Indonesian Survives His Second Tsunami
The Jakarta Globe, March 15, 2011
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Indonesian Zahrul Fuadi has twice survived tsunamis — once, in his hometown in Aceh in 2004 and then again in Sendai, Japan, last Friday.
The 39-year-old is among Indonesians evacuated from Sendai, one of the worst-hit areas affected by Friday's 4-meter tsunami.
“I feel as if my family and I are being chased by tsunamis from Aceh to Japan,” Zahrul said, as quoted by news portal Kompas.com.
When the tsunami wreaked havoc on Aceh on Dec. 26, 2004, Zahrul and has family were spared their lives.
“After the quake in 2004, we escaped on a motorbike as fast as possible and we made it,” he said, adding that his house in Simpang Mesra village, Banda Aceh, was destroyed in the disaster.
Zahrul, a professor of engineering at Syah Kuala University, and his family moved to Sendai the following year after he received a scholarship to complete a PhD at Tohoko University.
“I have lived here for six years and I had planned to return to Aceh, but as fate would have it, I endured another huge earthquake before coming home,” he said.
When the 8.9-magnitude earthquake struck off the northeastern coast of Japan, Zahrul was in the middle of a presentation at the Sendai campus.
“The tremor was so intense, everyone hid under their desks,” he said.
As the tremor continued for longer than two minutes, Zahrul knew the worst was yet to come.
“The tremor was very strong and similar to the earthquake in Aceh. I thought a tsunami was on the way,” he said.
He and his family were spared the second time because the campus is located 15 kilometers from the coast on high land.
Zahrul was staying at the Indonesian evacuation center in Tokyo and was scheduled to fly home to Indonesia on Tuesday.
“Despite what has happened, my family and I have so much to thank God for. We have survived two of the biggest natural disasters recorded in history,” he said.
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