Thousands of pairs of eyes around the world were glued to the television on Saturday, May 27 2006, as the news of the earthquake(s) that struck the city of Yogyakarta and its surrounding areas was broadcasted all day long. Some were just watching in horror, while some others were desperately trying to get a hold of their relatives who live in the hit areas to find out what had happened to them.

The magnitude 5.9 earthquake (BMG version, but other institutions such as UGM and USGS said it was a 6.3 on richter scale earthquake. Kenapa ya beda?) struck at 5.50 am while many people were still sleeping, causing a large number of casualties, with most of them being entombed under rubbles or buildings. At the time I am writing this post, it is reported that the death toll has reached 4000 people, and the wounded has reached 6000 people. This number would surely rise as many victims are still trapped under debris of buildings, waiting for rescue.

I was actually in the city of Yogyakarta when the quake struck. I was on a trekking trip with a group of friends. We had been in Yogya since Thursday afternoon and Saturday was our last day in Yogya. Myself and four other friends had agreed to wake up early on Saturday morning to take pictures of some old buildings around the Malioboro area, where we were staying. So off we went at 5 am in the morning, to walk around the area, snapping pictures at Pasar Beringharjo, the Sebelas Maret monument, the Post Office building, and the Bank Indonesia building.

At around 5.47 am, an old friend of mine who lives in Yogyakarta called me on my cell. We had agreed the day before to meet up to have an early breakfast. I told him where I was, and he said he was on his way, and would get to where I was in 10 minutes. Suddenly we got disconnected, and I then heard a rumbling sound that got louder and louder. I could feel the earth was moving below my feet and I saw the lamp poles were shaking wildly. People were screaming, and I could see the rooftops of some buildings were collapsing. I followed the people that were running towards the street, to avoid being close to buildings. We just stood there, holding each other’s hands while trying to maintain our balance as the earth was still shaking below us. Finally, after what felt like forever, it was over. We were really in shock after that, as none of us knew what to do. I tried calling back my friend, but I only got busy signals. After calming down a bit, we decided to go back to the hotel to check if the rest of the group was okay. Along the Malioboro street, we saw more of collapsed buildings, but fortunately our hotel was still okay. It got some cracks here and there but it was still holding up. The rest of the group was okay, though most of them were still sleeping when the quake happened, so it was more shocking for them than it was for us, as they were inside a building, as opposed to us who were out at an open space. I tried again to call my friend and got through this time, and he said he was on his way back home to see if his family was okay. Okay, at least I knew he was fine. Up to that point, we thought the quake was a volcanic one because Merapi has been rumbling for weeks, but later we found out to our surprise that it was a tectonic earthquake, with the epicenter deep in the Indian Ocean, south to Java island.

As scary as the quake was, it was less scarier than what was happening next: the false rumor of tsunami. I was inside the hotel when suddenly there were hundreds of people fleeing on the street, screaming and sobbing in tears. Motorcyclist and car drivers were honking their horns trying to get their way around fleeing people. People were yelling, “Air…air…Lari…..tsunami, mbak….lari…..ke utara…..”. (I didn’t even know where north or south was). Some others were yelling, “Get to the rooftop…..get to the rooftop…don’t run!”. If you ever saw the TV scenes from December 2004 where thousands of people were fleeing for higher ground to escape from tsunami in Aceh, it was kinda like that. I was so scared, and so confused of what to do, and I really thought it would be the end of me. Fortunately, a friend who had been monitoring the news through radio on his cell, managed to get a sense of what was happening. He assured us that we were okay. We were about 30 km from the coast, and it was already more than an hour after the quake struck, so it was very unlikely for a tsunami to happen and reach where we were. So, we calmed down again. Still for me, it was one of the scariest moments in my life.

In the meantime, we were still feeling some aftershocks. We then decided to check out of the hotel and leave the city. So we went to our room to pack our stuff (at that time, packing to me meant frantically throwing things into my bag). I was on my way down carrying my bag without zipping it (Zipping my bag takes time, and I didn’t want to stay very long inside the hotel), when an aftershock shook again. I ran outside the building, and dropped some of my stuff. It turned out to be a small aftershock, so nothing really happened after that. But then, some unknown woman approached me and helped me picking up my stuff, while saying to me, “Mbak, kalo saya boleh saran, mendingan bawa barang-barang yang berharga aja, kaya dompet sama hp. Yang lainnya ditinggal aja”. Haaah??? Malu gue…..dalam hati gue bilang, “Syalaan, I am not crazy over my things, you know..it just happened that I was bringing down my bag when the aftershock happened”. Hiks….So, to her I was ‘mentingin harta daripada nyawa’. Yeah, right…..and my ‘harta’ consisted of a pair of worn jeans covered in mud, a couple of filthy and sweaty t-shirts, and a pair of dirty socks. Not true….not true……:(

After that, we gathered and put our stuff in the bus, and then headed back to Jakarta. Along the way we saw more of collapsed buildings. Ambulances were rushing their ways to get the victims to the hospitals. There were obviously not enough ambulances, as we also saw lots of victims being carried by pick-up trucks or big trucks. We also saw people anxiously sitting and waiting outside their homes, afraid to go back inside, in fear that another big aftershock would strike.

Below are some pictures a friend of mine, Rico Ferajab, managed to snap after the earthquake that would perhaps better depict the situation.











I still had not comprehend the extent of the damage resulted from the earthquake until later that day, when I found out that the quake did not only strike the city of Yogya, but also other districts in the province and also in Jawa Tengah, and it was feared that the death toll could be thousands in numbers (which has been proven to be true). Only then I realized I was probably lucky that the quake did not happen a day earlier, as at 5.50 am on Friday, I was standing at the peak of Bukit Tugel, a small mountain nearby Merapi, and if the quake were to struck at that time, I would have fallen off the hill and I would not be here today. I was also lucky that I was not inside a building, and trapped underneath it after the quake.

I am really grateful that I survived the earthquake, but at the same time I mourn those who did not, and I am sad for those who did but lost everything to the quake. I could not even imagine being at their place. My deepest condolence goes out to the family of the deaths. I could only pray for them and to offer help with little that I have. It is also touching to see how people reacted to the tragedy. Within the country, many groups of people got together to collect money and to provide medical and food aids to the victims. Many volunteers and relief workers arrived at the scenes only hours after the quake struck. Words of help have also been coming from countries around the world.

Apart from the criticisms that have been addressed to the government with regards to the ineffectiveness of the after-disaster-management program, which has an impact on the length of time the emergency aid actually reach the survivors (I personally could not understand why the government doesn't want to declare the tragedy as a national disaster, and I am cursing the government for being slow in helping the survivors), it is still somehow comforting to know that people still care for each other and they are willing to put aside all differences to work together with one goal, which is to help the victims of the earthquake. Then I could only daydream that a situation like this did not only happen when a tragedy strikes. In the meantime, I am crying for Jogja.....

PS: I thank my dear friends and family members who spared lots of their time to try contacting me to find out if I was okay on Saturday. It meant a lot to me to know that you guys care.