At 5:50am on the 27th May 2006, the lives of thousands of people living in
Dareah Istimewa Yogyakarta were changed forever. Not only those directly involved
in the devastation of the gempa bumi (earthquake), but also those who
rushed to help and provide aid as they were confronted by scenes of death and
destruction.
I
was fast asleep in my kos-kosan - as it was a Saturday morning - when
the earthquake hit. Immediately I realised what was happening and ran outside,
as my room was on the bottom floor I thought it would be the safest place. However,
as I stumbled outside and onto the road with everyone else, roof tiles began
falling from surrounding buildings making it seem as if the world around us
was collapsing.
The actual earthquake lasted for about 50 seconds, which seemed like a lifetime.
After the earth had settled, my kos mates and I looked towards the highly
active volcano Gunung Merapi, as we assumed that that was the cause of the quake.
However, after learning that the cause was actually an earthquake off the south
coast of Parangtritis beach, myself and fellow ACICIS student Michael Mersiades
decided to venture south to investigate the damage.
As we turned off Jalan Kaliurang onto Jalan Solo, we were overwhelmed by a
tidal wave of people who were fleeing from an apparent real tsunami coming from
the coast. Mike and I got off the road and took refuge outside the Gramedia
building and watched the events unfold.
At this stage the roads were much too dangerous to use because thousands of
locals were panicking and trying to flee north. It was "every man for himself"
out there on the road so we dared not to venture out until the police arrived
and explained that there was no tsunami. After the roads had become usable once
more we continued south.
Initially, we didn't realise the devastation of the quake but as we got further
to the south and into Bantul, we soon saw the greatness of the situation. Once
Mike and I came to terms with the level of destruction, we began thinking of
ways we could help. We both had experience in the Army Reserve, prior to entering
the ACICIS program, which provided us with basic first aid skills. I had also
done an advanced pre-hospital care course within the army which gave me skills
that would prove beneficial in the first few days that followed the quake.
Immediately, we made our way to Rumah Sakit
Bethesda (Bethesda Hospital) to
offer our assistance. We weren't sure who to talk to about helping out as it
was complete chaos - Indonesians aren't normally regarded the best at organising
things, especially a hospital flooded with hundreds of casualties.
Many Indonesians had already made there way to the hospital to offer help so
we eventually found a volunteer group and signed up. Initially we assisted in
moving casualties around the hospital: from vehicles to the surgery, from the
tents out the front of the hospital (which had been set up to accommodate the
continuous flow of patients) to the x-ray room and so on. We were forced to
use benches, wooden doors and prayer mats as stretchers to move the casualties.
As more and more wounded flowed in, resources became even more stretched and
Mike actually resorted to carrying one old lady in his arms to the x-ray room.
Once the hospital became aware of my medical training I was assigned to assist
nurses watching over the hundreds of casualties in front of the hospital while
Mike continued the exhausting task of casualty movement. The majority of the
casualties included fractures, lacerations, head injuries, and many cases of
shock.
Many of the patients in the tents had not yet been seen by anyone at this time
so, together with several nurses, I began inspecting them and providing what
pain relief we could offer - mainly in the form of IV drips and splints. One
young nurse at the hospital instructed me to dampen a cloth in alcohol and bandage
a patient's injured arm. When I asked what this would achieve, she replied that
"with the resources we have at the moment we have to offer any pain relief
possible, even if it's peace of mind - the people just want to think they are
being looked after."
After thinking about it, I realised what she was trying to do. For many of
these patients there was not a lot we could do for them but we needed make them
feel like they were being looked after. After many hours working without a rest,
Mike and I were told to get some sleep and come back in the morning, which wasn't
that far away.
On the second day when we arrived at the hospital we were told that we would
be on the first vehicle to Rumah Sakit Bantul (Bantul Hospital). The regional
hospital was a much smaller hospital with less doctors and medical staff but
with a lot more casualties. When we arrived, Mike was tasked with moving casualties
again - a never ending task. I was rushed to the minor surgery room, where I
was to assist two Indonesian doctors performing minor surgery.
That day I saw some of the worst injuries I had ever seen, from serious lacerations
to spinal injuries. I assisted in stitching, giving IV drips, and also in a
couple of minor amputations. The influx of casualties never seemed to stop,
every five minutes another TNI (Indonesian Army) truck would rock up with more
injured people.
Towards the end of the day doctors and medical staff from several NGOs began
to arrive and ease the workload of those already there. Mike and I helped out
around the hospital for the next couple of days until the NGOs had firmly settled
in but once this was done we decided to head out with an Indonesian volunteer
group to find villages that had not received any government or NGO assistance.
After providing what medical and logistical relief we could, we informed our
ACICIS resident director Phil King of the villages and their situation so the
other students helping at the ACICIS house could organise relief packages to
send out. We concentrated on this task for a few days before returning to the
ACICIS house to see how we could assist further.
With my medical skills, I was asked to go out with a Gadjah Mada University
medical team to villages and provided medical relief and consultation. I did
this for a couple of days before deciding to return and assist the others at
the ACICIS house. Eventually the emergency phase came to an end and Yogya, which
was full of NGOs and aid agencies by now, could begin the reconstruction phase.
