APRIL 15th UPDATE

As the relief effort continues full force, the various boats and organizations involved in the mission are starting to run into obstacles they have not previously encountered and could not possibly have imagined. Scuzz just returned from sea but we were unable to speak at length with him for much of the trip because the Pasti sat link was down. However, we’ve been receiving lots of information from several outside sources including Howu-Howu, IDEP, Rick Cameron and the ELM, Dr. Kerry Sieh, and many others. The news continues to be dramatic and worrisome.

As we’ve stated since our March 31st update, though the death toll after the March 28th quake was not nearly as high as after the December 26th quake/tsunami, the damage to the infrastructure and the villager’s overall lifestyle on Nias, Simeulue and the Banyaks has been much worse. And it’s beginning to show as people are battling over which goods and services they can attain from aid organizations that are just trying to help. Whereas after the tsunami on December 26th, in which villagers essentially maintained their cool and gratefully (and patiently) accepted any relief that was given to them, the villagers are now literally fighting over every valuable resource they can find. That has been one of the biggest unforeseen complications in this second leg of the relief effort: in many the places the locals have literally been fighting over the relief materials being distributed, and it’s actually become dangerous to attempt to provide aid to these people

For example, on April 8th 120 tents from the Red Cross were stolen in Teluk Dalam (south Nias) during a looting and near riot incident. Trucks had to be protected by armed police, and aircraft had to stay out of site to avoid additional violent conflicts. A similar situation happened the next day, where Red Cross described it as “an emotionally traumatized crowd of hundreds creating a hostile and undisciplined atmosphere with everyone wanting a tent…On two or three occasions, the situation was very close to complete chaos and looting.” The situation went on for over four hours, with constant shouting, raging, pushing and pulling under the blazing heat of the mid-day sun. Many of the volunteers actually broke out in tears, distraught over the mayhem and helplessness of the situation.

A similar situation happened the next day on the 10th, when the Howu-Howu team had to lock themselves in a warehouse due to being besieged by an angry crowd of hundreds. They seriously considered leaving the supplies and abandoning the shelter. Despite all this, leaders of Howu-Howu BEGGED teams not to back out of their relief efforts. Petra of Howu-Howu felt that not only should people stay because the villagers drastically need help, but she also felt that if several organizations fled that it would only inflame the situation further. She described a situation where they show up and are confronted with thousands and thousands of people asking for help. She felt the key was basically having enough supplies to match the crowd, and including the locals in the distribution to give them a sense of purpose and pride.

Then on the 11th, the Batavia with Rick Cameron aboard ran into similar problems trying to come into Gunung Sitoli (northeast Nias). They were stuck in with 15 tons of rice, hundreds of tents, and thousands of pounds of additional relief items, unable to bring these them ashore due to unstable conditions on land. They had been instructed by the World Food Program (WFP) the previous day to NOT distribute goods in the coastal villages near Teluk Dalam because they feared another potentially dangerous situation, and in addition that would make it would be impossible to distribute it evenly throughout the region. Apparently, the conditions in Gunung Sitoli were similar to TD, and they were told to hold up. WFP eventually helped Rick and the Batavia crew unload fuel and rations in SE Nias, but certainly not without complication. After these incidents alternative ports to Teluk Dalam and Gunung Sitoli were being considered more seriously, as the crowds in these major port cities were simply too large to accommodate.

On April 12, we received more catastrophic news from IDEP that The Cahaya Abadi (Endless Sun), a private relief boat delivering aid to Aceh and Nias, sunk off the coast of Nias on April 11 at 2pm. The 700-ton vessel had just finished offloading a cargo of rice and aid to the village of Afulu (northwest Nias) when it struck an uncharted reef in a heavy swell. The boat sunk within twenty minutes and is now a total loss. Some of the Indonesian crew of 15 and 5 volunteers swam safely to shore, while the others were picked up by fishing boats. Fortunately, everyone on the boat escaped safely. The Cahaya Abadi had delivered some aid materials from IDEP, as well as 87 tons of rice donated by the World Food Program to four isolated communities in Nias before the incident occurred. The vessel was still fully loaded with food and household/reconstruction aid intended for Aceh when it sank 600 meters offshore. The lifting of land that has taken place since the December 26 quake has created an unstable seabed situation with new uncharted reefs that make navigation extremely difficult and dangerous. As a result, many nautical maps have been rendered useless and captains have to be hyper attentive to their surroundings to avoid accidents such as this.

While most areas are reporting lifting of the reefs, some areas such as Onolimbu on the east side of Nias have actually appears to have sunk several meters. Photos from Rick Cameron show that virtually all of the coastal part of the Tagaule village was submerged after the quake. Approximately 60 homes are under water and many of the others are practically buried in mud. It’s not 100% clear if the people experienced a smaller tsunami in the 2-meter range, or if this tip of the island has been permanently lowered. That latter seems more likely, as the water has not yet subsided as it eventually would during a tsunami. The locals described great cracks opening up in the earth as they ran from their buildings to avoid the rushing water. About a mile up the coast in a different village, almost all houses along the coast have been destroyed and a town of 350 will have to be relocated, as their homes are now underwater. This area is dirt poor, and the people seem very worn out and quite desperate. They are terrified of future tsunamis and they have nowhere to run. The nearest village with any kind of road is 8km through the swamps, and the river is silted up and blocked with trees, eliminating boating a form of transport. Still, local villagers are attempting to build “tsunami escape vehicles” out of whatever wood and useful material they can find. The one in the picture was actually built by the richest man in town: at least this one uses fresh wood and drums on the corners. Rick says it’s heartbreaking to know that they would be useless yet the best that could be done. Small investments could provide great peace of mind for these remote swamp villages.

