Post-disaster Nias: Starting life anew<\/p>\n
By Kasparman<\/p>\n
NIAS, North Sumatra (JP): Most people were sound asleep in the
\nvillage of Helezalulu on Nias island, North Sumatra, when a flood
\nswept mercilessly through the settlement.<\/p>\n
The tranquility of that fateful night, darkened by a black-
\nout, transformed instantaneously into utter disarray. Amid
\nshrieks of the ill-fated villagers, the Lahusa district hamlet
\nwas wrecked by floodwater coming from a normally calm river, with
\nfamily members and relatives separated from one another.<\/p>\n
A 14-year-old girl looked weary, sitting with her head
\nreclining on the back of a chair, her hand wiping tears from her
\ncheeks. \"Mom,\" she whimpered repeatedly. Her feet began to
\ndevelop a rash, indicating the onset of measles.<\/p>\n
\"Lawe Hulu,\" she said when The Jakarta Post asked her name on
\na dim Friday of Aug. 10. \"My mom and little brother were washed
\naway, I don't know where they are now. Please help me find them,\"
\nshe begged those around her.<\/p>\n
Then she gazed at a confused ten-year-old called Karles Hulu,
\nher younger brother. When the flood rushed through her home,
\nneighbors found Karles swept onto a garbage heap 200 meters away.<\/p>\n
The calamity, which hit the village some 100 km from the city
\nof Gunung Sitoli, brought tragedy to the life of this young girl.
\nHer mother, Uyati Nduru, 40, whom she had relied on for support,
\nwas drowned as the flood inundated the village. Firdaus Hulu, 6,
\nLawe's youngest brother, was also lost. The search and rescue
\nteam, which evacuated disaster victims has so far failed to
\ndiscover either of them.<\/p>\n
With their house on the banks of Masio River totally ravaged,
\nLawe and Karles are now under the care of their uncle. Their
\nfather, whom they have waited for a long time, has not returned
\nhome from Pekanbaru, Riau.<\/p>\n
\"Dad went to Pekanbaru several months ago to seek a job,\" she
\nsaid, sobbing. Meanwhile, disaster relief officers of Lahusa
\ndistrict were distributing food, clothes and medicine.<\/p>\n
\"Help us, sir, we're starving, we'll be dead without aid,\" she
\ninsisted. But her hope wasn't fulfilled. The relief personnel
\nwere not prepared to provide aid in full. Allocations were doled
\nout on that day to survivors in the form of compensation for dead
\nvictims worth Rp 200,000 per person, as well as rice rations and
\na daily allowance of Rp 1,500 per family for 14 days.<\/p>\n
Lawe is not the only villager to have lost loved ones. A
\nmiddle-aged man was repairing his wrecked two-story house,
\napparently without regard to his surroundings. \"That guy lost his
\nwife and child,\" said Fati Zamuala Laia, a local resident, who
\nalso mentioned the victim's name, Nehe Gombowo Harepa.<\/p>\n
When the flood was imminent, Nehe Gombowo and the whole family
\nwere on the upper story. At the end of July, it was raining at 10
\np.m., a power failure ensued half an hour later. Nehe grew
\nanxious, but the rest of the family were too sleepy to stay up.<\/p>\n
The father of six kept watching the swelling river with the
\nhelp of his flashlight. As his anxiety grew, a rumble was heard,
\naccompanied by a very rapid surge of floodwater. Panic stricken,
\nNehe rushed downstairs to wake his family up, only to be
\noverwhelmed by the sudden burst of floodwater.<\/p>\n
It was in that dark night that his wife, Bulujumasi Baene, 28,
\nhis son Arjun, 4, mother-in-law Nurisa Hulu, 55 and a niece,
\nSortamegloria, 3.5, were all swallowed by the waves. \"I could do
\nnothing to save them but pray, while keeping hold of my five
\nother children,\" he said, almost whispering.<\/p>\n
Masio River originates on a mountainside located in the
\ndistrict of Gomo. This river, meeting various daily needs and
\nsupplying clean drinking water, had become part of the life of
\nlocal inhabitants.<\/p>\n
\"We have never imagined such a neighborly stream would one day
\ninflict such a great misfortune,\" remarked Lahusa district head
\nYan Utama Putra Lase.<\/p>\n
Lahusa suffered the worst impact of the catastrophe, which
\ntook place on July 31. Based on initial records, nine villages
\nwere submerged, 33 people killed and 34 missing, with 155 houses
\nbadly damaged and 458 locals deprived of shelter.<\/p>\n
Recent data obtained by the Post from the Nias disaster
\ncontrol coordinating unit in Gunung Sitoli revealed that the
\ndeath toll reached 108 while 169 people were missing and four
\nothers severely injured. The flood also destroyed 515 houses,
\nthree churches, 13 primary schools, four bridges, 14 village
\nhalls, a rural polyclinic and 250 hectares of paddy fields, with
\nmaterial losses estimated at Rp 1.5 billion.<\/p>\n
The difficult access to the flood-stricken areas and the use
\nof radio as the only means of reporting local conditions have led
\nto unstable data on the island's disaster victims. \"We ourselves
\nare also confused and are still seeking accurate figures,\"
\nadmitted F. Halawa, Nias' disaster relief coordinator. It takes
\nsix hours by car to cover the distance of only 100 km from the
\nurban center owing to damaged roads.<\/p>\n
Asked about mass burial sites, the local community leader gave
\na negative reply. \"No mass graves here,\" retorted Hendrik Gulo.
\nHe explained that in Nias, the prevailing custom must never be
\nabandoned. If anybody dies, a funeral ceremony must be followed
\nby inviting all villagers and slaughtering pigs. One is offered
\nwhen the corpse is laid in state and another after burial. An
\nadult needs two pigs, a community chief four pigs and a king 12
\nto 14 worth Rp 1 million each, because the king's child is to be
\nnamed his successor.<\/p>\n
Unless this custom is observed, the families left behind will
\nbe subject to the humiliation of local people. They use a Nias
\nsaying to jeer, \"Leni ada pangusi namau\" (you can't afford to
\ngive a ritual even for your own father). \"The words will trigger
\na brawl because an offended native of Nias may choose to kill, so
\nthat the corpse means a lot to a family,\" added Hendrik.<\/p>\n
Apart from that, the disaster has changed the lives of the
\nNias people. They have lost not only their belongings, families
\nand dwellings but also their livelihood, because all their rice
\nfields and farm land has been devastated. They can expect nothing
\nother than the sincere aid and helping hand of strangers. They
\nare now indeed living in abject poverty.<\/p>",
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