Indian Ocean Tsunami 26th December 2004

The Indian Ocean Earthquake which occurred on Boxing Day, December 26th 2004 led to a Tsunami in the region that claimed over 230,000 lives and displaced over one million people.

In the months that followed this event, AQUABOX was called on in a way that was unimaginable just a few weeks earlier.

This page just gives a snapshot of the activities as reported at that time.

300 Boxes despatched Tuesday 4/1/05 to Sri Lanka via World Wide International Aid
600 Boxes despatched Wednesday 5/1/05 to Sri Lanka via Methodist Missionary Society
640 Boxes despatched Thursday 6/1/05 to India via Blythewood Care
10 Aqua 30's to Tamil via Rotary District 1060
290 standards 10 - 30’s World Wide International Mission to Sri Lanka
600 standards Methodist Missionary Society to Sri Lanka
1 Aqua 30 via own transport to Thailand
10 Aqua 30’s to Maldives via District 1060
440 standards and 60 aqua 30 via Blythewood Care to India
260 standard and 60 aqua 30’s via CART to India
400 standard via Methodist Missionionary Society to Sri Lanka
60 Aqua 30’s via "JOY" to Sri Lanka
20 Aqua 30’s visa CART for India
600 standard and 60 aqua 30’s via FTC for Indonesia and Far East
1,200 standard plus 120 Aqua 30’s via FTC as needed. (2 containers)
360 standard plus 160 Aqua 30’s via BC Indonesia via Jakarta based Aid Agency
340 standard plus 60 Aqua 30’s via I/ILF Indonesia/Banda Aceh via N Sumatra based Aid Agency

The above include both standard AQUABOX and AQUA30

This letter received from Aid4Aceh

I just got back in Meulaboh after an amazing and interesting time in Nias. All aqua boxes, clothing and food have been distributed. It was a huge job but with the whole team, we did really well and everyone was so motivated.

After assessing the current situation in Nias, I decided to do distribution in the areas where hardly any NGO has been after the earthquake. Of course this area is extremely difficult to reach, most of the villages are only accessible by foot. But if that's the place where people need help the most, that's where we go.

It took quite a long time before the boxes finally arrived in Gunung Sitoli, all kind of problems we have experienced; broken ferries, bad weather for one week so the boat couldn't make it to Nias, floods, landslides etc etc. In this country you just can never tell and patience is the best thing. Finally on 20th of June our boats were coming in!!!

All staff (8 internationals and 15 locals) was exited and ready to work. After having all the trucks loaded the next day we took off to Gomo, which is high up in the mountains and has one really bad road. Gomo is a small village of around 500 people and in the week before we set up camp here with two big tents. The river was our shower and cooking was done by two local staff since they didn't trust our western cooking ideas.

Every day we were surrounded by 50 kids and we have played all games with them that you possibly imagine. Great fun and special moments, and guitar music 24/7 all around us. IIn the morning the young guys of the village, in the afternoon the older ones and at night the security guys were playing, singing and dancing. I discovered that Nias is such a special place with a special culture and so different than the rest of Indonesia.

With a convoy of 25 trucks we left Gunung Sitoli. Fantastic trip where we had to cross rivers, badly damaged bridges, mountain passes etc. Despite the earthquake and all the distruction, Nias is still a beautiful island with amazing jungle, ocean views etc. The big difference here is that all plantation hasn't been washed away by a tsunami, as in Aceh. Therefore it all still looks pretty and green.

Finally after 6 hours, we arrived in Gomo. Here we had arranged a huge warehouse which was owned by the local doctor and from where we could do the distribution. Many local people gave us a hand unloading the trucks and all the guys from IOM (logistical NGO) showed up as well to help us,great! Already we had the lists of benificiaries in place. Together with the different heads of villages around Gomo, I had made lists showing all the names of the families having total and severed damaged houses by the earthquake. The sad thing is that everyone living in that area is really poor and hardly has anything, their clothes are knotted together from little pieces of fabric. All the families in this area with total damaged houses have received an Aquabox. The clothing and food we have made into bundels we found 500 Indian saris!) and have divided it as equal as possible, every family mens, women, child and baby clothing plus some toys, schoolstuff etc.

We have done distribution for about one week in total. Some villages came to the warehouse an dthen together with the kepala desa, we would call every family one by one to let them sign the papers and let them pick up the boxes or the bundels with clothing. It is always a chaos since hundreds of people are waiting in front of the warehouse for days and days hoping to get their share. In total we have reached over 2000 families and I think that is an amazing result. Other villages were really far, about 18 km out of gomo and only accessible by foot, with the help of many many people, we organised a walking-distribution. Amazing to see but so intense hard to climb the mountains with a box. But seeing the smiles of the people is enough to make you walk even faster.

Anyway, it all turned out really well and we had an amzing experience. I have included some photo's with this email, unfortunately my digital camera broke while being there and so I have included photo's made by one of my collegues. I am waiting for many more photo's to come and as soon as I have them I will of course send them to you. Let me know if you need anything else from me, I could get you all the lists with beneficiaries as well if needed.

Kind regards,
Marion van der Reijden
AID4ACEH

Further photos available here.