Tsunami Relief
Trip to Aceh by Director, Fr. Fabian |
| Posted by Administrator (admin) on May 07 2006 |
Banda Aceh: 9th – 12th January 2005
It was a torturous two days of waiting in four airports. With my direct flight to Medan from Penang cancelled the day before, I had no choice but to fly Penang-KL-Medan, before hopping on board a Garuda Airlines flight out to Banda Aceh. The flights were all greatly delayed and stretching out uncomfortably on the floor of Medan airport proved a massive lesson in the art of patience and tolerance because the frazzled ground crew were equally in the dark as to when the flights had been rescheduled to!
I finally arrived, in the wee hours of the morning, feeling soiled, stained, and exhausted.
It was about 2am, couldn’t see much as it was dark but was greeted by the nauseating stench of decomposing bodies.
The next morning, i walked the streets of Banda Aceh and the sight of the massive destruction and the uncountable bodies – some bagged, others not – proved that I did not have the stomach of steel I thought I possessed.
Walked past a small water way in the morning, filled and covered with rubble and emitting a very strong stench of decomposing bodies. In the evening, returning back the same way, bodies were lined up along the bridge on top of the water way. And the body-retrieval crew had only worked a small area of the river of debris.
Other common scenes were of total wasteland, as if it had never once seen houses, trees, plantations or roads. Places where you could never see the coastline, now could as houses which stood there before had been washed away. Trees uprooted, the only ones standing are the coconut trees. Pools of water on empty lands where houses once stood.
Huge boats in the middle of town, right in front of a hotel, 2 to 3 kilometres away from the coast. Some buildings which survived the waves now stand with only sad, naked frames left.
Because of the earthquake, one whole floor of a hotel had collapsed and sunk and there seemed no way to remove the trapped bodies inside.
Survivors now known as Temporarily Displaced People, now live in relief centres called Posko. Some of the luckier Poskos have wooden platforms for victims to sleep on while others slept on spread out cardboard placed on grass. It rained every evening during the five days I was there which made the grounds muddy and most uncomfortable to sleep on.
Sanitation was minimal. Australians had brought in a sophisticated purifying system to turn the muddy stream water into drinking water.
Food rations for everyone consisted of ‘Indomie’ instant noodles, uncooked ikan bilis, biscuits and several cups of mineral water.
Elderly women, when asked their needs, requested for prayer items such as the Quran and telekung to fulfil their spiritual needs.
Another common sight were command posts with over-crowded posters fighting for space on notice boards, each one containing a blackened photocopied photograph, and details, entreating for information about missing loved ones, relatives, spouses and children. There were families who travelled from one Posko to another, walking for days in search of relatives.
As I observed these people, I noticed one lady was pacing up and down in torturous anxiety . . . she had not seen her two children since the killer waves hit . . . and she did not know if they were alive or dead. And if they were alive . . . could they have been victims of child trafficking? Every time somebody tells her he may have seen her children in a posko somewhere, she would rush there on foot only to be disappointed . . . and the vicious circle recurs again and again. Another man. A social activist, had lost his wife, his children, his house, his car . . . everything. But because he has yet to found the bodies of his children, he fears they may have been trafficked.
As if the victims don’t have enough problems, the constant presence of armed military forces added to the stresses and worries for the people of Aceh.
I had met up with some members of the coalition of 28 local NGOs, FORUM LSM Aceh. Many of these NGO personnel too had lost their loved ones, houses, belongings, offices. My meetings with FORUM LSM Aceh people cemented a reliable link, a group of resourceful, committed people who were working for the people.
My heart went out to them . . . . these brave men and women who deprived themselves of food because they could not bear to touch meagre rations when there were so many hungry mouths to feed . . . who worked tirelessly, ignoring the frailties of the human body that demanded rest, sleep and sustenance . . . The aid we sent, I knew, would definitely go directly to the people who so desperately need help. They run 25 relief centres in Lhokseumawe, Sigli, Aceh Besar and Banda Aceh.
I return to Penang, leaving a big part of me behind in Aceh. How do you leave a people with so much raw pain and despair and return to your safe little world of privileges. How can humanity suffer so terribly?
Last changed: May 07 2006 at 11:48 PM
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