Banda Aceh

It's a funny thing about life.  Sometimes the things that seem most awful at the time end up being the best thing that could happen to you...if you can turn your perspective a certain way.

 

You will remember that Sumatra was hit very hard by the tsunami in 2004.  We visited a town called Banda Aceh, one of the hardest hit places in the world. One of the people that I spoke to said that Banda Aceh lost over 300 000 people because of the tsunami.

 

I remember some of the footage on TV 5 years ago and it's true that the waves were huge and the devastation was enormous.  I must say though that it is a completely different perspective actually being in the town where it all happened.

 

We met people who talked to us about running ahead of the wave.  The ground shook for 5 minutes (which is a long time to be outside of your house, crouched down because if you stand up, you will fall down).  Then when the ground stopped shaking, people started going back to their crumbled houses to see what they could salvage.  But then people started running by, heading away from the water. 

"What is happening?", they asked.

"The water is coming! Run!", was the answer.

"Mama, what should I take?", asked one girl.

"Take your Engineering degree, you need it for your future", said her mother.

 

So they ran ahead of a wave that was more than 6 metres high.  SIX meters.  In some cases, it was a wave taller than 2 telephone poles.  It was a black wave, because there was so much debris; so many houses and boats and cars and trees and rocks and lives.

 

There is one story of a boy who wanted his friend to run up the hill, because he remembered the myth that if the waters recede, it means that a big wave is coming.  His friend didn't know this myth, and didn't want to run.  So the boy stole his friends' money and the friend chased the boy up the mountain, and beat the boy for stealing his money.  And then the wave came.

 

When we were on our way up to Banda Aceh, our plane was delayed.  Delayed and delayed and delayed.  And I was tired and hungry and growly and frustrated. 

 

I noticed a person at the back of the airport who had been there about the same length of time that we had, and Nathan and I went and introduced ourselves.  Jocelyn is an Aussie who works in community development and was travelling to Indonesia for a conference, and was making a side trip up to Banda Aceh to meet a friend of hers.  As it turned out, we were able to spend time the next day with Marissa and Jocelyn, Marissa being a native Indonesian, and we toured the town in a way we never would have been able to had our plane not been delayed.

 

For instance, there is a boat in the middle of the city of Banda Aceh.  It is a boat that rode the tsunami wave and landed on a house about 5 kilometers inland.  This is not a small boat.  It is more than 230 tonnes.  Marissa had never seen it before, and when we were driving through the back alleys of Banda Aceh looking for it, and she said,

"There it is". 

We said,

"That can't be it.  That' a 4 story building!". 

"No, that's it".

"It can't be".

"It is".

 

And it was.  In the middle of the newly rebuilt city is a huge ship that cannot be moved back to the sea because of its size and weight.  Only the sea can move such a huge bulk.  It is now a memorial to the people who lost their lives during the tsunami.

 

We spoke to a man, one of the men who had run ahead of the wave. He was a guide on the boat, explaining to tourists why the ship was there and what had happened.  Jocelyn asked him how Banda Aceh had changed since 2004.  What he said was so interesting. 

 

In 2004, Banda Aceh was basically under marshal law.  There was a 9pm curfew.  There were bombs going off almost every day because military forces had taken over the city.

The man said, "There is more peace now. It is safer."  That was the first thing that he said.  It wasn't about what was lost, but about what had been gained through the millions of dollars in international aid that had been poured into the area, and the rebuilding process itself. He was so hopeful, and optimistic and seemingly non-bitter.

 

I must say that going to Banda Aceh affected me greatly...the difference between seeing something so terrible on TV that it's unreal, like a movie, and actually seeing the effects of the devastation, and climbing onto a 4 story structure whose only true home should be on the sea, and realizing how tall and powerful a wall of water 6 meters high actually is.  It is terrible to consider the tsunamis and the earthquakes and the wars and the madness that is in the world.

 

And yet, and yet.  My plane was delayed and we made new friends and experienced a beautiful, wonderful, enlightening day.  A tsunami devastated a city and now there is more peace.  Could it be that after all of this madness and war and credit crunch and environmental crisis and famine and all the difficulties and heartbreaks we will emerge into a better place, a safer and more informed and more peaceful place?

 

I hope.  I hope.  I hope.

ACDB