Oct 29, 2009
Young girl plans on surviving life alone after quake in Malaysia.
Indonesia recently went through various earthquakes that took lots of lives. A particular village Malalak was totally destroyed and is now a mass grave.
Septiani, 18, was at her boarding school when it all happened. She learned from the news that her village was damaged and tried frantically to get in touch with her family over the phone. No one had the heart to tell her her family was dead.
When she arrived at the site where her home once stood in Malalak, there were no younger brothers and sister running out to greet her. All that was left in place of her home was dirt.
She was left orphaned, alone. Her young face reflects the intense sorrow she is still getting used to.
“Shock, it was just pure shock,” she says. Her eyes are dry, but her face is twisted with emotions. “I just want to find my family. My mother, she loved me so much.”
More than 30 villagers — young and old — lost their lives in Malalak. Right after the earthquake, the side of the mountain exploded and came barreling down, swallowing everything in its path. There used to be a mosque with a volleyball court out front. Nearly a dozen children were playing there when the landslide came, and they were all swept away.
At least 608 people were killed in Indonesia following two devastating earthquakes last week. Hundreds are still missing and authorities fear the death toll will climb as more bodies are found in the rubble.
We made the journey to Malalak with a small aid convoy, an initiative by Romeo Rissal Pandjialam, the regional director for Bank of Indonesia. Along the winding mountain roads we could see the devastation. Smaller landslides narrowed the road with debris, crushed homes lined the route.
In Septiani’s words,”I told myself this is God’s way of testing me. I have to be strong, I have to finish school,” Septiani swears. Her breath is labored and her voice soft as she fights her emotions and the overwhelming pain of losing her family and their love but she is determined to overcome her loss and move on with life and become someone her parents will be proud of.