Earthquake Relief

We watched the video that started off with shots of donations dropped to the office. That was Tuesday nite’s footages. Followed by some shots of sunrise on the road, then … Here they are…. Unloading half of the truck load in Batukaras. Residents of Batukaras already organized themselves with a proper POSKO with a proper management system. They were quite eager when choosing what they needed, left behind in the truck what they adequately had.

After distributing the aid, our friends left for Bulak Benda, another village next to Batukaras. The village was also blessed by a good size surfable surfing point. I remember we went to that village by taking a half an hour boat from Batukaras. It takes longer time to get there if you travel by land vehicle from Batukaras. Bulak Benda is considerably quite remote. You cant find what other typical tropical tourist beaches usually offer. Here you can feel that the nature is much much larger than you. You are only a single particle..

Many houses at the frontier were destroyed. Causalities were also higher. The boys told us, upon their arrival…. people in the temporary shelters stood up and walked toward the truck. Happiness was shining from their faces. So eager they all wanted to help to unload the truck. I saw on the video tape, an old man hugging a sack of rice on the ground. He knew… tonite he would eat rice… They knew some good hearted people were with them, all the way.

What I heard from the boys… Batukaras and Bulak Benda, and all other villages that were affected by tsunami were not as bad as Ulhee Lhee or Lhok Nga… some areas that were hit pretty bad in Aceh tsunami of 2004. However, the emotional effects must be the same. Counseling is needed immediately to bring them back to the norm. Sanitation and clean water is urgently needed. They might eat 3 times a day of ransom, but they wanted to be able to cook. They need cooking utilities. They also need helps to rebuild their homes and boats. I am sure some of you may have access to attend these issues.

PS: I will update this post with some facts and figures of lost and causalities.

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Wasnt a long time ago when tsunami struck Aceh. This time the horrible news came from a place not far away from Jakarta. The communities along the coast line of southern west java were hit by tidal waves following a six point something ritcher scale on 17^th July 2006.
Water can be such a terrifying beast. It swapped away everything it could to unleash its power. Everything. Including house of someone we might know. Including some husband of a young wife who might had been out fishing in the ocean. Including some kids who played football on a sunny afternoon pretending they are the next Christiano Ronaldo. The beast didn’t take anything for granted. That’s for sure.
As soon as the rumor became a headline news, reflections of nice view, friendly waves and people, the smell of not so cold beer and the taste of fingerlickin’ sea food emerged to my mind. It was Batukaras Village, in Ciamis, West Java… a place where we had 1 of the best shooting locations back in 2003. It was Batukaras.. that we all had in mind.
The place has been well known as one of the best secret spots for surfing in West Java. If you happened to ever visited Batukaras, you would know what I mean.. Nothing more than surf, sand, sun, sleep, then surf again before we got too hungry to play.
Waiting if we could read the name of the village on “ticker news” became unbearable. A phone call from a good friend who got there 2 days after the tsunami explained everything. We have to help.
After plenty of phone calls and text messages, donations started to pour in. We had a great amount of support from BENGKEL AMAL, a circle of good people who were in the position of helping those in needs. There are also some other individuals and organizations that have played an important role in this mission. Its probably something that is not even close enough to what the victims feel… But its another form of saying… Brothers, we care!
Tonite, 25 July 2006 at 11.00pm, Fictionary will send the donations and (is it still..?) humanitarian aids to Batukaras, accompanied by Sobar and Zwingly. Its great to be able to help. We shall wait their report when they come back.
Thank you all…
Sakti Parantean

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