ASIA/INDONESIA - “Endless moments of terror. Exhausted and close to despair, people want to escape the earthquake threat ever-present”: Jesuit eyewitness gives dramatic account of what happened

Wednesday, 30 March 2005

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Jakarta (Fides Service) - “We felt the earth trembling under our feet amidst general panic and cries of earthquake, earthquake! People were running everywhere. The evening of 28 March was terror condensed. It will not be easy to forget” Jesuit Father Edi Mulyono, director in Indonesia of Jesuit Refugees Service (JRS), and in Aceh when the earthquake struck, told Fides in a dramatic report. “If there was panic in Aceh imagine the fear and devastation in Nias, where thousands were crushed as homes collapsed”.
The Jesuit explained: “In Aceh as in Nias, electricity and communications were cut off. People tried anxiously to contact family and friends. Even now many are still searching for loved ones, and many are losing hope. Not even mobile telephones are working. With our JRS volunteers we set to work immediately to see what should be done. After the tragedy of the tsunami, now this earthquake, the people are exhausted and close to despair”.
Fr. Edi said they all held their breath for several hours fearing another tsunami: “We went down to the port, taking great care, to see what was happening. We tried to reach our office in Medan to coordinate emergency aid but it was hours before we were able to contact them”.
In Banda Aceh at the moment, according to the Jesuit: “People and vehicles are coming and going. People feel insecure. Many are thinking of leaving the area for good and settling in safer places, less prey to earthquakes. It is impossible to live with the ever present threat of a tsunami or earthquake”.
Many local NGOs are helping the victims, particularly in Nias: “Indonesian police forces and civilian administration personnel are fully involved in providing relief assistance. Only days ago the Indonesian government asked international organisations to leave Aceh now that the emergency period is over and the work of reconstruction has started. But I expect now the government will change its mind now: Sumatra needs the help of the international community to overcome this second heavy blow. We must be at their side today and in the near future”.
(PA) (Agenzia Fides 30/3/2005 righe 31 parole 324)