This was the moment when the Tsunami struck the centre of Banda Aceh.
The man behind the camera risks his life to film the raging torrent, ten feet high, as
it sweeps past him. These pictures were broadcast on Indonesia's
Metro Television and then to millions around the world.
The cameraman was Hasyim, a wedding photographer by profession. He used Banda Aceh's Grand
Mosque as a vantage point and a refuge from the unfolding disaster which claimed 90,000
lives in this city.
"Sometimes I have bad dreams, 2 or 3 months after the tsunami, but now it is OK"
12 months on I met up again at the mosque with Hasyim and a friend of his who had also
been there when the tsunami struck.
From his picture we no know about what happened on that day
Its very important because maybe a lot of people died before they know about what happened,
but Hasyim can show everything about that. You know, a broken piece of home, a store,
ant then car, you know. It's amazing.
Hasyim took me to the place which has become the biggest memorial to Banda Aceh's tsunami
dead.
Many of the victims of that day ended up here, buried anonymously in a mass grave.
In this ground here?
Yes. All from there to....
There are nearly 47,000 bodies under this earth. In the face of such loss Hasyim has
found strength in his faith...
Hasyim has dark memories of the trucks dumping bodies here by the dozen.
Hasyim tells story of trucks I saw many many trucks here. After they are emptied, they
go to the city and they came back...
With more bodies?
With more bodies. Maybe one truck: twenty bodies.
Hashyim thinks seven relatives he lost could be among the bodies buried here, but he cant
be sure.
It was all very different a year ago when Hasyim went with his family to the beach in
Banda Aceh.
He filmed these happy scenes just a few days before the tsunami struck.
Now the beach is almost deserted. It has also moved
The rocks mark where beach used to be.
Most People are still too afraid to return to the beach
Hasyim wanted to show me where his own house was destroyed. A year his neighbourhood shows
little sign of recovery.
Hasyim was unable to make the journey here for months after the tsunami, such was the
chaos.
This was the house?
Yes this it
All that is left of his house is the floor - and the toilet.
Hasyim's neighbour Kostanoodi is one of the lucky few in this area. He's rebuilding his
house with a grant from the United Nations. Like so many others Hasyim is still waiting.
UN Habitat has yet to complete a single house in Banda Aceh.
Not many NGO come here. For Me and my family we have to start again its impossible now.
Even though the reconstruction has been painfully slow some people have managed to make a new
start. We went to visit a suburb of Banda Aceh where the British charity Oxfam has a
building programme, funded by donations from the UK. They are advertising their presence
with their difficult-to-miss bright green toilets.
There are some empty plots here where some families never returned.
After a number of logisitical delays, including scarcity of builing materials. this village
is now almost rebuilt.
But Hashim is curious to know why people in most areas of Banda Aceh families are still
homeless.
I think it's not that everyone won't get a house, I just think that the process has been
that bit slower than it might have been. And also I think maybe we needed to be better
at talking to people, talking to communities, and telling them why there has been delays.
Because if I say to you, Hasyim, we are sorry that your house has been delayed, all our
wood is stuck at a port in Medan maybe you would forgive us for being slow.
Its been very slow. Many people needs a house...
And It's because the rebuilding programme has been so slow that a year on, Hasyim and
ten of his extended family are still crammed into his brother's house....
But he's come to accept his situation because he believes the tsunami was a message from
God
God gave a chance to open up the eyes of all the people so they can see his power, like
in my picture. And all people have to believe in God now.
Hasyim considers that compared to some his family are fortunate. At least they are still
together.