Nurlela's Story

On that Sunday December 26th 2004, the whole family was at home. We were having a nice breakfast when in a sudden a heavy earthquake shook us. All of our food fell on the floor and scattered. We all ran out of the house immediately. All of us were shocked and terrified. I cried with my 18-year old son, E’en.

Then we heard the sound of thunder, heavy winds and storm, and many people were running in all directions; they were all screaming, “Run….!! Run..!!!” The water came up on the street…. It was a totally chaotic situation and everyone was panic stricken.

We were all stunned with disbelief about what we just heard and saw. Living in Lam Hasan Village, which is located in quite a high area and far from the sea, we wondered how was it possible for the water to come up to our village??

The street filled with more and more people. Children were crying. Adults were screaming and running. The sky above us suddenly became jet black. This was the first time in my life I saw anything like this. We decided to run along with the people, heading to a higher place. We brought nothing with us except the clothes on our body.

As we were running, we were hit by the big waves of the tsunami. The waves were huge and pitch black, as high as the palm trees. We were all getting rolled by the waves to the nearby mountain slope. It was then that I fainted. I was dirty and covered by mud. Some people helped drag me up to a safe place on the mountain. They gave me water and took care of my wounds.

After I regained consciousness, I asked about my son and my husband but no one knew where they were. I began to worry. I started looking for them. At around 5pm I found my son, E’en; I thanked God that he was still alive. We hugged each other and started to cry. That night, we slept on the mountain, right under the sky. It was a very cold night and the saddest moment in my life. We remain outdoors for the next few days.

The next morning about 6am, my son and I started to look for my husband. Without eating or drinking, we kept looking for him. We saw dead bodies scattered everywhere. We looked for him the whole day, but did not find him. I was getting more worried.

On the 3rd day of searching, we went to Lampenerut Village in Aceh Besar where we heard there was a refugee camp but when we did not find them, we decided to go to all the hospitals in the area. but he was not there either. So we decided to go back to the refugee camp in the Lampenerut, to sleep for the night.


On the way to the refugee camp, we stopped by the mosque. There, on the courtyard, I saw my husband, Ridwan; he was still alive and he was looking around among the people there for me and my son. We were really happy to see him alive. So we both screamed and called his name. He turned around and was shocked to see both me and my son, and he ran immediately towards us. We hugged each other with happy tears running down our cheeks. It was the happiest moment in our family life.

We stayed in the refugee camp in Lampenerut Village because our village was all in ruined. Only the mosque still stood firm. Our house was destroyed, only the floor was left. We stayed in the refugee camp for quite a long time. We received donations such as rice, instant noodles and other basic needs and clothes.

After 3 months in the refugee camp, the officer from our village asked us to go back to our village. So on the next day we went back. We all slept in the tents in front of the mosque of Lamhasan Village with all of our neighbors.

We received a donation in the form of a house 9 months later. They started to build our house but we needed to stay in a tent until the house was completed. As the days went by, we kept thinking about our lives and when we could go back to our home and start over again.

My family always prayed that we could soon get a job. My husband and I started to look for a job and inquired at the helping fund so that we could maybe start a small business. But we received nothing. When I almost gave up, I found this place which conducted free training to make embroidery bags, specialized to help Acehnese tsunami victims. So I attended the training and they hired me as one of the assembling staff. I’m so glad that my family now can have a better future and hope. Thanks to Laga Designs who gave me the opportunity to gain my life again with a new skill.