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