Yassir,
30, lost his wife of 13 years and unborn child to the tsunami.
His business and livelihood, a motorcycle shop, were also taken
from him.
“I was here at the shop when the earthquake came,”
said Yassir. “I came out of the building and sat on the
road like everybody else. Then I saw the big mud come. It was
12 metres high.”
In a panic, Yassir fired up a motorbike, and together with his
wife fled across the street and down the road. But a wall of
water blocked their way.
Motorbike abandoned, they fled, arms linked, on foot. But the
mass of dirty water, sand and debris swept them away. They became
separated.
“I could see my wife. She was only a few metres from me.
Then she was gone,” Yassir said, his hands now covering
his face.
The tsunami struck on a Sunday, a day when many people flock
to the beach to play sport or take a dip in the warm waters
of the ocean.
But now all that remains of the coastal area is a twisted mass
of household belongings, smashed buildings, stone pillars, cars,
jeeps and, people.
Half the town of Banda Aceh has been flattened by the tsunami.
Up to 100,000 are dead and nearly 200,000 homeless.
The remaining foundation stones provide a haunting reminder
that this vast area was once the heart of this provincial capital,
where thousands made a living, raised families, embraced friends,
went to school and prayed at the local mosques.
The misery and sorrow of the town’s people is palpable.
In some places, the destruction comes as much as five kilometres
inland. And along the coast, only a few buildings remain. Bodies
still line the streets. The authorities are overwhelmed. Clearing
the area of the human carnage will take many days.
Sharing the same tragic experience are the scores of Red Cross
volunteers, who are working long days to retrieve bodies.
They have come to help from all over the Indonesian archipelago.
From Jakarta and Java, to Bali and Sumatra, as many as 220 Red
Cross volunteers toil in the heat and humidity to clear the
bodies.
Team leader Heri Chairul from Jakarta will be in Banda Aceh
for at least a month.
Today his team of young Red Cross volunteers, many in their
late teens and early twenties, have recovered seven bodies.
In anonymous black bags, they lay in the back of a large truck.
Heri readily admits that many more bodies still need to be recovered.
And it is evident from the smell of decomposition that large
numbers are still out there beneath the rubble or submerged
in some dirty pool of water.
"Our job is to recover the dead bodies from the crushed
buildings. Only that," sighed Heri.
Meanwhile across town, Yassir is left to ponder his future.
“I don’t know where to begin. My wife is gone, my
business gone. How can I start to rebuild my life? Tell me that,”
said Yassir.
But for one thing he is grateful. He recovered the body of his
wife. She had been carried several hundred metres by the water
to her final resting place, the central bus station in Banda
Aceh.
“Thanks to god, I found my wife. At least I had the chance
to say goodbye.”
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Yassir,
lost his wife, unborn child and livelihood to the tsunami
(p12458)
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Indonesian
Red Cross volunteers are still recovering bodies from
the ruins of banda Aceh (p12456)
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Heri
Chairul, from Jakarta, is leading a team of Indonesian
Red Cross volunteers in Aceh. Their only task is the grisly
one of recovering corpses (p12459)
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A
mangled pile of motorcycles is all that is left of Yassir's
business (p12640)
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