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Journal from the Ground
by Saiful Mahdi
5:48am. I was awakened by a sudden shake,
the worried voices of my in-laws and their kids. Everybody rushed out
through the living room where some of us, including myself, were
sleeping on the floor. The house shook for about 1.5 minutes. I guessed
the magnitude of the quake must be no less than 4.5 on Richter scale. I
had been hearing that smaller scale quakes still often struck Banda
Aceh. Still traumatized by the great quake preceding tsunami on December
26, many people get easily worried and hysterical. The trauma is very
obvious, especially in children. Before we went to sleep last night, the
host lady actually told me that they are still afraid of sleeping in
bedrooms and prefer to sleep on the floor. Many people do not want to
sleep on their third or second floor. Right after the great quake and
tsunami, some even slept outside their houses.
6:30-7am. Watched TV news about debates of how the Indonesian government
responded with tsunami relief. Critics said that the response is too
slow and ineffective.
8:10am-12:30pm. My brother, my brother-in-law, and I went to our
destroyed house to try to find our mother’s cupboard which contains my
credentials, including my degree certificates and other important
documents. We did not have any valuable belongings in term of material
wealth. So we were not trying to find any missing gold or bank notes.
But certificates in the Indonesian system are of great value. We pulled
up the collapsed roof which covered some debris of our home, but I could
not see the cupboard. Instead we found another dead body. Oh God! What
should I do? I called one of our relatives who is a long time volunteer
at the Indonesian Red Cross who has been doing evacuation for at least
six years. But nothing could be done. Many corpses were still lying on
accessible roadsides.
I believe the lack of leadership in Acehnese society has caused such an
irony in delayed corpse evacuation. While Acehnese are mostly Muslim and
believe that the proper treatment of the dead is part of community
obligation (Fard Kifayah), there hasn’t been much local initiative.
Some say it has to do with most Banda Aceh residents being victims. But
still, if there was strong leadership, people could have been mobilized.
The long term conflict in Aceh, I am sure, eliminated local leadership
structures which were replaced with military authorities. Local
initiatives are gone as civil society is not developing and people are
not fully in charge of their life and needs. Now, Acehnese are so
accustomed to being passive, sometimes apathetic. They are waiting for
others to do things for them. (This is confirmed an hour later as
explained below).
1pm. We left our ruined house with some clothes belonging to my twin
nephews saved by his father from the second floor. We also found my
younger brother’s wallet in his school back left under the ruins. I
recognize his school backpack right away because I just gave it to him
last summer when I returned home from the US. In the wallet was his ATM
card, student ID cards, residence ID card, and some money. I know that
he usually kept his wallet in his bag when he was home. We could not,
however, dig enough to find other things. We searched around our house
to find clues about our missing family member and maybe the missing
cupboard. There was nothing we could recognize.
Zuchdi, our youngest brother, left behind his wallet consisting
of his ID, ATM, student ID card, and some money.(10/1). He was
about to finish his degree in Accounting. There is as yet no
information whatsoever about his (and my other sister and her
family) whereabouts. |
On the way back to the PCC post, I
happened to see a well known ulama (religious leader) who is also one of
my close friends’ father-in-law wandering around Banda Aceh market
place. I asked the driver to stop, got down and introduced myself while
shaking his hand. I asked about his son-in-law. He said that the
son-in-law was found dead around where we met (about half mile from his
mother’s house). The ulama was looking for his daughter, my close
friend’s wife. Only one son of my close friend’s four children was safe.
I asked him about the slow evacuation. He, who is the leader of the
biggest Islamic organization in Aceh, said “What could we do in such a
condition with our limited capacity? Anybody who can help should help
and work together with the evacuation team. But we are all victims, so
we can not push people too much.”
I thought, if this man cannot mobilize the survivors or other Acehnese
who are not affected, who will? I tried to suggest my idea to mobilize
ten people from each village who were not affected by the tsunami to
help the evacuation of corpses. I got no clear answer. Instead, he moved
forward and began to talk about surviving children. He preferred to
dwell on my wish to set up a community center, particularly for
children, youths, and women.
Around 1:45pm. We were along the way to the post. Corpses in body bags
were seen on roadsides. They were right around where the ulama and I
talked—where he was searching for his missing daughter. I know it is not
right, but I didn’t feel too guilty anymore, for I too was so determined
to find my missing sister and brother.
Battered Banda Aceh. Corpses in yellow body bags were still not
evacuated after 10 days of the disaster. Ironically, people were
collecting valuable scraps and looting nearby. Picture taken
10/1. |
2:35pm. Got back to the post after lunch in the outskirt of Banda Aceh.
The post was then busier as many more people came to ask for aid
supplies. Sitting at the front desk of the post is extremely
challenging. People come to report and talk to you about all kinds of
things with all kind of stories and reasons. Some come with complaints
about the slow distribution of aid supplies. Some come back to ask for
their missing ones. Many come to ask for certain scarce supplies like
underwear, women and baby special needs. Mothers come crying for milk
and clothes for their babies. It is just unbearable for me to sit there
for more than thirty minutes.
Our volunteers were loading the distribution pickup truck.
Everyday, 3-6 pick up trucks are going out from PCC command post
in Banda Aceh (10/1). The supplies come from people all over the
world, Malaysia, the US, Australia, Germany, Japan, Germany, The
Netherlands, and beyond. Mostly from people to people across
the provinces, countries and continents. Some supplies are from
NGOs and from other foreign and domestic institutions alike. |
Soon I feel helpless. It seemed like we had not done anything to
determine the need we have to fulfill and how limited our capacity is.
I wish I had a magic stick so we could do whatever we wished, just like
my children in Ithaca like to talk about.
Aceh is one of the richest regions in Indonesia. Its population,
however, is more than 50% under Indonesia’s already low poverty
line. It is predicted that the quake and tsunami will make the
poverty level worse. Is that a justification for looting? Social
solidarity has never been this low in Aceh. Social fabric seems
destroyed. A failed community? Failed by whom? |
4:50pm. We went to Taman Sari where, Phi-Beta, my private course center
is. The course center has been very popular among students of different
grades in Banda Aceh. We provided quality tutorials for students from
the fourth grade to senior high school. The tutorials consisted of
after school programs and extended lessons which prepared students for
state and federal examinations. Phi-Beta is in the center of the city
just a block away from the white Grand Mosque of Baiturrahman. The
building is still there, but it is badly damage by the mud and water
reached by the end tail of the tsunami wave.
Phi-Beta course center which used to serve more than a thousand
students in Taman Sari, Banda Aceh. The fences were struck down
by the wave, the water was as high as one meter in the front
yard. We plan to clean and renovate the building as soon as
possible so we can offer it to the community as an emergency
school or child friendly space (CFS). |
The most valuable things in Phi-Beta are our library of books.
We just started a community library in the building. Almost 95%
of the books are destroyed by the water. I lent all the books I
had in my personal library last summer for public access—an
accumulation of 11 years as a university lecturer in Aceh. |
5:45pm. It starts raining heavily. The day is already dark although the
sun has not yet set. The weather is so intimidating. When you remember
your loved ones last minutes being chased by the 10 meter high wave, the
gloomy IDP camps, the 60% destroyed city, the separated kids—no matter
how small your contribution, you do not want to stop working for others.
That might be why some of my friends are still working in the rain when
we returned to the post again…
9:05pm. After sending my brother back to the place where we were
staying, I returned to the post. I decided to go back and sleep at the
post so I can help my friends with their debriefing at the end of that
day. Another hectic and exhausting day.
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