Tsunami Relief Effort

Getting to Banda Aceh:

It took our team of four, myself, Vicki Nielsen, Carolyn Sharette and Russ Hill, almost 6 days to reach Banda Aceh from Salt Lake City. After 3 days traveling on commercial airlines to reach Medan, we learned that all transport from Medan into the disaster area of Banda Aceh was delayed 2-3 days. This was on Saturday, Jan 15th. The soonest we could book a commercial flight was Tues, and renting a truck was ill advised because of security issues. Unless we could hook up with a convoy, we were advised not to try the 20 hour drive. Roads are bad and some bridges have been washed out. To hook up with a convoy required government approval which would take 2-4 days. So we decided to try our luck with the military transport in the cargo hold of a C130.

We got on the list and were told to return on Sunday afternoon and wait (they take passengers only after they've loaded the cargo for that flight, and then only by priority. As humanitarian aid workers we were given top priority) So Sunday afternoon we came to the airfield and sat in the hangar until 8pm when we were told we were on the next flight, leaving around 9:30pm. Not exactly luxury flight accommodations, it's a canvas bench strapped between pallets of cargo, but it was getting us closer to our goal! We were in the air about 2 hours when we hit really rough weather and the pilot decided we couldn't land in Banda Aceh so we were diverted to Thailand. We landed in Thailand at an airforce base at 2 am and were shuttled into another hangar, where we would wait/sleep on the floor until 6 am when we went back out to the tarmac to await another plane that would be headed to Banda Aceh. The problem was, no on knew when or if one would come that day. So we sat out on the tarmac (in very hot, sticky weather), feasting upon MRE's (military 'meals ready to eat', thus the initials MRE) until 2 pm when the soldier announced that there would be no flights that day. We were not 'officially' in Thailand, not having entered through traditional means, so we couldn't get visas and go about. The military shuttled us to a military hotel where we stayed until 4 am the following morning and were shuttled back to the air field. BY now it was Tuesday.

Fortunately for us, there was a Japanese military C130 going to Banda Aceh and we where given seats (I use the term seats very loosely!) in the back of their hold. Approximately 6 hours later we finally arrived in Banda Aceh.

The first person we met coming out of the military hangar was a man who lost his mother, sister, brother and many other family members in the tsunami. He offered to drive us around and as his english was passable, we hired him on the spot.

Report from Banda Aceh:

Things here are really terrible, no matter what pictures you see it's unbelievable. I'm happy to report that there is a massive effort by so many international NGO's (Non-government organizations or non-profits) along with the military of many countries and the Indonesians themselves. People have come from all over the world to assist. It's so great to see people of all different religions and races working together, side by side.

I attended a coordination meeting tonight at Unicef and there were 60 NGO's or more represented, the efforts to coordinate everyone's efforts is massive and unwieldy, but they are doing a good job.

I have seen military from Singapore, Japan, US, Australia and 10 or 12 other countries. They are doing an amazing job cleaning up, using huge earthmovers and dump trucks, the amount of debris is absolutely astounding. Everything for miles and miles is absolutely leveled. They are also working with the Indonesian military and police to collect and bury the bodies. Everyone is friendly and helpful and really going out of their way to cooperate and be of assistance.

The Indonesians are really amazing, they come every day to volunteer and each has a similar story. They've all lost someone in the earthquake and the tsunami, one man we met yesterday has lost 300 family and extended family members. In some villages down the coast only 10 percent of the population survived.

We feel aftershocks from the earthquake every day, tonight was the biggest. There are so many bodies and in the remote areas, there are so few survivors there is literally no one to dispose of them. Here in Banda Aceh they dig mass graves, they've recovered nearly 98,000 bodies, and are still finding about 2,000 per day. The smell is overwhelming in the areas where the mass graves are being dug and filled.

