April 12, 2012
Indonesia
With the consent of the editors of idnes.cz and the author of the original article, we bring you an interview with Ondřej Cakl, co-worker of Caritas CR who’s currently on the island of Sumatra and witnessed an 8.7-magnitude earthquake which hit the Indonesian coast. This interview was conducted via email on 12 April 2012.
How far from the ocean were you when it happened?
Now, I find myself in the city of Meulaboh in the province of Aceh in the west of Sumatra. So at the moment, I am some 200 metres from the coast, but when the earthquake struck, I was working in the region of rain forests in the inlands, which is some 30 kilometres from the coast of the ocean.
Did you feel the quakes yourself? How was it?
Yes, I felt a number of very intense quakes for a few minutes. People around me weren’t able to stay upright, so they were sitting or falling down. There were two cars in front of me terribly staggering and the house, which I went to check, was shaking to its foundations.
How did you learn of the impending tsunami?
When there is an earthquake in Aceh, people are much more afraid of a possible tsunami than of the quakes themselves. Since I have been here, there have been eight earthquakes and every time it was the tsunami wave which was the most dreaded. I receive SMS notifications about possible earthquakes, its epicentre and subsequent tsunami. Twenty minutes after the earthquake, I got a warning message about an oncoming tsunami and advice to move as far away from the shore as possible.
What was the reaction to the tsunami threat? Did a panic break out?
Where I was there were a few women crying, since the mobile network was down in some regions and they had no information about their families. I remember several moments when a panic broke out in the capital Banda Aceh. When the tsunami warning was cancelled, I decided to go to the city of Meulaboh. However, I saw people running from their houses, so we stopped and felt another strong quake. After a few minutes, I received a notification about a possible tsunami, so we drove slowly towards the coast, planning to stop five kilometres from it. We stopped in a village where people were watching TV and we joined them for a while. When we continued further, we met tens and hundreds of people on motorcycles riding as far away from the coast as possible, regardless of any new information.
Was the warning early and sufficient? Do you think that the tsunami warning system works well?
As far as I am concerned, I was sufficiently informed because my colleagues from Caritas CR were warned on phone by other colleagues from international humanitarian organizations operating in Aceh. They also advised the secretary of Czech Embassy, PetrDoležal, and other headquarters staff. However, locals are often sceptical about the warnings, so when there is a bigger earthquake they immediately leave potential tsunami zones. People from rural areas living in the inland regions are not sufficiently informed, but on the other hand, they are not at tsunami risk, so it is hard to say. Immediately after the earthquake, the mobile network wasn’t working, but the connection was re-established quickly.
What is your mission in Indonesia?
On 9 April 2012, crucial elections of a new governor and bupati (the highest regional representative, head of regency) were held in Aceh. I volunteered in the European House in Banda Aceh and monitored the lawfulness of the elections. Yesterday, most foreign election observers from embassies in Jakarta departed and there are only some people left, including EU employees, international volunteers and our colleagues from Caritas CR. The latter also contributed to the election observation by placing a number of off-road vehicles at their disposal.
The Czech Republic was represented by Petr Doležal, third secretary responsible for political, consular, cultural and press administration. He is probably the most competent person to speak about these elections and to convey the European Union positions in the matter.
Additionally, Caritas CR asked me to supervise the construction of new buildings in their largest development project. If I am not mistaken, this Czech charitable organization runs the largest international development project in Aceh, with a budget exceeding CZK 100 million in the last year alone.
For more information about the project, you can visit the websites of the Czech forum for development cooperation or Caritas CR (the project is called support patchouli growers in Aceh).
A catastrophic tsunami struck Indonesia seven years ago. Can you still see and feel the consequences? Do the locals recall the tragedy often?
You can definitely see ruins after the catastrophe in Aceh, but the locals claim the infrastructure to be better than before the tsunami in 2004 and the city is being constantly repaired and extended. Everyone has a place to live in and there are even some houses which are uninhabited. Locals remember the disaster vividly and they can’t forget about the horrible experience easily. In Sumatra alone, more than 170,000 people died and almost 500,000 were left homeless.
The original article is by Čeněk Třečka.
