2004 INDIAN OCEAN TSUNAMI
07.58 local time on December 26 2004, a massive underwater earthquake struck off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The third largest earthquake ever recorded lasted between 8-10 minutes and had the destructive force of 1,500 Hiroshima atomic bombs. Click on the link to read by story in the Guardian newspaper, 'We have too many bodies'.
10-15 minutes after the earthquake, the first of three waves struck the north and west coast of Sumatra. Tsunamis were triggered in fourteen countries with landmass bordering the Indian Ocean. Click on the link to read by story in the Guardian newspaper, 'Hit by the aftershock'.
Waves lifted large fishing boats out of the ocean and carried them many kilometres inland. Click on the link to read my story in the Guardian newspaper, 'A welcome deluge'.
Entire villages were sucked out to sea. Bridges and road were destroyed.
The death toll was horrendous. Between 230,000-280,000 people were killed in 14 countries. In Indonesia the death toll was estimated at 220,000.
Banda Ache will be remembered as the "Ground Zero" of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami. In fact, the village of Lampuuk was closest to the epicentre of the earthquake and tsunami. Sixty-minutes drive west of Banda, 5,000 people died here. Only 1,000 people survived. Many of whom sought refuge in the only building left standing, the local mosque. In many places Mosques were often the only structures able to withstand the surging waves. This proved a source of great strength to the devoutly Muslim Achenese. But to some the tsunami was thought to be divine retribution.
Thousands of Red Cross volunteers responded to the disaster. They came from all over Indonesia and the world to assist humanity. I was in awe of these young volunteers who toiled long days in the fetid heat and humidity to retrieve bloated bodies from among the debris.
"We have too many bodies," a Red Cross volunteered told me. "But I am working for humanity. I am sad but it is my obligation."
Volunteers, often Indonesian university students, collected dead bodies in their thousands.
International Red Cross Red Crescent chartered planes, helicopters and boats to help reach remote communities. They also flew in field hospitals and water purification units from as far as Germany and Spain.
In early January 2005 I was part of an International Red Cross team that travelled by charter aircraft to Meulaboh on Ache’s west coast. I was accompanied by the BBC and a team of trauma surgeons and nurses from Japanese Red Cross. No aid had reached the town when we arrived. What we found was beyond imagination and affected us all deeply. Thousands of decaying bodies lined the streets or were buried under collapsed concrete buildings and twisted metal. The smell has horrendous. It was hell. It was a visceral, emotionally raw experience that I'll never be able to forget. I'd seen dead bodies before but it was an overwhelming experience to see hundreds and hundreds on the streets.
BBC's Andrew North and producer Cara Swift travelled with International Red Cross to Meulaboh. They were the first western journalists to report from the devastated west coast of Ache Province. As we picked our way through the destruction on the back of a large truck, survivors lined the streets shouting, "BBC, BBC!" At last their plight would reach the world. Later we hitched a lift to Medan on a Royal Singapore Airforce Chinook. As we flew low over the Sumatran rainforest, mist swirling beneath us, I took this photograph of Andrew North at work on a script for the BBC News.
In Meulaboh, I remember doing a BBC interview and explaining that the destruction reminded me of images of Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the US denotated atomic bombs over the cities in World War II. We made the local hospital our home and for five days we slept on a concrete floor. We lived on two-minute noodles and chocolate. Noisy back-up generators meant the team from Japanese Red Cross could perform basic surgery in the operating theatre. Then I found this little boy at an evacuation centre for people whose homes had been destroyed. Motionless, a vacant stare, this little lad simply rested his chin on his hands. Down the years I’ve returned to this image and thought a lot about this young boy. I hope he grew up happy, healthy and loved.
With coastal roads and bridges destroyed we relied on small planes and choppers to ferry humanitarian supplies and aid workers.
White knuckle landing at Meulaboh airstrip. As we came in to land, the pilot banked hard left to land the aircraft on the broken airstrip. The earthquake cracked the runway, making it impossible for all but the smallest planes to land. Look closely at the image and you'll see the Japanese Red Cross trauma surgeons unloading medical equipment from the plane.
Medical staff from Japanese Red Cross unloading health kits to treat 10,000 people.
This is me in the cap. For about five days I was attached to a Spanish Red Cross team that specialised in water purification. It was impressive to witness water engineers and technicians work around the clock to purify water that would then be trucked to 4,000 families each day. I hadn't planned staying as long but no choppers landed near us, so I was 'stranded' on Ache's west coast. Eventually I was picked up by US Navy Seahawk and flown to Banda Ache via the USS Abraham Lincoln.
In Meulaboh Red Cross delivered water to 4,000 families every day.
Wherever we went we met people relieved to be receiving support from Red Cross Red Crescent.
Young and old, the tsunami spared no-one.
This is me resting on a Red Cross chopper loaded and ready for takeoff to Teunom. It was an awe inspiring sight to watch as US navy Seahawks helicopters from the USS Abraham Lincoln (which I would later land on) flew 22 sorties from Banda Ache to get the many tonnes of equipment, as well as a German Red Cross doctor, three nurses, lab technician and a paramedic to Teunom. Packed in metal boxes and assembled on site, the health unit, was capable of meeting the needs of some 20,000 people. Once erected it comprised nine white tents that housed a maternity unit, pharmacy, waiting room, operating theatre and laboratory.
The Boxing Day tsunami led to one of the largest ever humanitarian relief efforts. It was a huge privileged to have witnessed the humanity in this terrible disaster; and to have been among people whom sacrificed so much to help other people. It was a deeply humbling experience.
I returned to Ache every six months for three years. In 2006 I visited small business owners to learn more about how financial grants from humanitarian agencies had helped hundreds of families rebuild shattered businesses.