Remembering tsunami victims

JULY 17 slipped by quietly for many while a few this date will remain etched in their life forever.
This date, 20 years ago, was when the whole world turned to Papua New Guinea specifically to Aitape in West Sepik.
That day forward, life for villages Malol, Arop, Sisano and Warapu in the Sisano lagoon area changed.
More than 1600 people are known to have died, with some estimates as high as 2200; 1000 were seriously injured, and 10,000 survivors were displaced.
Reality struck, that the extent of the damage was beyond measure.
To see fellow students from the area break down in disbelief at the University of Papua New Guinea the next day, as humans, we joined in as well.
Disaster had struck a province in my country. That feeling of togetherness regardless of where one came from could be felt and seen as the nation went to swing with bringing whatever help they could to Aitape.
An abstract from paper – The Aitape 1998 Tsunami: Reconstructing the Event from Interviews and Field Mapping’ report gives a detailed account of what happened.
On the evening of July 17, 1998, on the Aitape Coast in West Sepik, a strongly felt earthquake was followed some 10–25 minutes later by a destructive tsunami.
The tsunami comprised three waves, each estimated to be about four metres high.
Reports say the second of the three waves rose to a height of 10–15 metres above sea level after it had crossed the shoreline and caused most damage.
In this sector the wavefronts moved from east to west along the coast; all structures were destroyed, and in the two main villages 20–40 per cent of the population was killed.
Many described hearing the sound of a jet plane and then the waves hit the shoreline with people running away from the approaching waves but almost all were caught.
A few escaped by climbing trees, or pushing their boats into the lagoon.
The research paper quoted an observer as saying people in the waves were vigorously tumbled and turned in water that was laden with sand and debris. They were stripped of their clothing, lost skin by sand abrasion, were battered by hard objects and some cut or impaled by timber and metal objects.
Those who were fortunate were carried into the lagoon and were able to cling to floating debris. An infant was deposited miraculously on the floating roof of a house. Those less fortunate were carried into swampland or into the mangroves that fringe the lagoon where some were impaled or were buried under piles of logs and debris. Some who had survived the initial impact were swept out to sea as the waters receded. Most had ingested water from the waves.
Rescue began that night, the survivors helping each other. The first outside help arrived 16 hours after the event on the Saturday morning, and a major rescue effort began a day later, 40 hours after the event.
Tsunamis are among the most devastating natural disasters on earth. Tsunamis decimate the economy and ecology of the areas they strike; they have inflicted untold damage upon coastal property, communities and habitats. Tsunamis and the earthquakes that generate them have immediate after-effects and long-term ramifications for the inundated areas.
Beyond immediate aid, the cost of reconstruction is a long-term burden.
We remember all those who were affected by the tsunami.
For the Aitape tsunami survivors who are still alive today, life will never be the same.
What they live with now is a lifetime tale that will be told to the many generations to come.