I was staying with friends on December 26, 2005. At 7:45 in the morning
there were 2 large earthquakes – 9.8 on the Richter scale. They lasted
15 minutes. We all went out of the house and stood in the yard. The
earthquake was very hard and everyone was crying and screaming. People
had to hold onto something or they would fall down. It was the strongest
earthquake we had ever had in Aceh. People panicked as they looked for
their families.
After 15 minutes I heard villagers yelling “Water is coming! Water is
coming!” They were panicking and didn’t know where to run. We thought
maybe the water is coming from the sea at a height of 2 meters. We
helped everyone go up to the 2nd floor, including the in-laws who were
80 or 90 years old. There were 12 of us, all linking arms. I saw the
water was coming quickly and it was very high – maybe 5 metres high and
knocking down everything in its path – houses, trees. I thought “Oh my
God, this is not a movie. This is reality. I am the good man at the
wrong time, in the wrong place. What about my family? Will they know
what happens to me?”
The water hit the house and the first floor was swept away. Then the
second wave hit the house from behind. I was clutching a pillar with my
right arm, with my left arm I was holding onto my friend. But the water
was too strong, he and all 11 members of his family were lost in the
rolling, churning water. Since the pillar I held on to was still
connected to the roof, when the roof was swept away I went with it. I
sank with two big sections of the roof over my head. I thought it was
time for me to die. The water was carrying me very fast. I was fighting
under the water, fighting against all the debris that was being carried
along – pieces of houses, roofs, concrete, glass, barbed wire, nails,
zinc etc. The smell of turpentine was very strong.
When I finally made it to the surface I was able to take a breath before
sinking again. I thought I only had a few more seconds before I would
die. I had to be very careful of all the things in the water that were
damaging. I held my hands over my head to protect it and was kicking and
struggling with things so my feet and head were bleeding. I came up
again – taking another breath. Then I hit some trees and sank again. As
I struggled under the water trying to pull myself to the surface I
remembered my Mum. I thought of how her son was going to die and she
wouldn’t be able to find my body. I just surrendered my heart to God and
thought if He would take my heart it would be OK. I knew He was very
powerful and I was ready to die.
When I came up and took a new breath, I was near something large made
out of wood – maybe 14m long. It was a boat. I grabbed onto it and
climbed in. The wave was still running fast so I lay in the boat, very
tired and bleeding, with no strength left. I was thinking of my friend
and his big family and how hard it would be for them to swim. The water
was rushing through the town, but the shops and buildings caught all the
debris.
My boat was crashing into things and falling apart. I realized I would
need to do something to save my life so I climbed up onto the roof of
the boat. I held on as the boat was pitched around. Then I saw water
entering the boat so I decided to jump to the 2nd floor of a building as
the boat was sped past. I felt like Bruce Willis in a Diehard movie.
This was where I was saved – on the 2nd floor of a shop in the middle of
the city, 1km from my friend’s home. I began to cry thinking of my
friend’s family – there was no time to say goodbye. Why was I the only
one saved out of 12 people? I thought it would have been better if I had
died.
After the water receded I went back to my friend’s house. On the way I
saw many bodies floating in the water. I thought the first one was a
dummy but then realized it was real. Step by step I went along, very
confused because everything around me had been flattened. Everyone was
crying out for help, but no one paid attention because they were all
looking for their own families. There were bodies lying everywhere. I
found the kitchen of my friend’s house – I recognized the ceramics. But
there was nothing left of the structure. I cried again. I looked for my
friend and his family but couldn’t find them. I grew weary of looking at
the faces of dead, so went home to look for my own family.
When I got home that afternoon I found my family crying because they
thought I had died. They had spent the day looking for my body in the
city. When they saw me they were surprised and happy and cried even
more. They took me to the hospital to fix the cuts and grazes on my
body. For 3 days I was in shock thinking about my friend and his family.
At times I still feel alone in the world and I think it would have been
better to die. But after a month I realize that God still has a plan for
me.
(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. These Stories
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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