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Ten years after tsunami, Hasyimi finds life returning to normal
Surviving the disaster: Hasyimi, 43, a local fisherman from Lamno, Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, rebuilds his community and is hopeful for its future, 10 years after a massive tsunami hit the province on Dec
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Surviving the disaster: Hasyimi, 43, a local fisherman from Lamno, Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, rebuilds his community and is hopeful for its future, 10 years after a massive tsunami hit the province on Dec. 26, 2004. (Courtesy of Jim Holmes/Oxfam) (Courtesy of Jim Holmes/Oxfam)
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span class="inline inline-left">Surviving the disaster: Hasyimi, 43, a local fisherman from Lamno, Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, rebuilds his community and is hopeful for its future, 10 years after a massive tsunami hit the province on Dec. 26, 2004. (Courtesy of Jim Holmes/Oxfam)
Hasyimi, 43, a local fisherman of Lamno, Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, cannot forget how a massive tsunami had ruined the lives of people in the province on Dec. 26, 2004.
'We were particularly badly hit because the wave came around both sides of the hill and collided here. All of our houses and land were ruined,' said Hasyimi, sharing his moments of grief in a compilation of survivor stories recently released by international humanitarian aid organization Oxfam.
The villager further explained that there was nothing he could do until a group of humanitarian agencies, including Oxfam, offered help that allowed them to achieve a genuine long-term recovery.
'After the tsunami, as we rebuilt our community, Oxfam gave me a grant of Rp 11 million [US$885] to buy a becak [motor taxi]. I used this to transport villagers and children to and from school as a voluntary service,' said Hasyimi.
Hasyimi is one of the Lamno residents to receive assistance from Oxfam after the Indian Ocean tsunami in December 2004, which killed 230,000 people and left 1.7 million homeless. Around 5 million people across 14 countries were affected.
Oxfam received US$294 million, 90 percent of that coming from private donors in the first month. Oxfam was able to set up responses in India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Somalia, Thailand and the Maldives.
Hasyimi recalled how he coordinated his community for Oxfam's cash-for-work program.
'We were paid Rp 50,000 per day to clean up the debris on our roads and agricultural land and to rebuild fences. We also rebuilt the road through our village in concrete,' he said.
Hasyimi praised the program, particularly because they could also build the new concrete road through the village so that people could get from their farmland to nearby markets more easily. 'Almost everyone in our village was involved in building the road,' he said, adding that after the cash-for-work program, Oxfam built 30 houses there.
Hasyimi said that because of all the initiatives he had participated in after the tsunami, he was able to have his life return to normal.
'I have been a fisherman all of my life and have been able to buy and develop two fish ponds, and to run a successful business. I have earned money taking on a few small-scale government contracts here in Lamno, providing me with the income that I needed to open up my village store and to invest in the fishponds (each costing more than $3,000),' he said.
'I now employ five people to work on my ponds, but I want to continue to improve and to become more successful.' (ebf)(++++)
