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If you are interested in great travel and conservation stories written by Haroldo Castro (sorry, only in Portuguese), please visit the Center of Travelology site.
THIS IS A SHORT PIECE WRITTEN IN INDONESIA, AFTER THE TSUNAMI
BANDA ACEH, January 14 2005 -- It was a long journey. I left Washington Monday morning and arrived in Banda Aceh, at the northern tip of Sumatra, only on Thursday evening. The last segment of our trip was a 13-hour road from Medan to "ground zero". It was the first time that Jatna Supriatna, CI's VP for Indonesia, was going to Banda Aceh after 12-26. Two CI cars were traveling together.
The road was crowded. Relief trucks, decorated with logos, flags and banners, were going packed and coming back empty. Leaving the province -- coincidentally, a good time for escaping the region -- dozens of buses were taking pilgrims to Medan and then to Mecca, to celebrate the upcoming Haji. Military vehicles were promoting their presence. Since we crossed the border of Aceh province, because of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), it was clear that we were in a zone war; in some sections, we saw one checkpoint per mile!
As we approached Banda, we started to see the impact of the double catastrophe caused by three earthquakes and tsunamis. First, the refugee camps. Several groups of plastic tents were part of the new landscape. Those who had lost their homes took advantage of the sunny day to wash and dry their few clothes. They were so colorful that, from the car, the camps looked more like a gypsy festival.
Then came the tough reality. When we crossed a coastal village, we saw the real destruction. Houses from both side of the road were crashed by the giant waves. A survivor told us that dozens of people perished: three out of four inhabitants of Keude Mane died. Later, the sign of the quakes: the tarred road exposed long holes and electricity poles were down, just as used toothpicks.
Banda welcomed us with the striking purple color of a sunset, as if the sky was mourning. A detour took us around the market area, but it was too dark to differentiate the silhouettes. I could only recognized the famous image of a big fishing boat smashed against a bridge as well as the supermarket demolished.
It was only this morning that Jatna and I could fully understand the tragedy. Miles and miles of destruction with no house remaining in place. It was like seeing a science-fiction film about the impact of an atomic bomb. Everything was flattened, wiped out. Cars were twisted by the strength of the water as they were toys. Boats were two, three miles inland. Homes were transformed in shattered pieces of wood, bricks and broken walls.
Even if the tsunami was already 19-days-old, the original mud was all over. Mud and the smell of death. Impossible to be there without a surgical mask. Two police cars were collecting corpses: we saw a dozen bodies in plastic bags. I had never seen such level of destruction. The aerial photo of Banda in ruins, published so many times, is nothing comparing to the real thing
A good friend of Jatna, biologist Dr. Tjut Sugandawati, accompanied us during our journey to hell. She lost 90 relatives in Banda. But no loss in Weh Island, where her family comes from. This small island is situated only 12 miles from Banda and received the impact of the waves a few minutes before. Since she was a child, she remembers the elders telling her "If you feel an earthquake, go up the hill, a big wave might be coming." And so they did it. From a population of more than 20,000 people, only 20 died in Pulau Weh.
It was different in Banda Aceh. After the quake, people did not know what was really happening and half of the city -- which includes the most populated areas -- was completely destroyed in a few minutes. Officially, 37,000 people died in Banda but local residents consider that this number may be three or fourfold. "We only found the bodies of six of our 90 relatives," explains Dr.Sugandawati. There are still 125,000 people missing in Banda Aceh area.
A specialist on wetlands and mangroves, Dr Sugandawati is categorical. "All mangroves of Banda Aceh were destroyed because people were reclaiming land for the city or for shrimp ponds. We did not respect nature. If we had huge mangroves, may be those entangled trees and roots would have worked as natural barriers to protect our villages and cities."
