Survivor tales

Here are some of the unbelievable tales as told by victims of the recent Tsunami disaster in Aceh Province:

1. Mrs. Linda Winarmi, 35 years, a tsunami survivor from Teunom in Aceh Jaya District on the west coast traveled from her destroyed village to Banda Aceh to attend the Relief Coordinators' meeting convened by the Indonesian government. She survived 5 days on mineral water. In that meeting on Jan. 1st, she told that nobody from her area had received any relief supplies, so she came to inform the relief officials who thought that her village had already been covered. She was crying in the meeting as she explained that 4-5000 of the townspeople out of 6000 had perished. After her account the Relief coordinator promised her that an Army Officer would personally visit the destroyed village with her the next morning with relief supplies. The Indonesian Army has done extensive emergency relief all over Aceh Province trying to reach the most inaccessible places.


Scene from Banda Aceh5 days after the disaster

2. When Margii brother Nityananda arrived on Jan. 8th he got a chance to speak to some survivors at the Banda Aceh airport while waiting for us to pick him up. One man who lost 20 out of 25 of his family members told him that the waves were about 15 meters high and lasted about 15 minutes in duration, one after the other!

3. Another man told Nityananda his story. He had stayed the previous night of the tsunami in the mountains. In the early morning he felt a tremendous shaking of the entire earth that made him very uncomfortable. After a short while when light came, he decided to return from the mountain to town. Seeing the panorama from a high distance he noticed that there was a reflection of the sun on a huge expanse of water where the town should have been! Then he realized that a huge disaster had occurred.

4. Johnny a Chinese survivor of the tsunami came up from Medan to look for his family who had settled in Banda Aceh some years ago. He approached Nityananda and pulled out photocopies of his mother and sister who had perished in the waves. Tearfully he asked Nityananda: "Please keep these. If you find my family please let me know".

5. On January 14th, while returning from marketing Nityananda and Dada Ratnesh noticed a large turtle stuck in the middle of a pond. With the help of some local people, they managed to rescue the 80 kg. turtle who had suffered lacerations to its arms and legs. They lifted the turtle into our vehicle and then Dada drove the short distance to the sea and released the turtle. So pleased was the turtle that they had saved his life, that he dipped his head 3 times from the sea towards the cheering villagers watching him return to his familiar habitat!

Shiilabhadrananda, Banda Aceh, Indonesia