The airport is bustling with activity as it serves as a disaster relief hub, following the twin Central Sulawesi disaster of the earthquake and tsunami that struck on Sept. 28.
Nizar and Masrie had traveled five hours from Kaliburukata village in Sindue Tombusabora district, Donggala regency, Central Sulawesi. They took a truck, hoping to load it with staple needs before heading back.
“We need rice, drinking water, instant noodles, clothes and blankets,” Nizar, the Kaliburukata village head, said on Monday (8/10/2018).
Nizar said that supplies had yet to reach the shelters in his village. Many families were still facing difficulties in procuring cooking ingredients. “We were directed to the airport. Hopefully, we’ll get something,” he said.
The airport has been increasingly busy since Monday morning. It is now serving regular flights as well as domestic and foreign aircraft bringing in aid.
On Monday, the airport received 242,998 tons of relief aid and saw the departure of at least 1,597 disaster refugees.
The airport has also resumed commercial flights, in line with the Airnav Indonesia Notice to Airmen (Notam) No. HO755/18 issued on Sunday (30/9).
However, commercial flight services are not yet normal. Tyo Nugroho, 34, from Yogyakarta, waited for two days in Balikpapan for any information on flights departing to Palu.
“My wife and child are in Palu, as my wife works there. I have yet to see them, but I have talked to them over the phone,” Tyo said at Dhomber Air Base in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan.
Tyo eventually hopped on board an EADS CASA C-295 military aircraft transporting relief aid and medical professionals from Jakarta’s Halim Perdanakusuma Air Base, which transited in Balikpapan for refueling.
Wawan Kurniawan, on the other hand, succeeded in getting a ticket on a Palu-bound flight from Makassar. He hopped on Lion Air’s JT-3780 flight, which departed at 5:30 a.m. local time and arrived one hour later in Palu.
“There was no delay in departing from Makassar. It was a wide-body aircraft, a Boeing. I thought that it was going to be a smaller aircraft,” said Wawan.
At the Palu airport, police tape was still visible at several locations. Debris and broken glass littered the arrival hall.
The airport’s baggage conveyor belts have been reactivated and its ticket counters are open.
The boarding lounge on the second floor, however, is still closed, and all passengers must wait for their flights at the ground-floor boarding lounge.
‘Super busy’
Capt. Enggal Augusendy, who pilots an EADS CASA C-295 military aircraft number A2906, said that each aircraft was given only 20-30 minutes to land, unload supplies and take evacuees. Afterward, the aircraft will need to get airborne again to make way for other aircrafts to land.
“Transportation, both land and air, is extremely busy. Everything depends on timeliness. From Palu, we fly either to Makassar or to Balikpapan,” said Enggal.
On Monday, Enggal and Capt. Gilang S Pranajaya transported tents and clothing, as well as volunteers and medical professionals from the Health Ministry.
Airnav Indonesia technical director Nordin Aulia said that it had repaired the communications network at the Palu airport one day after the disaster on Friday (28/9) to enable aircraft to land.
“On [Saturday (29/9)], there were 13 flights to and from Palu. Everything went well, despite the officers having to use heavy equipment to work,” said Ahmad.
The airport was currently using an emergency air traffic control (ATC) tower that was brought in from Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, which was also hit by an earthquake in August. The tower, which came from Jakarta, was commonly used in emergencies.
Air traffic controllers man the emergency tower. On the ground, a tent is being used as a makeshift office for airport ramp agents, hundreds of who can be seen at any time working on parked aircraft.
The emergency ATC tower is around 5 meters high. The 24-square-meter room at the top of the tower can only accommodate five air traffic controllers.
Ahmad said that, in the current emergency, one air traffic controller could handle up to eight aircraft at the same time, three times more than their normal workload.
“In an emergency, we do our job as best as we can. We are still working in shifts,” he said.
According to Ahmad, one of the biggest obstacles in guiding airplanes at the airport was the damaged runway. A 500-meter stretch of the 2,500-meter runway is unusable because of deep cracks. Repairs were underway.
“Airplanes, even commercial flights, can still land and take off. However, [the pilots] have to be careful due to the shorter runway,” he said.
Hope fulfilled
Tyo Nugroho was finally reunited with his wife and child, who met him at Al-Jufri airport. The family reunited with hugs, kisses and tears of relief.
Nizar is also happy, after loading his truck with rice and other staple needs. The prayers of the 2,700 people in his village have been answered. “Before, we ate whatever we could find. We at whatever edible greens we could find,” he said.
The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) has recorded 62,359 people in 147 shelters, waiting for relief from post-disaster hardships. They are all waiting for supplies to arrive.
Hundreds of officers are working tirelessly at the Palu airport, which is roaring slowly back to life. They have one mission: serving the people, fulfilling their hopes and bringing them relief. (DIONISIUS REYNALDO TRIWIBOWO)
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