The Washington Times

Indonesia buries disaster victims

Indonesia begins burying its dead from a volcanic eruption, an earthquake and the resulting tsunami.

FILE  - In this May 18, 2006 file photo,  Maridjan, center, the spiritual guardian of  Mount Merapi, with other villagers perform a midnight walk in silence circling their village as a part of a ritual of a prayer for protection from disaster, in Kinahrejo village which lies on the slope of the volcano, Indonesia.  For 33 years, Maridjan spoke to Mount Merapi, appeasing its unpredictable spirits by throwing offerings of rice, clothes and chickens into the volcano's gaping crater. As Merapi began spewing 1,800 degree Fahrenheit (1,000 Celsius) gases and thousands of villagers streamed down the mountain's slopes, Maridjan refused to budge. His rigid body was found Wednesday, prostrate on the ground in the typical Islamic prayer position and caked in heavy white soot. (AP Photo /Dita Alangkara, File)

FILE - In this May 18, 2006 file photo, Maridjan, center, the spiritual guardian of Mount Merapi, with other villagers perform a midnight walk in silence circling their village as a part of a ritual of a prayer for protection from disaster, in Kinahrejo village which lies on the slope of the volcano, Indonesia. For 33 years, Maridjan spoke to Mount Merapi, appeasing its unpredictable spirits by throwing offerings of rice, clothes and chickens into the volcano's gaping crater. As Merapi began spewing 1,800 degree Fahrenheit (1,000 Celsius) gases and thousands of villagers streamed down the mountain's slopes, Maridjan refused to budge. His rigid body was found Wednesday, prostrate on the ground in the typical Islamic prayer position and caked in heavy white soot. (AP Photo /Dita Alangkara, File)

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