Washed Away

A survivor of the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia tries to wait for help to come to her village without losing hope.

Indah stared out at the flooded land. It had been two days. Two whole days since the giant wave came crashing down onto the land, destroying most of the village. It felt like it had been much longer. Two days ago, Indah had food, a roof over her head, a loving family, and a lovable group of friends. It had only been two days, but it felt like a lifetime ago. Almost everything had been swept away and dragged out into the ocean by the tsunami. Her house was destroyed and washed away, along with all the food in it. Her brother, Sukarno, had been missing, but they found his dead body in one of the washed out streets yesterday. Indah had yet to hear from any friends, so she had spent much of her time wondering whether they were alive, or if they had met the same fate as Sukarno.

The village itself was almost unrecognizable. Many of the houses had been flattened to the ground, with the flimsy tin roofs being the only things remained. Some of the more well built houses were reduced to dilapidated concrete structures. Only a few mosques were completely intact, which was a miracle.The beautiful coastline that had attracted many tourists was completely wiped out. The white sand beaches were littered with all kinds of debris. Boats, houses, bodies….

A feeling of helplessness had been plaguing Indah ever since it had all happened. Everything was gone and she couldn’t do anything about it. Even relief efforts couldn’t do much.

“Don’t worry, Indah,” her father had said to her a few days earlier, “People will come to help us. They will give us the things we need, and they will help us find Sukarno.”

They found Sukarno by themselves, without the help of any relief efforts. And they found him dead. He was buried in a mass grave, along with hundreds of others. Indah wanted to give him a proper burial and a funeral, but it had to be done quickly. With thousands of people dead, sanitation was going to be an issue. Indah understood the problem, but she wished it didn’t have to be this way. Her brother deserved a proper burial. Everyone else felt the same way though. There wasn’t time to have thousands of funerals.

“Do you think anyone cares about us, Mami,” Indah asked her mother, “Will anyone ever come to help us?” The roads were washed out, or blocked by mountains of mud. Bridges had been ripped away from their locations. There was almost no way to communicate with anyone outside the village. Two days, and no one came. Indah was beginning to let go of the last shred of hope she was holding on to.

“Of course people will come,” her mother replied, “There are always people who care. Be patient, Indah. Have hope.”

 Indah sighed. How could she have hope when her brother, and thousands of others, were dead? When her entire village had been reduced to a wasteland? When she had waited for two entire days for help to come, and none had?

“I’m not sure about that, Mami,” Indah admitted, “we’ve waited a long, long time.”

Indah’s mother patted her on the back. “Help will come, Indah. Just you wait and be patient.”

Indah tried not to sigh again, but then she heard it. A faint whirring noise sounded above them. Indah gasped. She looked up and for the first time in the past forty eight hours, she smiled. Helicopters were hovering over the village.

Indah’s mother looked at her and smiled. “I told you help would come.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effect_of_the_2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake_on_Indonesia#Banda_Aceh