19 November 2010By Al-Ikhwah Al-Mujahidun
Indonesia - That
morning, at around 10.00 hr local time, the sky over
Sikakap looked gloomy. Outside the house, the soil was
still muddy. The trees and grass were still wet after
being washed down by the heavy rain throughout the
night. Soon, it looked like heavy rain would fall
again. Yeah, washing off the grief from the Land of
Sikerei.
Outside, the stench of corpses perforated. Unpleasant
aromas dispersed, blown by the wind. Indeed, until
Friday (29/10), the corpses are still lying on the
roadside. My mind immediately thought of the hundreds
of the residents of South Pagai holding out in the
hills, in a difficult thunderstorm condition. Besides
suppressing hunger in the coldness of the night, they
also have to fight the disease that was now attacking.
It was apparently true. Heavy rains flushed Sikakap.
Not just the rain, but also the storm. In the main
post, journalists and volunteers had assembled. As
usual, every morning we were ready to comb out the
remote villages which had not been touched by the
aids. That morning, the team of volunteers and
journalists wanted to go to Pasa Puat village in North
Pagai. All the houses in the village were destroyed.
Lucky, no one died.
We used a
wooden boat or long boat for the trip. The vessel was
able to load 12 passengers and a few logistics for the
evacuees. After a few minutes sailing, we were
obstructed by two-meter high waves. Thus, we halted
the sailing. After waiting for one hour, the boat
which was captained by Dayat continued the two hour
journey. All along the way, the boat almost sank
because it was filled with water. We reached the
destination at about 17.00 hr local time.
From the coast, Pasa Puat village looked quiet. There
was no slightest sign visible indicating that it is a
village. The residential are was flattened to the
ground. Not even a house of the villagers was
standing. All were horizontal. Yet, there is one
building still standing firmly facing the beach. Yes,
it is a masjid. The caretaker of the
masjid also survived. His name is Zulfikar.
The day was
moving toward dusk. The rain had not let up. Zulfikar
looked prepared to perform the Maghrib prayer. In our
conversation, this 40 year old chap claimed to have
been living in the village since his childhood. Almost
equivalent to the age of that masjid, which
was built sometimes in the 1960's. "This is the
oldest masjid in our village. The original design of
the masjid is not there anymore, as it kept on being
renovated," Zulfikar said.
Zulfikar narrated, this masjid was not
touched by the tsunamis at all on that night. Whereas,
its location is not far from the beach. While the
houses of the villagers in the vicinity of the
masjid were all razed to the ground. It was this
masjid that became a place for shelter for
the community when the big waves came.
Like a miracle, the sea water only reached as far as
the terrace of the masjid. Outside the
masjid, Zulfikar witnessed with his own eyes the
waves of the tsunami which reached a height of eight
meters. "There were about 50 people in the masjid,
while the rest of the residents had fled to the hills
which are one kilometer away from the masjid. Seeing
the masjid untouched by the raging waves, we were
amazed. After that we realized that this was God's
will," this bearded man said.
Zulfikar and the 50 other residents could not stop
uttering words expressing the greatness of Allah.
Outside the masjid, the tsunami kept crashing
in as many as three waves. No one expected, the
tsunami avoided the masjid. "The sea
water seemed to split at the mosque, that even the
floor of the masjid did not get wet at all," he
said.
"The Power
of Allah", only that could be said when a masjid
in Pasa Puat village, North Pagai Island, here, is
stil standing. Even though the houses in the
surrounding areas were destroyed after being struck by
tsunamis.
The
masjid was not touched by the water, as if the
water was avoiding it as soon as it came to the fence
of the masjid. The water instead went by on
the left and right side of the masjid.
Waves as
high as coconut trees during the tsunami also
destroyed the residential area as far as 100 meters
from the beach, but did not take away the life of any
of the 321 villagers who inhabited the village.
©
EsinIslam.Com
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