I am working with Project Concern International to put together Family Kits for those people down the coast who have not received any services yet. PCI is taking a team of doctors, nurses, recovery specialists and volunteers to spray for malaria on a small fishing boat tomorrow. They are going down the coast to distribute the kits, so we've been working long hours to get everything we need and get them put together in kits. Each kit has a cooking set, dishes, blankets, underwear, 35 lbs of rice, 15 lbs of dried fish, cooking oil, a hygiene kit (from the LDS Church no less!) and it's all wrapped in an insect repellent tarp and tied up like a big backpack. It weighs about 70 lbs. we have done 200 of them and I'm exhausted!

Trying to procure all the items we need, in a city more than half destroyed has been quite a task, but PCI has done a tremendous job.

Today we drove through the wreckage in two huge trucks loaded with the completed kits, down to the river where the fishing boat was tied up to the shore. The roads are all destroyed so the Australian military had to 'make' a road for our trucks over the ditches and debris, using their earth movers. Then the men helping us load the boat had to walk about 100 yards balancing a kit on their backs, through the rubble and debris to get to the boat.

Amazing.

The people here are amazing, more than 150,000 have lost everything and are displaced, living in schools, tents, empty buildings...yet they help each other, they're carrying on, they sing and pray and play with the children. They don't have proper housing, access to clean water or adequate toilets. I wonder how I would respond to such difficult circumstances.

Sunday,January 23

After seeing them off, we headed for the IDP camps (displaced persons camps). We took with us 50 t-shirt dresses, diapers, baby blankets and some small toys. On the military flight to Banda Aceh we met a man whose pregnant wife and many other family members had been killed in the Tsunami, his name is Hamdani. He spoke no english, and had only the clothes on his back. Everything else had been lost, he didn't even have shoes. He really needed a pair of shoes, and boots would have been the best, but the only boots we had were the ones we were wearing. So I gave him my shoes and Vicki (a member of our team) promised that she would leave him her boots when she finished her work.

Vicki, Carolyn and Russ left for home on Friday, Jan 21, so I set out in the car with boots in hand, a name and a general idea of the camp area. The problem being there are more than 180 IDP camps in the area! My driver thought he knew the area I was trying to reach, so we said a prayer that we could find this one man among so many displaced, and set off. After driving for 30 minutes out of the city and into the most beautiful, lushly green tropical area, we came upon an Islamic school being used as a refugee camp. We found the leader and he told us that indeed, this was the camp where Hamdani was living! So we presented the boots and the proceeded to distribute the other items. They were received with much laughter and gladness.

It's nice to be able to do something that brings smiles. The saddest thing here is that EVERYONE has lost someone or many someones. The loss is really staggering. Before we returned home tonight we drove into the former downtown area, that is the area that is completely destroyed, and visited the former home of our driver, Murtado. He explained that he was visiting his parent's home when they felt the earthquake. They ran outside the house. After about 15 minutes, they saw people running down the street, on foot, on bicycle, in cars screaming 'water,water'. He looked down the road and about 100 yards from where he was standing he saw a wall of black churning water, 30 feet high, stretching as far as he could see coming directly towards him. They ran back into the house and up to the second floor. Seconds later the water hit as they were attempting to climb out onto the roof. He was able to save his father, wife, two children and himself. His sister swallowed so much of the dirty water, that she died 5 hours later. Everyone who was running in the street was swept up by the water and killed. His mother and brother were in the house next door and didn't make it to the roof, they were killed. We took photos of his car, it was carried about 100 feet and crumpled like an empty soda can. I can't even begin to imagine what it must be like to revisit the scene of such personal devastation.

The last place we visited today, was a part of the city, 4 kilometers inland from the shore where an 80 ton electrical generator ship now sits. It was carried from 3 kilometers out in the ocean into the city and set down. It is an eery sight to see a huge ship in the middle of a neighborhood. It crushed 10 homes, and the relatives have now returned and placed photos of their lost loved ones around the base of the ship. One picture we saw depicted a beautiful bride and her husband on their wedding day. They are buried together under the ship, amidst the ruin.

Thanks for your help and take care,
Kathy

Russ Hill (KSL NewsRadio - Salt Lake City) has been traveling with the Mothers Without Borders group. He has been documenting the trip and their efforts. His reports are available on the KSL web site - In The Middle Of A Destroyed City.