In the Epicenter

In the Epicenter 

‘’Don’t sleep very hard, the earthquake is every day, it comes suddenly and we must be faster” This had been told me by a 21 years-old student, with the name Hasrullah or Rul, who came to this area on 2 October 2018 as a volunteer in the first group. On 13 October 2018, school MA AI Khairaat Pusat PALU /UNISA/, Sulawesi Indonesia, fifteen days after destructive earthquake and tsunami, that destructed several cities and some whole villages. Those villages don't exist anymore. Like Rul warned me, he didn’t sleep far away from me and assured me, if something happened he would wake up me. All of us slept on the school hall on the ground, around 50 volunteers, as one family, all in one room, so we wouldn't forget anyone if another earthquake came. This school was my home for ten days, those volunteers become my brothers.

On 28 September, a series of strong earthquakes struck central Sulawesi province in Indonesia, the strongest a 7,4 magnitude earthquake 10km deep and with it's epicenter close to provincial capital Palu. The earthquake triggered a tsunami whose waves reached up to three meters in some areas in Palu and Donggala. The earthquake, tsunami and resulting liquefaction and landslides had caused significant damage and loss of life in affected areas.

The first step is you have to say that you can

They lost their homes, friends, neighbors and family members. They stayed alive in a situation where it was not easy. Most victim, who were still alive, found a refugee in schools. In every school they had built a refugee camp, as well as several camps on the outside of the town. We were a refugee camp in Universitas Alkhairaat Palu UNISA, where people from the coast side city of Palu lived, who had a lost their homes by tsunami. Despite their situation, they still tried to keep smiling and continued to enjoy the simplest things.   

Mubarak (6), Algifari (3), Razi (7) 

Three friends from the street Cumi-Cumi PALU. Cumi street in Palu was located on the coast that leads to a bridge. There was nothing left of this street, it was completely destroyed by the tsunami. ,,When it come I was at home in my room, I sat on the floor in the middle of room and save my head with my hands” Ilham (11), street Cumi, Palu, Sulawesi, Indonesia. When I walked through this street, I didn’t believe that someone who was there had a chance to survive.

jalan/ street/ Cumi, Palu, Sulawesi, Indonesia 16.10.2018

jalan Cumi, Palu, Sulawesi, Indonesia 16.10.2018

jalan /street/ Cumi, Palu, Sulawesi, Indonesia 16.10.2018

jalan Cumi, Palu, Sulawesi, Indonesia 22.10.2018

jalan Cumi, Palu, Sulawesi, Indonesia 22.10.2018

One of them

When others were trying to get away, Ray sat on an airplane to change his comfort zone for life in one of the most frightening places on earth. When I translated the name of the city, I got a bigger respect for this place. City of Palu or ,,hammer” looks like someone angry used the hammer against them.

Rony Reynaldy 21, Alwi 24, Agung Cahyadi 21, volunteers ,,gemmanine" district BALAROA, Palu, Sulawesi, Indonesia 17.10.2018

On 17 October Rony Reynaldy, 21 year old student from Makassar, already 12 days working as a volunteer in Palu, walking in the district of city Balarora. In the ruins of city we are finding stories about people who used to live there.

,, On September 21, 2018 I planned to go to Palu, because I felt sympathy for the people in Palu affected by the disaster. Then I found some information from several social medias about the situation up there, so that know about the situation and terrain there. Later on September 30 I registered as a volunteer for going to Palu. I only prepared clothes for few days and joined volunteer Gemma9 and they provided us with some knowledge about disaster management, and about evacuation because I joined evacuation division. An on Wednesday, October 3, me and several volunteers went to the Airport in Makassar. We were waiting 2 days at the airport for the departure of the ,,Hercules’’ plane, military airplane for free. At that time departures with commercial aircraft were not available. On October 5, we arrived at Palu and we meet some volunteers who had departed earlier. Actually all of us had never met before, most of us were students from several universities in Sulawesi. After getting acquainted and taking a break, me and the evacuation team immediately went to area to searching for the victims of disaster on the seaside that was affected by the tsunami. When we arrived thee the other evacuation team that had arrived first, managed to get one male victim, that we continued the searching, and around 3:40 PM we found one male victim. During the evacuation processes we had got difficulties of removing victims from under the rubble. In the 5 p.m. we stopped the evacuation process and took those 2 victims to mass cemetery in the Petobo area. We went back to camp at 11:20 at night to take rest, and discuss about what we were going to next day. The next day, October 6, at 8:00 a.m. before leaving, we briefed about 15 minutes, and carried out the activities of each division. On that day the evacuation division was divided into 2 teams, I got a part in Team 1, and made the search for victims in the Balaroa area. Team 2 started the evacuation in the Petobo area. On that day found at last 20 victims in Balaroa at several points that had been divided. The evacuation was very difficult to do without the heavy equipment, because average victims were found in the depth of 2-7 meters, and we stopped research at 5 p.m. The next day we continued to search in the several areas affected by the disaster, until the emergency response period set by the government on 11 October 2018. 

