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Rebuilding homes and hearts in
Aceh
By Andreas Harsono
LAMNO, Indonesia - Muhammad Ali finished a
plate of fried noodles, sipped a glass of cold tea
and lamented about his misfortune in a coffee shop
at the market in small town Lamno, about 200
kilometers south of the Acehnese capital Banda
Aceh.
"No amount of aid can bring back the
lives of any of my children," he said, lighting
his cigarette and looking at a relief truck from
the aid organization World Vision that was
distributing plastic buckets, soap bars, cooking
utensils, batteries and other essentials at a
refugee camp behind the market.
Foreign
aid workers, particularly medics, continue to pour
into tsunami-ravaged Aceh as the aid operation
moves into a second phase, with rescue workers
beginning to look at ways of providing long-term
support. Initial fears of a post-tsunami disease
explosion prompted the huge influx of medical
resources, but with no sign of epidemic doctor's
caseloads have fallen sharply.
"The peak
of the emergency operation is behind us," said a
United Nations official. "The difficult part
starts now."
Six weeks on from the
disaster, aid workers are focusing on rebuilding
and returning people to their former homes. More
than 400,000 people were left homeless in Aceh as
a result of the December 26 earthquake and
tsunami. At least 225,000 others are dead or
missing.
Pining for loved ones
lost
Ali used to be a keuchik
(village head) in his coastal hamlet of Cot Dulan,
near Lamno, before he married Yusmanida, a woman
from Ujung Muloh - a fishing village about a
15-minute walk from the market.
They
married about 15 years ago and Ali moved to
Yusmanida's village to become a trader. He bought
a piece of land and then started a small business
venture. Yusmanida later gave birth to a son and
two daughters.
Like most Acehnese, Ali and
Yusmanida lived with their kin; Yusmanida's
parents and grandmother were a permanent part of
the family. But Ali's tranquil life changed
drastically on December 26, when the killer waves
washed away the whole of Ujung Muloh. Only 21
people survived, and Ali was one of them.
"It was one of the first villages hit by
the waves," said Hendi, a hardware seller in the
market.
"As the water started rising fast
from the first wave, we started running. Then the
second wave hit," Ali recalled. "It was huge - as
tall as a coconut tree, maybe 20-30 meters high."
Ali held on to his youngest daughter, who
was only 10 days old. Yusmanida, who had not fully
recovered from the delivery, was assisted by her
mother. The couple's 13-year-old son Suheri Akhar
and 11-year-old daughter Santrina ran together
behind their parents. As they ran, the two also
held on tight to their great-grandmother.
They managed to escape from the first rush
of water, but the second huge wave swallowed the
whole family.
"I was submerged. I swam and
appeared on the surface to find out that I was
already at sea. It was more than one kilometer
from my house," Ali said. "I checked my baby
daughter, not sure, whether she was dead or still
alive. The water was moving so fast. I had to let
her go," he added, tears welling in his eyes.
A third wave carried Ali to Alumi, three
villages away from Ujung Muloh.
"A tree
trunk hit my back when I was in the water. I also
suffered some bleeding in my left forehead," he
said, pointing to a black scar that marks his
face.
In the water, Ali managed to hang
onto a wooden plank that floated toward a coconut
tree. When he reached the tree he grabbed it and
hung on until the water subsided. When he came
down from the coconut tree, he saw corpses
everywhere, he said.
Still staring blankly
at the World Vision truck outside the coffee shop,
Ali said he had lost his wife, his children, his
mother-in-law, his wife's grandmother, his gold
deposit, his money, house and everything else.
"Only my father-in-law survived. He was
fishing at sea then," Ali revealed.
Mustafa Ibrahim, a schoolteacher who
helped organize grassroots support among the Lamno
villagers, said Ali was a broken man after having
lost his immediate family. "But at least he is
alive. And I think he has to be thankful for
that."
Ibrahim and many villagers who live
in downtown Lamno helped victims such as Ali -
setting up temporary shelters in school buildings
and feeding survivors.
The tsunami cut off
Lamno as well as neighboring Calang from the
outside world, when it swept away bridges linking
the towns to the main highways. Outside help only
arrived in Lamno seven days after the disaster.
"If outside help did not arrive, we might
have faced starvation as food supplies were almost
gone," said Ibrahim.
Joel Thaher of the
Ratna Sarumpaet Crisis Center, a Jakarta-based
non-governmental group that manages the Gle Putoh
camp in Lamno, said relief agencies were still
relying on helicopters and boats to bring in food
and medicine.
"The bridges and roads are
still badly damaged," he said.
Returning
to New York after a week-long tour of Aceh a month
after the deadly Indian Ocean earthquake and
tsunami, John L McCullough, executive director of
the international humanitarian agency Church World
Service said: "Survivors in Aceh are beginning to
pick up their lives, but their needs continue to
be almost overwhelming.
"This territory
cannot be left idle or left in the lurch to
rebuild," he said in a plea to the international
community.
"Recovery of the dead is still
going on - and the international community is very
much involved," McCullough said. "But the world
community must stay focused and present for what
will be long-term recovery in these worst-hit
tsunami regions."
McCullough echoed a plea
from the United Nations on Wednesday for world
governments to keep their pledge promises for
tsunami recovery. According to the UN, almost
two-thirds of the money promised by governments to
help the millions of people affected by the
tsunami has yet to be received by the world body.
So far, only US$360 million have been
received - little more than a third of the total
$977 million needed for the projected first six
months of emergency phase relief work.
(Inter Press Service) |
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