Chinese share same fate with Indonesians in Aceh quakes

Disasters have never been choosing their victims. They took anything, anyone from all walks of life standing their way. This fact is true and comes alive in Indonesia's Aceh that has been frequented by earthquakes with the latest one on Wednesday.

People from all kinds of descendants share the same fate in Aceh when it comes to disasters. It also applies to Chinese people living in the capital city of Indonesia's westernmost province for generations.

They also share the same fear about possible tsunami like it was in 2004 that claimed hundreds of their community. Like many affected by the strong tremors on Wednesday in the city, part of Chinese people were also taking emergency measures hoping to get saved from the disaster they have been fearing about in the past eight years.

Li Suu Chin, a 55 years old widow who runs a grocery shop in Chinese district of Peunayong recalled the day that made her scared the most.

"I stunned for a few minutes when the first strong tremor took place. After the temblor ended my body was trembling, could not move anywhere. I was just standing behind a desk in my shop," she said, adding that it made her recalling the traumatic day when the earthquake and tsunami almost made her lost one of her four children.

The widow who raised her four children by herself in the last 20 years said that one of her daughters was almost died in 2004 tsunami. Her daughter was lost for a few minutes after plunged in murky tsunami water when she and all of her children sat on rooftop of her store-house building.

"She was saved by an Acehnese who managed to grab and yanked her to safety once her body closing in to the rooftop of the Acehnese's house," she said.

Li said that sometimes she broke in tears when she recalled that moment that made her almost lost the daughter.

After the first strong tremors, Li said that she regained her consciousness and tried to walk up the stair to the second floor.

She was led by her children to the rooftop and just waited there. She knew that staying in the highest point of her house would save her as she believed that tsunami water would not be higher than her two-storey house like it was in 2004.

Another Chinese living in the Banda Aceh Chinatown of Peunayong, Chang Sin Fie, who runs a coffee shop in his two storey store- house building, said that he was with his wife by a dining table in that afternoon.

"I just knew that it was a strong quake that different from the other ones that often occur here since 2004. I quickly took my wife's hand and led her to go upstairs. I also shouted at my female workers to go upstairs and stay with us, expecting for the worst," the 54 years old father said, recalling the Wednesday's quake.

As the aftershocks coming in, he closed his shop with all of his workers still inside. He started to gather necessities considered essential, including money, documents and some cloths, in a hard case bag that would be brought to his rooftop if a tsunami strikes in.

"I communicate with my neighbors to find out the latest development of the earthquake, whether or not high water started to emerge. At that time we had no credible information as the electricity was shut down. No TV, no radio. Luckily my relatives in Medan called me several times informing the development of the disaster, while he also experienced the terrifying moment as he felt the same tremors at that moment," he said.

According to the father of three children, there were many misleading information from people who stayed outdoor in his neighborhood. Some of them kept shouting that high water started to flood in, but they did not move away from their places. The only information he trusted was from his brother who kept watching the TV.

"That situation was different from the one I experienced in 2004. I had to keep my family strong hanging on an iron bar when the tsunami water along with the debris that hit our backs. My son suffered from severe injury after being hit by the debris that made him had to undergone an operation in Medan after the tsunami, " he recalled, adding that he managed to lift up her wife to the rooftop and his son one at a time after hanging on the iron bar for a few minutes.

He said that they slipped from their rooftop when he and his wife tried to save their teenage son who slipped first to the water but was still managed to grab the iron bar. He added that his other two children was in Medan when the tsunami took place in 2004.

He said that his son received first aid from foreign volunteers several times before undergone the operation.

The man who run his family's coffee shop that has been in the business in the last 20 years said that he received assistance funds provided by the government for those whose house were damaged by the tsunami in 2004.

"I received 15 million rupiah (about 1,600 U.S. dollars) of assistance fund from the government that I used to fix the damages in my store so as to run my business as soon as possible," he said, adding that similar assistance funds were also provided to other people.

He said that the recent earthquake gave him a lesson in better preparing himself and his family in bracing with the disaster in the future.

The Wednesday's earthquake took place far from the epicenter of devastating 9.3 magnitude earthquake, located only 50 kilometers away from the coast line, that prompting deadly tsunami disaster in 2004, killing more than 230,000 people in the province, mostly in Banda Aceh.