There are varying views on what actually happened in villages such as this where this small marshy area appears to have sunk while almost all other accounts show all of Nias rising. One theory is that that land subsided near Onolimbu because the soil is soft and loose in the swamp and riverbed. So, while the hard grounds, such as reefs and rock, rose up, the softer and looser soil of these swampy regions was in affect pulled away from the harder surfaces, into the deeper water. However, some feel it is more likely a true fault line displacement, and photos from Rick Cameron show evidence of fault line with a step-up of over a meter well inland. In addition, Scuzz’s first findings are not uniform either. He felt SE Nias dropped a little, while SW Nias rose about a meter, while still areas in the westernmost regions rose as many as 2-3 meters. Regardless of the cause, this area needs special attention. The area is not only extremely vulnerable to any future tsunami, but it’s extremely susceptible to flooding as well. The “tsunami escape vehicles” they have manufactured are far from adequate, and serious work needs to be done to “flood proof” this village in the future.

So, as you can see, despite a lack of media coverage on the major television networks, the situation is FAR from being under control, and most this update has dealt almost exclusively with Nias. Scuzz should be providing a whole new set of stories and photos or other nearby regions, including ones from the areas of the Hinakos, Simeulue and the Banyaks. Preliminary reports are similar to that of Nias, but on a smaller scale. Major cities and ports, any areas with many (previously) tall structures, now resemble a war zone. We got an email from Will who runs the land camp in Simeulue, www.simeulue.com. He seemed to be in decent spirits in his brief email, despite major damage to his house and drastic changes in the landscape. His camp is situated on the southwest tip of Simeulue, near Pulau Tepak. Will said that after the December 26th quake, the reefs had fallen approximately 1 meter, and they suffered the effects of the tsunami as well. After the March 28th quake, the reefs rose back UP 2-3 meters, altering the geography in the exact opposite manner. Will is sending us some new photos via email and hopefully we’ll have them in time for the next update.

Things aren’t exactly calm on the home front either. On April 10th, a 6.7 earthquake jolted the folks of Padang, where our hotel and home office are located. Reports vary depending on which news source you check, but most put the epicenter between 100-200 miles west/southwest of Padang. According to Yossi Augusti, who helps manage our hotel, it wasn’t so much the intensity of the quake, but the duration that really scared the locals. She said the earthquake began about 6pm on April 10th, and didn’t really stop until the next morning. Yossi and her family slept outside in a tent on higher ground to make sure they were safe in case there was any tsunami affect, which thankfully there was not. The epicenter of the quake was actually closer to the Mentawais than Padang, but there have been no reports of major damage or injury. Surfers have come back from their trips happy and unaware/unafraid of the quake.

And as if Mother Nature hadn’t thrown enough at the region, Mount Talang had a minor eruption on the 13th. Mount Talang is roughly 40km (25 miles) from Padang, and its no stranger to eruptions. The volcano has had 3 similar eruptions since 2001, and another back in 1981. But with all the recent earthquakes and tsunamis, the timing could not have been worse, and panic set in yet again. The area near the base of the volcano is heavily populated because of its fertile soil, and over 20,000 villagers had to be evacuated from towns on or near the mountain. Since the eruption, Indonesian scientists have put a total of 11 nearby volcanoes on close watch. It should be pointed out that volcanoes and eruptions are very common in Indonesia. Indonesia has roughly 130 active volcanoes that form the Pacific part of the "Ring of Fire" -- an arc of intense seismic activity that stretches from quake-prone Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin. Volcanoes helped form Indonesia, and, frankly, they are one of the few tourist attractions for Westerners close to Padang. Things have remained calm on Mount Talang since Wednesday, but Indo scientists aren’t ready to make any declarations at this point. They say they are still studying the data on site and cannot say whether the activities of Mount Talang have slowed down or energy is building up for a bigger eruption. Padang is far enough from Mount Talang to not incur major damage in the event of a powerful eruption, but the fact that the Indo scientists continue to list the 11 quakes as “on watch” has done nothing to sooth the moods of any local Indos.

So, as you can imagine, it’s been tough at times to keep a positive outlook throughout all this turmoil Mother Nature is throwing at us, but it’s ESSENTIAL to keep pressing forward in a positive manner to bring help to others that need it most. The moods of the general public in Indonesia tend to be infectious, so a positive and energetic outlook is one of the most powerful tools in the rebuilding process. None of the tumult is stopping us from doing the right thing, nor has it stopped others from doing so. Members of SurfAid took our boat Asia out on April 9th, and as of the 14th was up in the northeast corner of Nias, providing essential medical attention. So far, this area has not received as much focus, and the locals are surely benefiting from their expertise.

Our plans continue to move forward as well. Scuzz will have back-to-back trips from April 18 – May 18 on the Southern Cross to provide aid to the regions in Northern Sumatra. We’ve also made plans for any of our boats not being used for our surf charter business to be available for quake relief. Which brings us to an interesting point: we ARE still running a surf charter business. ;) We’ve run several charters since March, including a few that were out during or after the March 28th quake. It’s nice to know that most of the waves still exist, and that aspect (surfing) of the Indian Ocean is still as beautiful as ever.

We should have a lot more in a day or two, so keep checking back. Thank you to everyone for your generosity and positive vibes.

Terima kasih,
Slayer the Web Geek