The Road to Bener Meriah II - Aceh, North Sumatera, Indonesia

The road to Bener Meriah

One of the temporary tents built by the government at Bener Meriah

In the early morning of 22nd July, our driver, Salahudin, a young graduate from one of the Aceh universities appeared at the hotel lobby. After introducing ourselves, soon the journey begins. Our first destination is to Sigli district, to pick Misbah who lives in the village of Meurdu. The 2 hours journey to Meurdu was full of stories about the 2004 earthquake and tsunami. "Where were you on the 26th December, 2004?" I asked him. Cheerfully, he told me "I was at home lazying around that Sunday morning." He was 17 years old then and he told me how he ran for his life to higher grounds but got himself entangled into the congested murky water. "Alhamdullilah, I am destined to live, though at that time I thought I'll take death as I have less sin at that age" he chuckled and continued "but now if there is another tsunami I would beg for mercy to live as I've grown up and become sinful!" Instantaneously, we broke into laughter, Astaghfirullah!

Salahudin is a friend of Misbah's brother but he has never known her. The road to Sigli is excellent and after slightly more than 2 hours we arrived in Meurdu. Misbah and her family cheerfully waited for us at the entrance of their house. It's Ramadhan, so we are not delayed by the traditional culture of entertaining guests with food and drinks..that's very much Asian culture. We bade farewell to everyone and continued our journey. Sumatera and Aceh in particular is not densely populated like Java island, and moreover the 2004 Tsunami had killed more than 200,000 people of Aceh. Along the way, our conversation touches on several issues from Tsunami, politics, economics, social and the current earthquakes in Kabupaten Bener Meriah and Kabupaten Central Aceh.

Narrow unpaved roads after the earthquake and several landslides

Until Bireuen, the road is very good but beyond that, we have to go real slow as the winding road up the mountain are very narrow, some unpaved and extremely dangerous. Some parts of the roads have crumbled in the recent 6.2 magnitude and 10 km deep earthquake with several landslides and at least more than 20 aftermath quakes. It could be 5 to 7 hours and it all depends on the road. My stomach was rumbling and my head spinning as our vehicle rocked on the gravel stones on the tortuous  routes up the mountain. After the twisty road, then I realized we were just at the edge of the cliff as I sneaked through the windows.

At Simpang Balek, we stop at this shop to look for some locals who could
help us to locate the affected villages 

It was a great relief when we arrived at Simpang Balek, a little town before we get to Ketol. Worst hit areas are Timang Gajah, Blang Mancung in Central Aceh and Serempah in Ketol. The total death toll from the three affected districts (Central Aceh, Bener Meriah and Ketol) are 42, 6 still missing, about 4,600 are treated for several injuries and more than 50,000 people are displaced. More than 22,000 people lost their homes completely and live in temporary tents and without aids it could be indefinite. With the highest number of death, the village, Serempah, in Ketol district is completely buried under the soil. Some roads in Bener Meriah are buried by landslides, making accessibility to small settlements very difficult but we will keep our directions to those which are accessible.

The teacher on the left has been teaching in this school for 24 years

As we approached the affected sites, we saw countless tents built around Ketol, tents for district offices, households and temporary schools. We stopped at a primary school compound which has gone literally flat and the teachers who happened to be clearing the debris cordially invited us for a sit under the tree. They told us how their homes were vigorously rocked, initially up and down and then side to side.   This area had gone through a lot since the 30 years conflict between GAM (Free Aceh Movement) and the anti separatists; they were killed, their houses burnt even in late 2001 and now they are tested with multiple natural disasters. The 2004 Tsunami was the turning point and the 2005 Helsinki MoU has somewhat provided sufficient peace and stability in the area.

Their faces tell the deep suffering they have undergone but their perseverance are beyond imagination.  With about $1,500 USD from the government, the male teacher and some villagers were busy building the temporary school for the kids but he kindly took time to explain to us the current situation. Everyone at the site gathered under the tree, they have so much to tell as they described their nightmares. Speechless, we took a deep breath! We had to move on to other areas and several houses along our way were empty and abandoned by the owners as it was not safe to stay there.

