Disaster-ready schools pass quake test

BANDA ACEH: When the earth shook under their feet on Wednesday, students and staff at Jeumpa Puteh high school coolly continued with lessons, assuming it was just another tremor in Indonesia’s quake-prone Aceh province.

“But the shaking became stronger and stronger,” said 15-year-old student  Zikra Latasha of Wednesday’s 8.6 magnitude undersea quake off Sumatra.

“For five minutes, the trees swayed, the cars jerked back and forth and the  glass windows rattled. We knew this was a big one and that we must get out.”    They knew the drill by heart: that when an earthquake strikes they should  never panic, and concentrate on moving to an open area or higher ground.

From the compound, the school headmaster bellowed into a bullhorn, ordering  students to follow the red-and-blue arrows painted on the walls, guiding them  to an open field more than a half mile away.

Chanting “Subhanallah” (Glory to God), they grabbed their bags and trooped  out of their classrooms as they came to realise that a giant quake — the  biggest since the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that killed 170,000 in the province  alone — had just struck.

Wednesday’s quake was felt as far afield as Thailand while India,  Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Reunion Island, Sri Lanka and Myanmar also issued  alerts or evacuation orders.

It was followed by another powerful aftershock, triggering another Indian  Ocean-wide tsunami alert, but the threat eventually subsided and damage was  minimal.

“Nobody shoved and pushed — we did what we had learned during disaster  drills,” said Rumiana, a 52-year-old maths teacher who goes by one name.

“But the stress was too much to handle — students were crying, calling out  for their parents, clinging to my dress. A few students had difficulty  breathing and one even fainted,” she added.

Her colleague, chemistry teacher Zahratus Safara, 50, said they held hands  and huddled together to stay calm.

In the more than seven years since the 2004 tsunami, which devastated the  province, Indonesia has invested heavily in an early warning system,  quake-resistant buildings and disaster mitigation measures.

Jeumpa Puteh is one of the nearly 30 disaster-prepared schools in the  province that has undergone disaster management training under a program by  Aceh’s Tsunami Disaster Mitigation Research Centre (TDMRC).

School staff and students have received first aid lessons and regularly  conduct mock drills to test their disaster preparedness.

In the Blang Oi elementary school, where only six teachers and students  survived the “big tsunami” of 2004, staying safe is a simple exercise.

“If there’s a quake cover your head/ If there’s a quake go under the desk/  If there’s a quake avoid windows / If there’s a quake run to an open space”,  the 12-year-olds merrily sang during a recent quake-simulation drill.

When the alarm sounded, they covered their heads with books and schoolbags  and briskly walked out of their classrooms in single file.

After Wednesday’s quakes, in which five people died of heart attack and  shock, Acehnese expressed greater confidence in coping with such disasters than  they did eight years ago.

TDMRC coordinator Faisal Ilyas said Wednesday’s quakes proved to be a key  test of its disaster-preparedness programmes, especially in schools.

“The schools have passed with flying colours. Thousands of teachers and  students evacuated according to procedures,” he added.

“However, we must not be content and continue to expand our programme to  more schools. We must remember this is not the last earthquake,” Ilyas said.

Many in the deeply-religious province attribute their safety to divine  providence.

“I was afraid that the ground would crack open and swallow me up. I was  also afraid everyone would die and leave me on my own,” said Koni Armandani, a  15-year-old student.

“We can do all we can but at the end of the day, everything is God’s will.”  - AFP