I just found out another definition of happiness: is to know your friends, who experienced natural disaster, are alright. Alhamdulillah. Praise Allah..

After a long hours of worrying about their whereabouts, tried to contact them personally–to no avail, pray for them until we fell asleep.. Then yesterday, one by one, they “appeared”. Received our calls. Updated their status on facebook. The “Last Seen” in their whatsapp changed–no longer “Last seen Friday at 17.03” (western Indonesia time, the moment when 7.7 scale quake hit Donggala, interrupted telecommunication network)

As you might be aware, there are earthquake, tsunami, and mud flood happened in one of Indonesia’s large islands last Friday, Sept 28, 2018. It’s in Sulawesi (Celebes). Central Sulawesi (Sulawesi Tengah, or in short we call it: Sulteng) to be precise. Three cities (big and small) of Palu, Donggala, and Sigi, were hit by the quakes; plus, one of the suffered tsunami, and the other one suffered mud flood.

City of Palu suffered 7 meters of tsunami after a quake hit 7.7 Richter Scale. Not less than 100 people, mostly are those who were enjoying their time in the beach after work, swept by the tsunami. I saw a video footage by a ship crew docking nearby the shore of Palu when the tsunami just occured. He videoed and watch the beach in horror. He feared for his life and his other fellow ship crews. He even said, he just saw a lady on the beach, swept by the wave and pulled back to the sea, and he can’t see her anymore. May Allah reward her, and those who deceased by this catastrophe, with jannah. Aamiin..

There are also pictures sent by my colleagues who survived the big quake. One of them, a lady, told me her story. Her house destroyed and almost flat with the ground. Mud spewed out from the cracked earth and flooded the area. Almost ENTIRE village (of Petobo) swallowed by the earth, either “sunk down”, or “drowned” in the mud flood. See all these chills me down my spine, really. I can’t imagine the horror of those who survived, to see their family, mother, father, children, sister, brother, friends–lives just perished in a matter of seconds. Allahuakbar!

My surviving friend and her children had to flee themselves and went back to her family’s house in Ujung Pandang (Makassar), South Sulawesi. Afterward, she told me her story when the quake happened. Ground shook violently. Everything around her jumped up and crash, upside down, as if gravity changed from 0 to normal in a split second. The only thing in her mind is her two young children. She just ran as fast as she can to her house. She was injured in the leg, but she ignored pain. All she thinks about is her kids. Once she found them, she (and her husband) went directly to the nearest airport. She tried to contact other family, but the telecommunication network failed them. The nearest telecom towers must be collapsed too at that time.

There are more than 200 times after-quakes occured around Central Sulawesi, more than 20 of them are above 5.4 Richter Scale. The telecom network in Central Sulawesi, especially in Palu, Donggala, and Sigi, recovered.

One by one, my friends reached us. Gave us information that they’re okay. Alhamdulillah…

It’s just that they lost their homes and even family members. Innalillahi wa innailaihi roji’uun. Allahumaghfirlahum warhahum wa’afihim wa’fu’anhum. Allahuma la tahrimna ajrohum wa laa taftinna ba’dahum waghfirlana wallahum. Aamiin Allahumma aamiin..

They now are living in tents, between the debris, plus rainstorm almost daily. May Allah help them..

Sadly, the helps–logistic, food, clothes from another cities–couldn’t reach them. Because the transportation who carried the goods are being looted by panic people. It is still chaotic there until now. My surviving friends said they can manage. It’s just that, the hardest task is to fulfill clean water needs. 😔

Today, Tuesday (Oct 2) is Day 5 post earthquake, tsunami, and mud flood. Death toll is more than 832 people. The number is rising because SAR team still gathering the data, and there are also information about 1 or 2 villages which are completely sunk flat into the earth. At least 500 more people are drown in the mud flood, and who knows how many more, swept into the sea.

Honestly speaking, I think we are witnessing little qiyamat here. Everything Allah written about qiyamat in the Qur’an, we find its glimpse in Central Sulawesi disaster. Subhanallah.

Please pray for people in Palu, Donggala, and Sigi, Central Sulawesi. Also for people in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, who also suffered the series of big earthquake two months earlier. The earth crust in Sulawesi and Nusa Tenggara islands are still moving until today. Earthquake small and big still happens in these two islands. Some said, the tremors effect will also hit Java–the island I live in.

May Allah protect, guide, and forgive us all.