Giving Life, Erasing Trauma

KOMPAS/PRAYOGI DWI SULISTYO

Karta, a Sunda Strait tsunami disaster survivor from Kampung Citajur, Sukarame village, Carita district, Pandeglang regency, Banten, shows wood from the broken roof of the evacuation post on Thursday (10/01/2019). He was forced to live in the former Early Childhood Education building in Kampung Cibenda, Sukarame village, which had not been used for a long time, because his house was destroyed by the tsunami. He has not yet obtained a rented house while waiting for the construction of temporary housing, as promised by the government.

On Thursday (10/1/2019) at 2:30 a.m., Karta, 50, looked up at the sky anxiously. The rumbling sounds of thunder worried him. He immediately awakened his wife and child.

Ever since the Sunda Strait tsunami hit the Banten shore on Dec. 22, 2018, Karta has spent his nights sleepless. He can only sleep two hours before sunrise. “I cannot keep calm at night. I’m afraid that the waves will come again,” he said.

After the tsunami, Karta and his wife and child lived temporarily in an old building that used to house an early childhood education center (PAUD) in Sukarame village, Carita district, Pandeglang regency, Banten. The building is only 200 meters away from the coastline.

The tsunami destroyed Karta’s home in Citajur hamlet, Sukarame village. He saw with his own eyes how the waves hit people’s homes. Despite surviving the disaster, Karta is deeply traumatized.

“It’s better for me to walk in the forest than by the beach at night. I’m just too afraid,” said Karta, a farmworker and a duck farmer.

Asep, 40, was awake with Karta that night. He directed his cell phone’s flashlight toward another building just 100 meters away to give a sign to other survivors living in the building.

Asep and his mother Sunarti, 62, also live in the PAUD complex. Similar to Karta, they get nervous whenever they hear the sounds of thunder.

The old building where Karta and his family now live is quite badly damaged. The roof has many holes and its supporting pillars are infested with termites. During heavy rains, water gets into almost all of its rooms.

“We have to stay here as we have no relatives nearby. Other locals are also afraid to return to their homes,” Karta said.

Both Karta and Asep said they hoped they would soon get new and proper homes that can protect them from tsunamis.

Following the end of the emergency response period on Saturday (5/1), the Pandeglang regency is to either rent out houses or provide adequate shelters with sanitation systems to survivors with destroyed homes.

Pandeglang regent Irna Narulita said the survivors would be provided with rented homes while awaiting the completion of their temporary homes. Irna said she had instructed village and district heads to make a database of survivors whose homes were destroyed and who were in need of proper housing.

However, a week after the end of the emergency response period, survivors have yet to be able to live in proper homes. Sukarame village head Jaenal and secretary Sobri said they had no idea of the regency’s plan to provide rented homes for tsunami survivors.

Irna acknowledged that not all tsunami survivors whose homes were destroyed would get rented homes. “If we provide rented homes for all [survivors], the expense will be too much because we have a tight budget. However, we will provide homes for those who are really in need,” Irna said.

Only possessions

On Thursday night, Carita district head Suntama went to Karta and Sunarti and offered to relocate them. Both said they would think about it. Karta said he was worried he would lose his ducks if he left them behind. Meanwhile, Sunarti is used to picking up trash on the beach. “The ducks are the only possessions I have left,” said Karta’s wife, Bainah, 35.

The survivors have lost not only their homes but also their livelihoods. Many of their fishing boats are now damaged.

The government, through the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry, is planning to help local fisherfolk in Banten and Lampung to restore their livelihoods through fishing boat repair shops.

In Lampung, distribution of baby shrimp to local pond farmers has been delayed. The twice-a-week supply of baby shrimps has also decreased, from between 15 million and 25 million before the tsunami to between 2 million and 10 million now.

Lampung Shrimp Farmers and Businesspeople Association cultivation bureau head Yohanes Kano Waluyo said local farmers had reduced their shrimp farms by 50 percent because of the supply disruptions. “Currently, we have reduced the number of baby shrimps per pond, from originally 50,000 to just between 25,000 and 30,000,” he said.

Many families of tsunami survivors, such as those of Karta and Sunarti, are in a dilemma. They are traumatized and wish to move to a new place and yet they are afraid to lose their livelihoods. They have lost not only their belongings in the disaster, but also their sources of livelihood. (ILO/PDS/BAY/LKT)