Category: Tsunami Tragedy

These six photographs were taken in 1981. Dad had taken Cikgu Mustaffa Ismail on a round-island trip. He had taught the class I was in as a trainee teacher a couple of years back. I last heard he was teaching at SMK Aminuddin Baki in Chemor, Perak. That was many years ago. Among the stops we made was the idyllic fishing village of Pulau Betong where my cousin was staying with her family. Her husband is still a fisherman there. Pulau Betong was devastated when a tsunami slammed into it after the earthquake off Sumatra yesterday.

Cikgu Mustaffa and me at the wooden bridge across Sungai Pulau Betong.

Dad and Cikgu Mustaffa on one of the wooden jetties.

Cikgu Mustaffa and me on a wooden jetty.

Another shot at the jetty. Michael (extreme left) lost his boat when tsunami struck.

On one of the moored fishing boats in Sungai Pulau Betong.

Outside the house of my cousin’s in-laws which was inundated by 30cm of water yesterday.

I called my cousin in Pulau Betong to check if they were really all right. Yes, they are, thankfully. Her son had assured me yesterday that they were all safe. She related to me about a pregnant woman who drowned while she was bathing and got swept out to sea by the waves. The fish landing there where fishermen traded the catch of the day was completely ravaged and the area submerged under 1.5 meters of water at the peak of the disaster. Her house which was further inland was spared but her in-law?s house was flooded by 30cm of sea water that rushed in and overwhelmed the estuary (Kuala Pulau Betong) and overflowed the river banks (Sungai Pulau Betong). Both sides of Kuala Pulau Betong are swathed by mangrove swamps. A little further in, nipah palms and rickety wooden jetties dot the river where fishing boats are moored.

I shudder to imagine the tragic news that will emerge following
massive tsunamis that struck Penang and many other south Asian
countries yesterday. Please pray for those affected.