UPDATE, FEB. 1ST

The engines starting at 6am woke us all from a deep sleep. Everyone is physically tired from loading and unloading boats and sleep is our biggest pleasure. Captain Wayan pulled anchor and moved up to PULAU RAYA about 7nm north of PATEK. We had been pouring over our maps and wondering about the island and its population. Detailed charts showed a small village on the South West corner of the island just spared by the wave and no sign of settlement on the more protected North coast. Our first attempt at anchoring the boat left us rolling and unable to bring boats along side so we headed out in our 3 skiffs and left the Batavia to circle the island to anchor off the North coast. Jane took her team round to the South side where the village is shown and Ali and I headed round the East end of the island where we found a break in the reef below a house high on the largest hill. We could see a buffalo and a tall man standing near the house and assumed that we were looking at an isolated farmer who had escaped the destruction. As we crossed the bare swampy ground near our landing, we first saw a well, then foundations, then sarongs and bedding, furniture and possessions scattered around in the piles of debris. We were in the middle of a large township that had vanished. Soon we were crossing rice paddies, the foundations of a school, a coral grit road and smashed bridges. Climbing the hill we could see the house more clearly. It was crushed against a huge tree and had been torn in one piece from its footings and carried several meters. Washing was still on the line, personal possessions were still in cupboards but there was a tangle of debris and flotsam filling the louvers and eaves along one side. Even thought the house was about 25m above sea level it had been afloat with only the peak of the roof above the flood. The water must have been over 30 m deep as the second huge wave smashed into this community. The buffalo and the tall man had vanished without a trace. We called out in vain. No one answered. Ali picked up a clock that lay face down in the mud. It was stopped at 8.40.

Again the very best maps of the area are out of date and misleading. We are reminded of how critical it is to see these places with our own eyes. Our heli flyover missed this community and no-one on the mainland had mentioned it. We forgot to ask, but there are so many questions and we have only been on the ground here for how long? A few days? It feels like a lot longer than that. The intensity of what we are seeing and doing every day has warped time. Later that morning a group of fishermen arrived by boat from the North. they had been up to LAMNO to purchase cigarettes and were delivering these to friends and family in LOK KRUE on the mainland. They were some of the survivors from PULAU RAYA village. Before the wave it was a thriving community of over 100 homes with a population of 810. A reliable source of fresh water supported about 10 Ha of rice paddies and there was a primary school and health clinic. Now it is a waste land. 81 people died on the island and an additional 20 on the mainland where they were shopping. Pak Razali, the old fisherman driving the boat, had lost his wife and kids. His father was the only other family member to make it to the hills. All the villagers are fishermen and the village boasted 230 bagans (floating fish net rafts) before the wave. Now 4 damaged ones drift unattended well out to sea. The rest are smashed up in the valleys and in the swamps along the North coast. None of the hundreds of motor boats and sampans survived. Pak Razali told us about the conditions in the camp up the coast at LAMNO where most of the survivors are staying in tents. Many are sick he said but mostly they want to return to their island and start fishing. Razali said that they would rebuild on higher ground but that his friends understood what had happened and they had run to the hills after the quake. This seems to be consistent with the fishing communities in the BANYAKS and on SIMEULUE. The island has safe landings all year round but during the "musim ombak" or wave season, they can not land at the pasar in LOK KRUET on the mainland. During the months of March April and May, the white bait are not around and the fishermen plant crops or go line fishing. For 9 months of the year white bait production averages about 2 tons per Bagan/month and at about a $0.50 or more per kg, the owners can afford to send their kids to schools in the larger mainland towns. For a few months they harvest Ikan teri halus, tiny white bait that are always in demand. The price jumps to as much as $3/kg and the village can afford to buy televisions and other special items. The key to re-building this community are the Bagans or floating fish net platforms. They cost about Rp7 million (US$800) each and 4 men can build one in 10 days. Today we will fly to LAMNO to meet the survivors and discuss how to help revive their white bait production. Everywhere we have been the village people ask for dried white-bait. It is their favorite source of protein and an essential part of the jig-saw we have identified as we learn about the Aceh coast. We loaded Pak Razali's boat with as much aid as he could carry and told him we would be back with construction materials. He took away a large tarp and said he would discuss setting up a temporary post on the island so that we can deliver supplies safely. He kept looking at our dug-out canoes. "We will share those if you have any to give us".

Feb 1st update, village of BABADUA by Aliza:

Today, I was dropped off by helicopter in BABADUA, population 480 plus 82 tsunami refugees. I was quickly surrounded by excited children and other villagers after the chopper took off, and was guided down the dirt road to the schoolhouse. I joined two other doctors there: Dr. Deo Del Rosario from OB and Dr. Asyfrat from the Indonesian Health Ministry. Together, we saw 187 patients, treating a wide range of ailments from diarrhoea to skin infections, pharyngitis, and pneumonias. One infant had bloody diarrhoea, and a young man had symptom consistent with malaria. We collected a stool sample and blood smear from these patients to send to the laboratory in Meulaboh. Without a translator, I took a leap with my medical Bahasa: I now know how to ask about cough, fever, headache, rash, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, intestinal worms, etc. One woman in the village was too ill to come to the clinic, so Dr. Asyfrat and I made a house-call a few thatched-roof huts down the road. She appeared to have heart failure with pulmonary and leg edema. The village chief was given an assortment of medications to treat her, including furosemide, and Dr. Asyfrat will follow up.