The morning that turned into mourning

By Orla Clinton, Church of Sweden/ACT International

Aceh, Indonesia, January 25, 2005 - It is a story that is repeated many times by the thousands of people who survived the tsunami. 

Thirty-two-year-old Adi Arisnadi was enjoying his Sunday morning at home. His four-year-old son was playing on the beach when the earthquake struck. His wife screamed to him to run and fetch the child, which he did. After that, he went to the nearby harbor where he works to check if everything was all right. Satisfied there was no damage, he returned home and ate breakfast.

Melinda, his 31-year-old wife, was busy looking after their nine-month-old daughter. She asked him if he could go and buy some goods for her stall. Just as he headed over a bridge a couple of hundred meters from his home, he saw people staring toward the sea. The next thing he knew, they were running, and that was when he saw the huge, black waves racing toward the shore. 

He tried to turn back and get his wife but was trapped by the approach of the water. His only thought was to get away. Suddenly the water was upon him, and he saw a coconut tree, which he clung to, and he began to pray. 

"The water was whipping me 'round and 'round. Everything was falling down with the huge, black wall of water, and people were screaming and crying for help. I thought it was the end of the world," said Arisnadi. He does not know how long it was before the water started to go down.

"All the dead were floating around me. I prayed my family had been saved but realized there was little chance, as once I reached safe ground, people started saying how thousands had been washed away where I live," he said. 

Arisnadi now sits in Blang Cut, one of the thousands of shelters set up for displaced people. In all, he has lost 10 relatives. Out of his dead wife's family, only one person has survived. He is receiving counseling from a Church World Service (CWS) therapist who embraces him gently. CWS, along with YAKKUM Emergency Unit and Yayasan Tanggul Bancana, all members of

Action by Churches Together (ACT) International, a global alliance of churches and related agencies, is carrying out ACT's response to the massive needs in Indonesia following the December 26 tsunami.

Ulee Lheue, where Arisnadi and his family lived, was flattened by the waves. It is hard to imagine how anyone could have survived, especially the young children. The water swept away everything in its path, and the scene now is one resembling an atomic bomb drop. All that is left are the bare foundations of houses that were built well.

Only a few people scavenge among the ruins here for belongings. The rest are dead. Piles of corpses wrapped in plastic lay on open ground awaiting collection, while body parts are scattered among the debris. Once whole families enjoyed their Sunday mornings here. Now, like so many Acehnese, they lie wrapped in plastic, with no family members still around, most likely, to offer them a proper burial. 

Arisnadi has little time to talk about the future. He is still in shock. "My life has stopped, but I believe this is a punishment for all our corruption and injustice here," he said, adding that he hopes international assistance reaches the people who need it most. 

In another part of the shelter sits Ama Bisalamah. She was having her morning milk when the earthquake hit and did not think anything at first, but quickly took a shower in the belief that she would be clean if the worst happened. She had just finished showering when her sister-in-law shouted that everyone was running in a panic.

"When I ran outside, I saw everything falling down around me and saw water coming from everywhere. I thought of my two girls, aged 10 and 13, who were in my mother's house. So I ran there but saw from a distance that the house was covered in water, and I knew they were all dead," she said, weeping quietly. 

Then the water washed her away, and she thought she was dead. "This disaster is a very bad dream. I cannot just accept it, and I don't understand why it has happened. If I keep thinking of it, I will go mad," the grief-stricken mother said. She wants to do something, to be active to try and forget all of this. She needs a place to stay and some basic supplies. She is also benefiting from the counseling from CWS, which is trying to determine how she can best be assisted.

These two stories are all too familiar. People have lost their entire immediate families, other relatives, as well as their livelihoods and hope for the future. But people are also gathering strength from each other, bolstered by a tremendous faith that keeps them going.