We accomplished what we intended to do in Bener Meriah, to deliver some aids and school supplies for the children. Misbah and Salahudin reminded us that we need to get out of the area before it gets foggy and dark. We bade goodbye and left the area with sadness and prayers for the victims. We pray that they are able to rebuild their lives again and the kids can get to school as soon as possible.  This is a memorable Ramadhan for me.

Houses in the villages at Ketol

Many houses, mosques and schools went all flat

Although some houses structures are visible, the damages have made it unsafe to live in

The remains of the school administrative building aren't safe anymore

Regardless of the calamity - the kids happily played on the piles of table and chairs 

They managed to picked some books from the debris

The dangerous side to side movement of the earthquake brought down the main school building

Most houses are not safe to live in

In Ketol, these tents are their new homes, schools and offices

They are determined to rebuild their lives - our prayers are always with them

The Road to Bener Meriah I - Aceh, North Sumatera, Indonesia

Beyond this check point, we could only drive at the speed of 25 km per hour but most of the time lesser

We booked the tickets to Banda Aceh about three weeks before the earthquake of 6.2 magnitude in the epicenter of Kabupaten (province) Bener Meriah, Aceh, Indonesia.  Banda Aceh felt the tremor but was not affected...no change of plan, we are going and secretly, I was hatching a plan to go to Bener Meriah. Originally, we just want to be in Banda Meriah, performing terawih (Ramadhan prayers) in Baiturahman Mosque and visit the 2004 Tsunami sites. But upon hearing the earthquake in Bener Meriah, I wanted to visit the place.The news about a group of children perished under the shattered mosque while studying Quran touched my heart. I did an extensive search on how to get to Bener Meriah but this place seems to be in a very remote area in the mountainous part of Central Aceh. Even the NGOs find difficult to access certain areas and it took days before aid could reach the victims, roads had major cracks and landslides happened everywhere. I really don't know how I would get there.

Landslides all along the road to Bener Meriah

All went well, and on 21 July while I was queuing at the check-in counter, a friendly young Aceh lady approached me. "You're from Aceh?" she asked. From that point, we picked up a conversation and soon, we were talking about the earthquake. I asked her how I could get to Bener Meriah. I really do not know how in the world I could get there. Expressing my concern for the children studying in the temporary tents, I'm hoping to visit one of those camps. She looked at me seriously, paused and told me that it will take about 7 hours depending on the condition of the road after the quake.  She said, she would help me to get to Bener Meriah. My face was glowing, there's hope...I gave her my hotel name and she promised she'll look for someone reliable to take us to Bener Meriah.

Goodies for the kids

On arrival at Banda Aceh airport, Misbah anxiously introduced us to her family, her parents and siblings who were all at the airport to meet her. Everyone cheerfully greeted and welcomed us to Aceh...it felt like we've known them forever. We took a cab to the hotel  and their family's vehicle followed us...we had a short discussion on the trip to Bener Meriah at the hotel and we chose to make the trip the next day. 

At the hotel we packed the goodies

Late afternoon, we received a call from her brother, who managed to get us a driver and a car to drive us to Bener Meriah and Misbah kindly offered herself to accompany us all the way. We agreed on the price 450,000 Rupiah per day with vehicle and driver but excluding petrol.  Petrol price has recently gone up by 45% which makes transportation cost very expensive in this country but we have no other choice. We actually spent about 600,000 Rupiah on petrol for the whole trip. Relatively, it was still cheap for us and we took the deal right away.

After everything was sorted, she then left us for her hometown, Sigli about 3 hour drive from Banda Aceh. All agreed, the driver will pick us at the hotel at 6 am tomorrow, then picked Misbah in Meurdu and we'll be all the way to Kabupaten (District) Bener Meriah. I never imagined my journey will be so facilitated and what a blessing to meet the kind souls who seem to appear out of nowhere when I least expected! Alhamdullilah...

Earthquake...landslides...burning...

Misbah's house in Meurdu

Welcome to Bener Meriah