Sumatra's 'timber tsunami' destroys homes, residents forced to drink muddy water

 

Amid a vast expanse of destruction, the sight of a woman quietly performing her prayers inside a small hut, encircled by hundreds of thousands of timber logs strewn across the ground after being swept in by raging floodwaters, stopped visitors in their tracks upon entering Kampung Menang Gini, Karang Baru, Aceh.

Her unwavering devotion to performing the obligatory prayer in the fragile hut - barely large enough to accommodate two people - stirred the curiosity and emotion of journalists who were accompanying a humanitarian aid mission to the remote village in Aceh Tamiang.

“This is like a tsunami of piled-up wood. Not many houses are left. My own house was destroyed - only the foundation remains,” said Astuti Jone, 30, when approached by Bernama after she had finished praying.

The village is among hundreds badly affected by the massive floods that struck three regions - Aceh, West Sumatra and North Sumatra - on Nov 26.

Recalling the devastating event, Astuti said the impact was no different from a tsunami, except that this time, it was not ocean waves but a “timber tsunami” that destroyed almost the entire village.

She said that during the first week after the disaster, she, her husband and their children were cut off from the outside world after a sea of wood swept in by torrential floodwaters blocked the village’s main road.

Even more distressing, the family had to strain muddy water through cloths to obtain a few drops of clear water for drinking, and were forced to eat raw rice for almost four days before help arrived.

“I told my little son that it was sugarcane water so that he would want to drink. We also had a bottle of clean water that we rationed carefully, taking it sip by sip,” she said.

Stark reminder

Not far from there, Dedek Anditia Untong, 37, sifted silently through the wreckage, searching for whatever remained of his belongings after his home was swallowed by the massive flood - a quiet, painstaking task amid the devastation left behind.

He is now piecing together a temporary shelter no larger than a small room, using salvaged logs, with the original door of his house serving as the entrance - without walls and covered only by a sheet of canvas.

Dedek said he still vividly remembers the anxious moments when he and his family fled to Pondok Pesantren Islam Darul Mukhlisin (Islamic Boarding School of Darul Mukhlisin), located on higher ground.

“Before the incident, heavy rain continued for five days. On Nov 26, at around 3am, the water rose suddenly, and we immediately ran to the boarding school,” he said.

The school has since become one of the locations that went viral, with its large courtyard now blanketed by hundreds of thousands of logs swept in by the torrential floodwaters - a stark reminder of the disaster’s force.

‘Not a normal flood’

A resident who wished to be known only as Arianti said they initially believed the flood would not be as severe as the one in 2006 and therefore did not make sufficient preparations, thinking the disaster would pass quickly.

ADS

“When I returned from the shelter, I found that my neighbours’ houses were gone. When I arrived at my own house, I could only stand there in silence,” Arianti said.

“This was not a normal flood. It was like a tsunami, even though there is no sea anywhere near this area. I am truly at a loss - I don’t know where to begin rebuilding my life,” Arianti said, adding that they also faced hunger at the shelter when food supplies were cut off, surviving on raw rice and boiled bananas while waiting for aid to arrive.

Juriah Nasution, 30, from Kampung Minuran, Bukit Rata, said she was forced to place her two-year-old child inside a drum before wading through neck-deep floodwaters to reach a safer location.

“We did whatever we could to survive,” she said.

As of yesterday, Indonesia’s National Agency for Disaster Management recorded 1,059 victims from the floods across Sumatra, with about 200 people still reported missing and more than 7,000 injured.

The Humanitarian Mission to Sumatra organised by MyCare and Econsave is being carried out from Dec 18 to 23 to assist residents affected by the disaster.

- Bernama