Villages that have risen on stilts from the tsunami devastation

In the latest of her reports marking the 10th anniversary of the Boxing Day disaster, Miranda Bryant meets Indonesian villagers who have been able to rebuild their lives thanks to new earthquake resistant homes
Overcoming trauma: Putri, who lost everything in the tsunami, with her four-year-old son Fazil in their new home at Teunom.
24 December 2014

After the tsunami, the Indonesian town of Teunom and its surrounding villages were a macabre melting pot of boats, corpses and debris. Thousands were killed, houses flattened and livelihoods destroyed.

Today, homes have been reconstructed, villages appear ordered and there are few signs of the destruction. Residents of the villages Rambong Payong and nearby Pasi Pawang said that if it were not for British aid they would still be living in tents. Many of the villages’ survivors escaped the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami by running to nearby hills, but could not save their homes and possessions from destruction. They were forced to live in tents for months until help reached them from non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

The British Red Cross built a total of 2,212 earthquake resistant homes across Aceh — around 170 of which are in Rambong Payong and Pasi Pawang. The houses were built in 2006 on 1.5-metre stilts in a bid to withstand flooding and future tsunamis. The area is flooded regularly with monsoon rains between October and December.

Rahimudin, 42, a farmer and the head of Rambong Payong, where 12 people died, said they would “still be living in the mountains” had it not been for British aid. The father-of-two said: “We have had no problems with the new houses because they’re prepared for floods. The floods affected our livelihood. After the tsunami there was nothing here, it’s flat, the houses disappeared. This village is about 1.5 km from the coastline.

“The wave came from both sides and everything was stuck here, including corpses. Only 12 people died because most people had time to escape. They ran as fast as possible — we are near the mountains. We came back to this village and saw dead bodies, boats, everything was here.”

He added: “Because this is the first time we got this disaster, it felt like the end of the world. I had no idea about everything because it felt like the last day of the world. I felt blank.

“We can see the village is better now. Before the tsunami the village was really messy, not a good village, it was a typical village. Now, since the tsunami, it’s much better. If the British Red Cross hadn’t given us a house we would still live in the mountains in temporary tents.”

Protection: Built on stilts by the British Red Cross, the houses, below, offer safety from regular flooding

Putri, 24, who lives with her husband and four-year-old son Fazil in Pasi Pawang, said she “lost everything” in the tsunami, but that the new, raised houses were effective. “The size is almost the same but all the houses are now on stilts. I prefer this house. There’s a lot of advantages to this house... during flooding the stilts really work.

“I was 14 when the tsunami came. I just remember that there was an earthquake and there were so many coconut trees shaking and fruits falling down and we tried to go to the mosque to save our lives. It’s really hard for me to tell the story because it makes me feel so sad.

“First we went to the mosque then to the mountains. We lost everything.”

Labourer Junaidi, 30, who is head of the village, said that as well as their homes they lost all their livestock and plantations. Although there is still “a lot of trauma” in the village, new housing helped them begin to rebuild their lives. “There’s a lot of differences and a lot of impact to the economy compared to before the tsunami because we lost everything. We had a cow, but all the cows died because of the tsunami and all the plantations, the coconut plantations, were destroyed. It was approaching harvest time during the tsunami.

Farmer Rahimudin who said they would “still be living in tents in the mountains” if it were not for UK aid

“Before the tsunami not everybody had a house, there were big houses and small houses but with the NGO houses everyone has the same size now, the same situation. Having a house is a good start to getting a normal life. There’s a lot of trauma here — trauma about their children’s trauma, their belongings.” Despite the progress made, he said further help was needed from the government and access to capital to help make the village more prosperous.

He added: “Of course we need help from the government and sometimes if you have a business you need capital. We need the hand of the government to help us to make this a more prosperous village.”

British Red Cross spokeswoman in Indonesia, Nichola Jones, said that the natural disaster created an “almost unprecedented” scale of devastation and suffering. “Hundreds of thousands lost everything, including their homes, and ensuring people had a safe place to live was one of our main priorities,” she said. “To see these communities thriving 10 years later is fantastic and testament to the resilience of tsunami survivors.”

Official tsunami commemorations begin in the city of Banda Aceh, which was at the epicentre of the disaster, on Christmas Day and will continue until December 28. On Boxing Day morning itself, 10 years since the 9.1 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of northern Sumatra and the subsequent tsunami that devastated the region, commemorations will be held in Blang Padang, Banda Aceh, attended by foreign diplomats, NGOs and government officials.

Other events include an exhibition, a tsunami documentary film festival and a 10-kilometre trail around important tsunami landmarks in Banda Aceh.

To support the work of the British Red Cross in disasters, text GIVE on 70600 for a £3 donation or donate online at redcross.org.uk/disasterfund

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