Banda Aceh becomes city of the dead

The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh

Once a beautiful and historic city with its picturesque Baitur Rahman grand mosque a renowned landmark, Banda Aceh, the capital of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, has become a city of corpses in the wake of a monstrous tsunami that swept across it.

The city is pitch dark and littered with dead bodies and mounds of construction debris, demolished cars and thick mud.

Spaces once filled with marketplaces, hotels, government offices, shops and ordinary houses are now filled with rubble.

Banda Aceh, located a mere five kilometers inland, is probably one of the cities most severely devastated by the quake on Sunday.

The tsunami brought all daily activities to an abrupt standstill, leaving behind people wandering through the wrecked city in search of loved ones -- dead or alive -- among the debris.

Other visible activities include vehicles shuttling to and fro, transporting the corpses of those who perished in the calamity, and public works teams clearing rocks, trees and other debris carried by the strong wave.

Some dead bodies were left unattended among rubble on the lawn of Baitur Rahman mosque and had started to decompose.

Local residents' woes were aggravated by a complete electricity and communication blackout when the tidal wave severed lines and cables as of Tuesday afternoon.

Cellular services were also down, and residents were unable to contact the outside world, to reach loved ones waiting frantically for news.

Antara reported that thousands of Banda Aceh residents had fled to Medan, North Sumatra or Jakarta, taking whatever flights were available -- including those provided by flag carrier Garuda, private airline Jatayu and Hercules aircraft belonging to the Indonesian Military (TNI).

Blang Bintang airport, located about 30 kilometers from Banda Aceh, was teeming with Acehnese anxious to leave the ravaged city.

A report from the Malaysian mission in Medan said three foreign nationals went missing when the tsunami hit.

The Malaysian, Singaporean and Thai were last seen at the Kuala Tripa hotel, Malaysian consul-general Yusuf Abdullah said.

"They are part of a seven-member delegation tasked by their respective governments to gauge cooperation potential in education and economy," he said.