Haunted by Concrete Houses

Name: Haunted by Concrete Houses
Uploaded: 2019-11-20T03:41:30Z
Duration: 20 min 32 s
Description: In the last 54 days, anxiety has riddled the lives of the people on Ambon, Maluku. There have been 2,438 earthquakes, of which 277 were felt across the 803.9-square-kilometer island. Nobody knows when it will end.

In the last 54 days, anxiety has riddled the lives of the people on Ambon, Maluku. There have been 2,438 earthquakes, of which 277 were felt across the 803.9-square-kilometer island. Nobody knows when it will end.

FRANS PATI HERIN

· 6 minutes read

The weather was fine on Tuesday (19/11/2019), but 7-year-old George Bakarbessy wore a gloomy expression. The second grader at SDN 1 Waai elementary school in Central Maluku regency was trying to pay attention to his teacher at the front of the class. His gaze was empty. The emergency shelter that housed the class stood in a resident’s garden, located on high ground around 2 kilometers from the shoreline.

He often daydreams in the tarpaulin tent, sometimes looking out at the garden plants. George is mourning for his grandmother, Martha, who died of a heart attack during the earthquake last Tuesday (12/11).

Martha is among the 42 people who have lost their lives in the months since the first earthquake of 6.5 magnitude rocked the islands of Ambon, Seram, Haruku and Saparua on 26 Sept. 2019.

George cannot hide his apprehension, either. He looks like he is constantly on the alert for an earthquake. He sometimes reacts to the vibration of a rumbling truck passing on the highway near the tent as if it were a tremor. The local residents are extremely sensitive to the smallest vibration.

They say the contractual period is over. The water supply will stop soon. It’s all right, we’ll try other ways. We don’t want to die in vain.

This is why they are frequently engaged in activities in their tents. Each aftershock widens the cracks in the walls and pillars of houses and schools, threatening their safety.

Amid such a situation, the residents have not responded positively to the government’s appeal for residents to return to their homes, and neither has George. “We won’t go back,” he said, shaking his head.

George’s family and 2,226 other families in Waai have chosen to remain in the shelters. Whether or not they receive any government during the state of emergency is of no concern. The Public Works and Housing Ministry originally provided a daily supply of clean water, but it now arrives every three days. The water storage vessels have been removed from the evacuation camp.

“They say the contractual period is over. The water supply will stop soon. It’s all right, we’ll try other ways. We don’t want to die in vain,” said Stefi Tapilaha, a disaster volunteer in Waai.

The condition of almost all houses is deteriorating day by day. They are unfit to live in. Waai is home to 7,849 displaced persons.

Disaster survivors express the same concerns in Tial village, some 6 kilometers from Waai. The constant tremors have discouraged many fishermen from putting out to sea. They fear that each earthquake could trigger a tsunami.

Many of the fish sellers’ stalls stand empty along the coast. Their fear of a tsunami is understandable, as Ambon was once hit by a tsunami. The disaster has been told through the generations.

Georg Everhard Rumphius records in De Levensbeschrijving van Rumphius (The Biography of Rumphius), as translated by Frans Rijoly, that a major earthquake occurred in Ambon 345 years ago on 17 Feb. 1674, followed by a tsunami. The German naturalist noted that around 2,300 people were killed, including entire families.

The disaster has been told through the generations.

Heightened awareness

The historical and tsunami is at the forefront of the island people’s minds. They are highly aware of the dangers. Every time they feel the earth shake, they imagine a tsunami.

Some coastal residents, for instance, park their cars facing uphill and flee anytime a strong tremor occurs. Other people have moved to higher ground.

Data and information head Andi Azhar Rusdin at the Ambon Geophysical Station of the Meteorological, Climatologic and Geophysical Agency (BMKG) said that 2,438 aftershocks had occurred in the last 54 days, and that 277 of them were felt. Tremors that could be felt could potentially cause destruction.

However, the frequency of aftershocks had decreased over the period, from 224 aftershocks on the first day after the quake to 18 aftershocks on the 54th day.

The decreasing frequency indicates that the faults causing the tremors are settling into a more stable position. No technology exists as yet that can predict when the quakes might end.

Andi only cautioned that the people needed to take independent safety measures during a tremor, based on the earthquake safety procedures that had been communicated. For example, people should take cover under tables or beds. They should move to higher ground if the tremor lasted more than 20 seconds, which indicated a tsunami risk.

The high frequency of aftershocks has prompted the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) to cooperate with researchers from the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) to study the fault lines surrounding Ambon, Seram, Haruku and Saparua. Seismographs were installed at 11 locations on 18 Oct. 2019 to record the earthquakes. Data from the first three weeks are being analyzed, and the results are expected in early December.

BNPB early warning subdirectorate head Abdul Muhari said that the seismographs had recorded a far greater number of aftershocks than the BMKG’s instruments. More aftershocks had occurred in Ambon than in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, which experienced 663 aftershocks over three months.

Goodbye concrete houses.

Maluku National Human Rights Commission chairman Benediktus Sarkol hoped that the results of the data analysis would be announced to the public for earlier efforts at mitigation. This would prevent more people from becoming victims due to a lack of awareness.

“The appropriate approach should be taken in the announcement to avoid causing fear. The local residents are also ready to accept the fact that they live in a disaster-prone zone,” he said.

Amid the widespread fear among residents, awareness has revived the construction of traditional houses called rumah bakancing, which are relatively resistant to earthquakes –a local wisdom that was once abandoned.

The houses have wooden pillars with interlocking joins. Rumah bakancing more than half a century old still stand, while many modern concrete houses collapsed completely, their roofs now resting on the ground.

Several people at the Waai evacuation camp are now weaving sago palms for the walls and roofs of their homes. They no longer want to live in concrete houses.

No matter how strong the people build their concrete houses, they shake, crack and eventually collapse due to the constant tremors. This is what is believed to have happened in Maluku.

“Goodbye concrete houses,” said Waai survivor Hein Bakarbessy, 71, who is eager to build a quake-proof home.

Editor:

Syahnan Rangkuti

Maluku ambon earthquakes survivors concrete houses