Mosques stand alone amid Indonesia tsunami destruction, devout
Mosques stand alone amid Indonesia tsunami destruction, devout see divine help[ Eds: RETRANSMITTING to ADD photo numbers[ AP Photos XEH106, PDJ107, BM109-110[ By EDWARD HARRIS= Associated Press Writer= BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) -
Devout see divine help as mosques remain standing
Edward Harris Associated Press/Banda Aceh
The white Ulee Lheu mosque gleams defiantly on the tide line of the worst-hit stretch of Indonesia's devastated coast, nearly pristine despite a buffeting by last month's tsunami that turned villages behind it into a dead zone of corpses and splintered wood.
The building suffered only one ruined wall, a sandy floor and a wave-tossed boat trailer crumpled on a second-story verandah.
It is a feat of survival replicated across the region that local Muslims call extraordinary and divinely inspired, though the more scientifically inclined would note the rickety, timber- and-tin buildings many people lived in didn't stand a chance against the massive waves.
"It's because it's the house of Allah. It's protected. Most of the buildings that were saved are mosques," says Fitria, 26, of the brick-built, onion-domed mosques left standing after the Dec. 26 disaster.
"People noticed -- and they're talking about it," said Fitria.
Around Banda Aceh, capital of worst-hit Aceh province where 106,000 Indonesians died, mosques stand alone amid vast wastelands of upended towns reeking of rotting bodies more than two weeks after an undersea earthquake near the region sparked the tsunami.
Along the road to Banda Aceh's beach, debris is piled high against a mosque's outside gate, but the building is otherwise untouched. Nearby, a multistory mansion sits like a stack of pancakes, but a similarly proportioned house of worship next door is unmoved.
Survivors believe divine protection, rather than sturdy construction, prevented their destruction.
"When the earthquake hit, the houses were fine. But when the waves came, they were all gone," says Munjarab Raif, a 45-year- old builder.
"But the imams built the mosques hundreds of years ago, so they made them carefully. Of course, they're protected by Allah," he said. "Houses belong to humans, but mosques belong to Allah."
From behind the Ulee Lheu mosque, the most seaward building still standing, the waves rushed inland for kilometers, slamming into the center of town where the main Baiturrahman Mosque became a safe haven for hundreds.
Dramatic amateur video footage aired on Indonesian television showed the torrents of water charging through streets outside the mosque's wrought-iron gates, carrying away cars and people.
Screaming survivors clambered onto the second story of the city's grandiose, multi-minareted complex, clinging to ramparts to escape the raging waters below.
Only a few centimeters of sea water invaded the mosque's main prayer space, leaving no serious damage after the waters receded, said one of the city's top religious leaders.
"Whenever there's disaster, people run to the mosque. Everybody who escaped to this mosque, about 1,000 people, was saved," said Johan, 39, the mosque's deputy imam. "This is a house of Allah. He couldn't kill them here."
The waters did claim 150,000 lives in 11 countries in Asia and Africa and left millions of others homeless.
Devout Muslims in Banda Aceh say the catastrophe that spared mosques while killing people may have been a test of the faithful.
"It's Allah's secret," Fitria said. "Maybe he wanted to show the people that they're infidel, because they don't pray. It's a warning."
Johan said he was amazed that so many mosques survived, but added that he believed countless other mosques were surely destroyed.
"All the mosques built by imams are saved. The ones ruined were built by regular people," said Johan. "Those built by the imams are graced with strong foundations."
GetAP 1.00 -- JAN 12, 2005 15:46:41