Journey to Aceh

Up to the second week after the tsunami, there were many disaster areas that had not been reached by the volunteers. Nias Island, Calang, Meulaboh, Lamno, Lhoong, Teunom, Panga, Krueng Sabe and many more other areas. In these isolated areas, thousands of survivors were still awaiting the arrival of assistance. They should certainly not be kept waiting any longer.

In collaboration with the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), we attempted to approach those isolated areas. We decided on Lamno and Calang, both located in Aceh Jaya regency. At that time, due to television news and public information, many organizations were already racing to and reaching Meulaboh, but Lamno and Calang were still relatively neglected.

In “normal” times, the distance from Banda Aceh to Lamno and Calang could be covered by car in two hours at the most. However, after the tsunami, it was completely impossible to reach either city by road because dozens of bridges had been destroyed and many kilometres of asphalt roads had simply disappeared, swallowed up by the waves. One vital bridge that had been destroyed was the Lhok Nga bridge, at the other end of which were the barracks of the Army Combat Engineers, where hundreds of soldiers had been devoured by the waves, together with their weapons. A Singapore-flagged ship laden with coal had been dragged 50 metres inland.

Since the Lhok Nga bridge was destroyed, all we could do was try to obtain whatever information was available about conditions in the areas on the other side of the bridge. There were several settlements like Lhoong, Leupung, Lamno, Teunom, Calang and up to Meulaboh. Until the second week after the tsunami, no news or information could be obtained from those places. “Some friends crossed by foot to the other side, but there’s been no news from them till now,” said Taufik, a youth from the Green Camp, a club of young nature lovers based in Banda Aceh city.

Download CHAPTER 9 – Toward to Aceh Jaya