Ilham Zakirman (left) sits with her family in makeshift shelter
By Conor O’Loughlin, Trocaire (Caritas Ireland)
This time last week, Ilham Zakirman was in school like any normal eight year old. Today he is begging on the road outside the ruins of his home.
The quake struck just after 5pm and, after a day at school, Ilham was out in the fields with his father cutting grass. When the tremors subsided they ran to where their homes stood in the village of Sungai Sarik. Instead of their house, all they saw was rubble.
“I was so scared when the earthquake struck,” he said, perched on a wobbly block of rubble that used to form the wall of his house. “My mother was standing by the roadside crying. My sister was crying out Ibaiba! Ibaiba! (Parents! Parents!). Everyone was crying.” He looked bashful as I asked him to tell me more. He eventually admitted: “Even I was crying.”
The whole family dashed to their grandfather’s house, down the road and near the field where the children played football. “We saw all the houses collapsed and everybody was screaming in shock,” he said.
His mother Javiar still seems traumatised, listessly holding her youngest daughter to her breast as she speaks.
“I was having a bath when it happened. I jumped out and ran outside after quickly covering myself. For a while I couldn’t breathe, I was so worried. I almost fainted with fear. The air was full of dust and all I could sense was screaming. Nothing but screaming, all around me.
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By Tim O’Connor, Caritas Australia Communications Officer in Padang