Agung 21, volunteers ,,gemmanine" mosque in district BALAROA, Palu, Sulawesi, Indonesia 17.10.2018

On October 5, I stayed in a house, located a Jalang Tanjung Balantak, the distance was about 4 km from the airport. We stayed at the house devasted by disaster. We also build several tents on the street in front of the house in anticipation of the earthquake. There were about 100 of us at that time, and some of us should stay awaked until early morning to observe the earthquake. As long I was in Palu, there were frequent earthquakes although small scale. The biggest earthquake that I was felt while being in there was October 9, 2018 05:15 AM, with a strength of 5.2 magnitude and depth of 10 km. the epicenter was 5 km Northeast of Palu. At that time I was in the mosque, I just finished worshiping and I layed down for a moment. A few moments before the earthquake I heard a road and the sound of explosion from the ground. During the earthquake everyone in the mosque tried to run out including me. We ran on the middle of road away from buildings. One of my female friend did not get out of the mosque’s toilet during the earthquake, but lucky she was still safe and when she got out of the toilet I was surprised, because she didn’t panic and didn’t get worry at all when the earthquake happened, even though at the time of the earthquake there were two hits that lasted few seconds. And when I asked her, she just said ,,I haven’t had time to wear my headscarf”. She really is a true Muslim girl." 
           Rony Reynaldy, 21 year old student from Makassar

district Balaroa, Palu, Sulawesi, Indonesia 17.10.2018

district Balaroa, Palu, Sulawesi, Indonesia 17.10.2018

district Balaroa, Palu, Sulawesi, Indonesia 17.10.2018

district Balaroa, Palu, Sulawesi, Indonesia 17.10.2018

district Balaroa, Palu, Sulawesi, Indonesia 17.10.2018

district Balaroa, Palu, Sulawesi, Indonesia 17.10.2018

district Balaroa, Palu, Sulawesi, Indonesia 17.10.2018

PETOBO

Petobo a city in which even twenty-two days after the earthquake we find human bodies, the ruins of the smells with the human bodies, City of Petobo the most frightening place  on planet.
20.10.2018

Selamat bertugas / good job/

On 23 October 2018 I had to leave Palu. My team took me to the airport, where I slept because of my early flight. At the airport I met a police unit, whose members wanted to talk to me. Even though before I left Jogja, a lot of people told me it is not a good idea to go there, people in Palu appreciated that I wanted to help. I could see it mainly when I walked through the camps or the city and a lot of people stopped by to say hello, to shake my hand and to thank me.

I remember an older guy, I could read despair and fear from his face, but he came by, shook my hand and said “thank you” in English. It was enough for him and them, they thought of me as a foreigner, who cared about their lives and I believe it gave them a little bit of hope to pass through this hard times.

Climbing the 6000 steps up Mount Tai 泰山 / Tài Shān /

Climbing 6000 steps up Mount Tai, China´s most sacred mountain.

 Mount Tai 泰山 ( Tài Shān) is a mountain of historical and cultural significance located on the north of the city Tai'an, in Shandong province, China.

Mount Tai is known as the eastern mountain of the Five Great Mountains of China. It is associated with sunrise, birth, and renewal, and is often regarded as the foremost of the five. Mount Tai has been a place of worship for at least 3,000 years and served as one of the most important ceremonial centers of China.

For thousands of years Taishan has been the source of inspiration for poets and thinkers, a sacred place to worship. It is the most sacred mountain in China, because it is the most eastern mountain in China, which is considered in Chinese culture as sacred orientation because it is the place where the moon and the sun rise. Confucius, whose hometown is city of Qufu, has declared from the uphill "Climb up Mount Tai and the whole world looks small.”

I heard this in the city of Jinan, where I was living and where I was teaching in the local kindergarten. I don't know where I heard about this mountain and the best thing to do is to go to the summit of the mountain in the evening and to wait for the sunrise. Saturday afternoon I went by train to the nearby town of Tai'an 泰安市. In Tai'an I took public bus for end stop. I could only get through the red gate to the mountains, behind the red gate there is a cash register and turnstiles. I had to buy a ticket to go to the mountains, it is not possible to get around / trust me /. I used my student card and I bought 9 euro half ticket. About 5 o'clock in the afternoon I started my climbing, maybe a little bit strange because I spent the next six hours climbing the giant stairwell, the infernal stairs to heaven. I was unsuccessfully waiting to start a hiking trail but I walked up the stairs to the Summit Hill.

Hundreds of people were walking through these stairs - singing, helping those who couldn’t continue, young students on trips, old people, families with children, hundreds of flashing lights in front of me and behind me moving up or down the stairs despite the fact that a huge staircase was built up to the top of  the mountain. People were climbing to the top of the mountain in the dark to see the sunrise and I was among them in crowd on the top of this mountain along the staircase surrounded by small shops opened 24 hours a day.

The higher I climbed, the more stairs I saw. I could also get to the hill by cableway (after two hours walking up the stairs) but I walked on foot, Konfucius also did not take the cableway. On the top of the mountain where I got about 11 PM, there was a town full of shops and small hotels, where you can rent a large green military winter jacket /old jacket of the green army/. The street was full of people sleeping on the ground wrapped in these green jackets and people who were just sitting and waiting for the sunrise. I was also on the edge of this path and I hanged my hammock between rock and tree. I was not looking for any private place right next to the path in a hill town where many other people were sleeping around me.

During five hours of sleep I woke up about ten times when someone around me was looking for a sleeping place, for hundreds of people walking on the hill or the cold wind blowing through my sleeping bag. I woke up with the others and followed the crowd to the top of the mountain. It was Sunday morning around 5 o'clock and I was hardly trying to get on top of the mountain with another thousand people and waiting with them for the sunrise. It was quite a problem to find a good place in that crowd but the local people let me, as a foreigner, to go to the front to have a good view. I traveled probably the longest distance from them all to get there. After sunrise, people came back down, some of them went to the Buddhist temples right on the hill. I went to the mountain next to this one on a sidewalk, on which there was no one.  After about an hour's walk, I came to the top of that mountain, where was a group of kung-fu fighters, who trained here.

Despite many people, the climb to this mountain was an unrepeatable adventure and also something sacred, where I could experience the true Chinese culture and watch the people who truly believe in it.