So this week I went to Banda Aceh for a work trip on Monday. It was a very moving experience to say the least. Banda Aceh was one of the major sites of the 2004 Tsunami.; approximately 160,000 people died in the Banda Aceh region of Indonesia. It was a very touching experience; we met with some local people and got to see how all of the NGO's were making a difference in Banda Aceh after the Tsunami. It was pretty amazing to see how much has been rebuilt when the entire city was destroyed by the Tsunami. It was a very busy and happening city for the most part now, our driver took us around to see some of the sites and explain how things looked before the Tsunami hit. He explained that the boat below was about 3 miles offshore and now sits in the middle of town (this thing was huge as you can maybe tell from the picture.)
He also described how the ocean used to be about 2 miles further out to sea (picture below) and that the area below where the ocean has raised to used to contain an entire fishing village.
He also told us about how everyone in his family died in the Tsunami and he was the only surviver; I was shocked by how calm and collected he was with sharing this information (all in Bhasa mind you but Rhona translated for me). It was incredibly sad and made me realize just how lucky I am to have the life I do and to have so many special people in my life. Sorry to get so sappy but it was a truly emotional day.
The mosque above was also the only standing building within many miles; as he put it everyone's houses were destroyed but Gods house (this was the case in a couple of other areas as well).
This boat above was parked at the fishing terminal and managed to land on some houses about 5-8 miles from the shoreline. I just wanted to share with everyone some of the experience that I had in Aceh; hopefully it gives you some sense of the gravity of things although I'm not sure the pictures can really describe the feeling that I got when I was there.
So this week I went to Banda Aceh for a work trip on Monday. It was a very moving experience to say the least. Banda Aceh was one of the major sites of the 2004 Tsunami.; approximately 160,000 people died in the Banda Aceh region of Indonesia. It was a very touching experience; we met with some local people and got to see how all of the NGO's were making a difference in Banda Aceh after the Tsunami. It was pretty amazing to see how much has been rebuilt when the entire city was destroyed by the Tsunami. It was a very busy and happening city for the most part now, our driver took us around to see some of the sites and explain how things looked before the Tsunami hit. He explained that the boat below was about 3 miles offshore and now sits in the middle of town (this thing was huge as you can maybe tell from the picture.) 
He also described how the ocean used to be about 2 miles further out to sea (picture below) and that the area below where the ocean has raised to used to contain an entire fishing village. 
He also told us about how everyone in his family died in the Tsunami and he was the only surviver; I was shocked by how calm and collected he was with sharing this information (all in Bhasa mind you but Rhona translated for me). It was incredibly sad and made me realize just how lucky I am to have the life I do and to have so many special people in my life. Sorry to get so sappy but it was a truly emotional day. 
The mosque above was also the only standing building within many miles; as he put it everyone's houses were destroyed but Gods house (this was the case in a couple of other areas as well).
This boat above was parked at the fishing terminal and managed to land on some houses about 5-8 miles from the shoreline. I just wanted to share with everyone some of the experience that I had in Aceh; hopefully it gives you some sense of the gravity of things although I'm not sure the pictures can really describe the feeling that I got when I was there.
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