Tsunami Affected Area – An aerial view of coastline in Banten affected by tsunami taken from the Susi Air airline Cessna 208B Grand Caravan on Sunday (23/12/2018). The disaster caused hundreds of casualties, injuries and missing victims and damages to buildings, residential areas to fishing boats. Emergency handling of the impact of the disaster has been carried out by the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) in cooperation with the Indonesian Military (TNI), National Police (Polri), National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas), Social Affairs Ministry, Health Ministry, Public Works and People Housing Ministry, Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, and related institutions and the regional governments.
Yana Sopiana, 50, of Banyubiru village, Labuan district, Pandeglang regency, Banten, looked restless as she entered the lobby of the Tanjung Lesung Beach Hotel and Villa on Sunday. In the lobby that was packed with dead bodies, Yana was looking for her daughter Ayu Rahayu, 23, who went missing after the tsunami hit on Saturday night.
“Help me, Sir. I’ve been looking for Ayu since this morning,” a crying Yana begged search and rescue personnel.
They assisted Yana in examining the bodies but she did not find her daughter. Ayu was not among the dead in the hotel lobby.
The tsunami hit Banten on Saturday night. Pandeglang was among the worst-hit regions, with at least 164 people dead, 624 wounded and 446 homes, nine hotels and 73 vehicles damaged.
Several search and rescue personnel then showed Yana photographs on their cell phones. She shook her head. “Not that one. My daughter is beautiful. She is a midwife at the Jiput community health center [Puskesmas]. Ayu is supposed to work [this Sunday],” Yana said.
According to Yana, when Ayu told her of her plans to stay at Tanjung Lesung, she did not give her permission. Ayu went ahead, anyway.
She had gone to Tanjung Lesung with three of her friends. Upon returning to Pandeglang, Yana panicked as her daughter had not yet come home. “My niece called Ayu’s friend. As it turned out, all of them were safe and had returned home.”
Yana then found out that Ayu had held on to her friend’s hand when the tsunami hit. However, she slipped out of her friend’s grasp and disappeared. Yana searched for Ayu at several Puskesmas in Pandeglang, Panimbang and Cigeulis, to no avail.
Apart from Yana, the families of the band Seventeen are also in mourning. The band was performing at Tanjung Lesung when the tsunami hit. The stage that they were on had been set up on the shore and it was swept away by the strong waves.
Yulia Dian from the band’s management said bassist M Awal Purbani, or Bani, and band manager Oki Wijaya, were among the dead. The tsunami hit when Seventeen was performing its second song.
Dian said Seventeen guitarist Herman Sikumbang, who was at first declared missing, had also been found dead. A number of crew members were injured. “Despite their injuries, praise God they have been found,” Dian said.
Panic
The tsunami struck like a nightmare that awakened villagers from their sleep in Carita district, Pandeglang. Locals said there was no early warning signal that could help them prepare for the disaster.
Sukarame village head Jaenal in Carita district said seawater had entered his home while he was sleeping. “There was a rumble and I was awake. I found my bedroom inundated by half a meter of seawater,” he said.
Without a second thought, he tried to run outside. Unfortunately, his front door was jammed by debris. The lights were out. He hit on the walls of his house several times and finally managed to get out through a window. Luckily, he had not installed bars on the windows.
Outside, people were screaming and running toward Kampung Susukan hamlet, one of the highest spots in the region. Jaenal escaped with his wife, children and grandchildren. They ran without any thought of taking their belongings as there had been no early warning signal.
Meanwhile, at Kosambi Beach, Serang, high waves were hitting the shore. Tehrani, 55, said she saw the waves approaching when she was at her food stall. The first wave was only 10 centimeters high.
Soon afterwards, a second wave hit and Tehrani’s food stall was washed away. Her refrigerator fell on her and she lost consciousness. Her child and grandchild rescued her and brought her to the main road. She was fortunate that the waves had not dragged her out to sea. She and her family have taken refuge in a building not far from where her food stall used to stand. “I am still traumatized, but I am grateful that all my family members are safe,” Tehrani said.
The Pandeglang Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) said around 10,000 people had been affected by the tsunami and needed urgent help.
