsunami. There's still hope that families can be reunited — but many obstacles loom.
Vera Rahayu Putri and her husband Faizal, who goes by one name, survey earthquake damage in their Palu neighborhood of Petobo, now covered by mudslides. Putri€'s 9-year-old son, Raldi, is among thousands of children who are unaccounted for.

Tents cover the lawn of a cracked government building in Palu. Coloring books are spread out across a tarp on the lawn. Children play tag in the driveway and wag their arms and hips in the popular "floss" dance, under the shade of palm trees.

This is where they bring children who were separated from their families after the earthquake and tsunami hit central Indonesia last month – as well as kids who were reunited but need trauma counseling.

"I'm scanning all the little faces," says Evi Kaharuddin, who's trying to find her 9-year-old grandson, Raldi. He disappeared when the family fled from

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