Stories from the Field:
Lamno, Aceh, Indonesia
The earthquake, at 9.0 on the Richter Scale, was one of
the most severe in the last forty years. It struck without warning at
about 8 o’clock on a Sunday morning and was so powerful that it was
virtually impossible to stand up during the 15 terrifying minutes that
it lasted. Though still in shock, people near the beach noticed the sea
going out; far beyond the usual low-tide mark. This left hundreds of
fish flopping on the sand which attracted the villagers who grabbed as
many fish as they could. However a few remembered the warning of an old
traditional saying, “if the ocean empties out, run for the hills!” (in
the Acehnese language, the term is “iebeunah” which, literally
translated, means “the water will come again”). Those that took notice
fled immediately towards a nearby rise but those who ignored their
warnings or delayed to grab belongings, were unable to escape the wall
of water that roared towards the settlement some ten minutes later.
In
fact two main waves hit, about five minutes apart; the latter much
higher and more awesome that the first one. Both waves were carrying
vast amounts of broken, jagged debris which caused most of the serious
injuries to those who were swept before it but somehow managed to
survive. When the twenty five meter high second wave smashed into the
first one as it was receding, it served to intensify the grinding,
washing machine-like effect that caused such total devastation.
A number
of the men from the coastal community of Ujung Muloh were out fishing
beyond sight of the shore. Their boats rose with the huge swells of the
tsunami as it passed them heading for the island. It was certainly an
extraordinary sight. At the time they had no idea that it would form an
enormous wave as it reached shallow waters. It never entered their minds
that it would cause such unbelievable destruction as it swept up to two
kilometers inland, obliterating everything in its path. Only when they
returned to shore did they see the horrifying destruction where their
homes and families had been when they left them the previous evening.
One of the MRDS workers went with a man named Pak Dei to Ujung Muloh to
see where his house had been destroyed. When they reached the place
where Pak Dei’s house had stood he began crying and took our worker’s
hand. He said he had seen the wave coming and was able to jump on his
motorcycle. Going flat out at 120 kph down the main street leading from
the beach to the hill nearby, he was just able to escape the huge wave.
As he rode he shouted a warning the people that the wave was coming, but
no one seemed to pay any heed. Tragically it was impossible for him to
do anything in time to save his wife and child.
A man who was scavenging
through the debris along the beach told Dale that he had lost his wife
and four children in the tsunami. On that fateful morning he was several kilometres inland at the Sunday market in the main settlement of Lamno.
The wave came in from two directions (there is a hill near the sea
surrounded by low-lying land). It annihilated his loved ones and wiped
away everything he owned. He was one of many who owed their survival to
the fact that they were at that Sunday morning market. The market lies
only half a kilometer beyond the furthest point inland that the
floodwaters reached.
At the village of Babah Dua, halfway between Lamno
and the sea, there is a hill which is about seventy meters high, topped
by a television tower. Most of the village was clustered near the foot
of the hill. Approximately one hundred people fled up the hill to
safety. There they watched helplessly as their homes were swept away.
They watched in horror as family and friends who were unable get to the
hill in time were also swept away by the monstrous waves. Even now, more
than six weeks later, it is certain that many bodies are still trapped
in the enormous heaps of debris piled up against surviving palm trees
and remnants of homes and buildings. In this relatively confined area of
perhaps two square kilometers, the clean-up task is almost overwhelming.
Without the aid of mechanical equipment, clearing away the debris will
probably take months.
One day, after most of the well cleaning had been
completed, the team had a brainstorming session on how they could set up
a cash for work program to empower the people in the camps to clean so
that they would be ready for rebuilding. It was about 3:30 pm when a
representative, from another NGO arrived at the losmen (the small, very
basic hotel where the team have been staying). She wanted to talk to us
about the cleanup. The timing couldn’t have been better. The team shared
with her their thoughts about a work for cash program to clean up some
of the devastated areas. She immediately saw the merit of the plan and
offered to provide the funding necessary. Because her organization did
not have personnel with the language skills and cultural experience to
oversee such a program she asked our MRDS team if they could handle it.
By 4.00 pm we were off to the local hardware store and purchased 10 hoes
and some handsaws. By 5.00 we were meeting with some of the leaders from
the devastated villages. Tired of sitting around the camps with nothing
to do, the men were happy to have something constructive aimed at
getting their lives back together – and even better if they were paid
for the work!
A couple of chainsaws were hired and later another was
bought with money donated. Sledge hammers were bought for breaking up
concrete and brick (which most of the buildings were constructed from)
as were baskets and wheel barrows for carting the rubble to three trucks
which were contracted on a daily basis. Each day approximately seventy
men were gathered from the camps on a rotational basis and divided into
three groups; one dealing with rubble, another cutting up fallen trees
and the third sorting through debris for any wood, metal and other items
that could be recycled.
Our men took turns supervising, but also were
much involved in the dirty, heavy work. This was not lost on the men of
the village who were unused to the sight of Westerners, especially
Westerners who were willing to labor and sweat alongside them.
Most days
all of this was done in the blazing sun which dried out the effects of
the inundation and enabled some fires to be set to clear burnable
rubbish. One day, after a stiff breeze picked up, one of the fires got
out of control and threatened some of the remaining houses. Most of the
afternoon was spent organizing a bucket brigade. The men formed up, and
some had to clamber over unstable debris to get the water from the
nearby river to the fire and hold it in check.
In many places the work
proceeded slowly because it was very likely that more bodies would be
found under the debris. The men knew that the bodies would be too
decomposed to be recognizable by this point, and they were keenly aware
that the bodies could be family or friends. Once bodies were located, an
international aid team was to actually recover them and give them a
decent burial. The tragic reality was that this most difficult and
harrowing aspect of the work was left to the men themselves. Over a
three day period seventeen bodies were found and laid to final rest.
The
clean up program was progressing well until it was temporarily put on
hold. Government officials debated whether or not rebuilding would be
allowed to proceed in that same location. Frequent on-going earth
tremors testify to the unstable nature of the region and at this stage
no one is willing to rule out that further earthquake activity could
spark another tsunami.
This is a war zone in the sense that the
devastation is so horrific. However, we are meeting so many beautiful
and resilient people. May we have the grace to work together to really
see "intelligent compassion" given to people in desperate need!
(c) 2005 Millennium Relief & Development Services
'Stories from the Field' is a periodic journal of stories from MRDS
teams to give a deeper understanding and a face to our international network. 'Stories' archives
may be freely
copied with this citation.
Millennium RDS, 5116 Bissonnet #358, Bellaire, TX 77401-4007
Tel: (713)961-5645 Fax: (713)961-5735 www.mrds.org
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