December 26, on the fourth day after the tsunami of Indonesia, the bodies of victims near Tanjung Lesung Beach Resort in Java have been cleaned up. However, the traces of people gathering here that day are still clearly visible.
▲The resort's swimming pool has become a mess Photo from: AFP
On the night of the tsunami, it was on this beach that one of the most popular pop bands in Indonesia, "Seventeen", was playing music for fans. And now, only the curved metal table and the already broken seats are left here.
According to multiple foreign media reports, the bassist, guitarist and drummer of the "Seventeen" band, together with a touring agent, all died in the tsunami, and only the band's lead singer Riefian Fajarsyah survived. What made him even more sad was that at the time of the incident, his wife was also sitting in the audience and was unfortunately swept away in the tsunami.
band lead singer posted a couple photos in succession. The last photo turned black and white
Indonesia's "Seventeen" band has four members, including the lead singer, bass , guitarist and drummer, and there is also an economical person responsible for the tour. In this tsunami, only the lead singer Fayasha survived.
▲The band performance scene on the evening of the 22nd Picture from: Screenshot of live video
When the incident happened, Fariasha's wife Dilan was sitting in the audience, and she lost trace at the moment the tsunami struck. Two days after that, Fayasha kept posting photos of herself and her wife on social media ins, praying that a miracle would happen.
Fayasha recalled that she and her wife got married in 2006, and Dylan always loved taking photos. "She can take more than 20 photos of the same photo. Whether it is a selfie or a photo of two people, she would ask me to take photos. Sometimes it is simply 'coercion and temptation'."
's style once madeFayasha a little "out of the head". Because of her husband's complaints, Dilan once posted a piece of his helpless expression, and the photo was also posted by Fayasha. He said: "At that time, Dilan posted this photo on her own Ins, and I was a little unhappy, but now it seems that these have all become memories of special moments in my life."
Now, he only hopes that such a group photo can be more, more. He also begged all his fans and friends to send him all the photos of his wife or the two that he had taken before.
▲Fayasha took a photo with her wife Photo from: Social media
However, Fayasha's call ultimately failed to hope for a miracle to happen. On December 24, the last photo posted by Fayasha on Ins turned black and white - his wife was finally confirmed to die in the tsunami.
25, on the way to his wife's funeral, 35-year-old Fayasha uploaded a bitter video: in the picture, he gently caressed his wife's coffin. "I can't imagine how I could continue my life without you. Please pray for my wife so that she can rest in peace," Fayasha wrote.
According to local media, Dilan is an actor and his father is an Indonesian politician. She was also one of dozens of people washed away at the time during the beach performance of the Java "Seventeen-year-old" band on the 22nd.
According to the most widely circulated video afterwards, just a few seconds before big wave rushed onto the stage, fans were still applauding and cheering in the audience, and the big waves rushed in an instant, shattering the entire concert scene.
Search and rescue are still continuing. Two false tsunami warnings triggered residents to escape
At present, the survivors' search and rescue mission is still continuing on the beach where the incident occurred. But the police told reporters that if there are indeed survivors, unless a miracle happens.
▲A soldier is searching for survivors in the ruins Photo from: AFP
"At that time, there were men, women and babies at the scene," the resort director kto Wijoyo told the Guardian, recalling that he helped move the bodies scattered in the resort at dawn the next day after the incident. He said a total of 106 people died near the hotel.
Indonesian authorities confirmed on the 25th that the disaster had killed a total of 429 people on the other side of the Sunda Strait, and the death toll is still likely to rise further.
The tsunami destroyed hundreds of houses and more than 16,000 people were identified as displaced. In addition to death and homelessness, the fear and shadow of the tsunami are still lingering in the hearts of local residents.
Kusnadi, 56, is one of them. "(At the time of the incident) I didn't see the waves. I just heard a huge 'wow' sound. It was very suddenly, without any warning, and then I fell down. My house was washed away, people started running wildly, and the waves were chasing me behind me," Kusnadi recalled.
▲ Local residents in the temporary shelter Picture from: Getty Image
"I was just escaping my life. The next morning, when I returned to my residence, I saw two bodies beside the beach. Their bodies were swollen like a stool of sea water, and their fishing bags were still hanging on them... I am afraid to see the sea now, and even when it is calm, I feel scared, and I don't even dare to go back to the house by the beach," Kusnadi said.
According to the Guardian, such panic makes survivors look like frightened birds. Residents in many communities appear quite nervous as local authorities warn that there may be further potentially dangerous waves.
On December 25, there were rumors that another tsunami was about to hit and hundreds of panicked residents tried to escape from the village of Sumber Jaya. At that time, sea levels were indeed rising, and people were desperately reaching higher terrain, and police and rescue workers were also helping people escape at the beginning.
But soon, the local authorities revealed the truth through the speakers: the rise in water levels is just a normal tide. A few hours later, a similar situation occurred in Tanjung Lesung, another tsunami-hit area.
Life is still going on. I am preparing to reopen my business and change my new car.
▲A doll is left on the ruins. Picture from: "Guardian"
Although shrouded in panic, most locals are still eager to return to a place closer to home.
Early in the morning of the 25th, 50-year-old Lampung Omo picked up piles of wood chips on the side of the road - the wreckage of a food stall run by her sister.
Lampung Omo said: "The food stall is her (sister)'s only income, and I'm very worried about her livelihood now. Although I still have fears about the tsunami, we should still get this food stall back in the future."
On the other side, 40-year-old Bahrudin is still looking for a glimmer of hope brought by the disaster - his off-road vehicle was rushed into a flooded field by the tsunami.
Because I bought insurance for the car, Baruddin can drive a new car again. But when he recalled the moment the waves hit, his smile still disappeared. When the tsunami came, he and his friends were walking along the coast, and he was instantly knocked down by huge waves.
"I saw the waves higher than the wall," he said, "I tried to escape, but it was too late. The waves swallowed me instantly, I lost consciousness, and then woke up about 200 meters away - right there, in that rice field. I just ran home, and luckily I found that my family survived."
Baruddin said that despite his scars, he still felt lucky. "It is a great luck to just survive. So many people have died."
Red Star News reporter丨Zhai Jiaqi translated from The Guardian, Australian News Network
Editor丨Zhang Xun
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