They
enter the office of the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) in Banda
Aceh with worried looks on their faces. They head for the long
list on the wall that contains the names of people found after
the tsunami.
Insun, his mother Jamila and sister Inong are looking for the
four small sons of another sister, Modu Leni. “The whole
family was at home when they saw the tsunami approaching,”
Insun says. “There was no time to run, they never even
understood what was happening.”
Modu Leni and her husband, who was badly injured, are now in
Medan.
Jamila and Inong are carefully checking the list compiled by
the PMI (Palang Merah Indonesia) volunteers and the International
Committee if the Red Cross (ICRC).
For a moment Jamila’s face brightens: she has found a
name similar to one of her relatives. But her expression soon
turns back to one of despair, after she checks it with the PMI
official. The name was identical, but not the address.
And they continue checking the names on the list, over and over
again.
“I still cannot believe this has happened,” Insun
says. “I no longer live in Banda Aceh, but I was here
last year to visit my mother and family. This was like paradise."
" When I see the destruction now, it is like a bad dream.
I am so depressed, I would like to share this terrible experience
with my friend here in Banda Aceh, but I cannot find them either,”
he says.
The search is over. Jamila is crying silently as they leave.
None of the four missing grandsons, aged 2 to 12 were on the
list.
The uncertainty is often the most difficult to cope with. Several
weeks after the tsunami hit Western Sumatra people are still
hoping.
Lhok Nga, just outside Banda Aceh, took the full force of the
tsunami on the 26th December. Fachrul Razi, 10, and his 15-year-old
brother, Sabri, still hope that their missing sister, Siti Marhamah,
12, will be found alive.
The two boys and their parents are now in a camp for the internally
displaced. When the tsunami hit their home they ran to the mosque,
climbing up on the roof to escape the water.
“My sister was running with the rest of us, but when we
reached the mosque we could not see her anymore,” Sabri
says.
Now the whole family - except for the missing sister - is in
the camp, where the Red Cross is providing relief supplies every
day. Sabri says that for the moment life is not too bad but
he would like the family to move back to the same area as before
and build a new house.
When I ask Fachrul Razi for his dearest wish he does not hesitate
for a second: “I would like to go back to school as soon
as possible. And please provide us with a ball so we can play
volleyball. It would be just great to play again.”
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Jamila,
whose four grandsons are missing, checks for their names
on a list of those found alive since the tsunami at the
Indonesian Red Cross office in Banda Aceh (p-IDN0201)
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An
Indonesian Red Cross volunteer helps Jamila to check for
the names of her missing grandsons (p-IDN0203)
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