Tsunami

Australian seafarer rides wave of death

Australian seafarer, Owen Steffan, 45, was surfing about 400 metres off a beach in Sri Lanka on Boxing Day morning December 26, when the tsunami hit. He rode in on the first surge.

"The first I knew there was a roaring sound on the shore. I looked back. The trees were bent over. I thought it was wind. Then I realised it was the ocean."

Another surfer called out. The reef jutting out of the ocean where the surf was building had disappeared. The sea had risen and turned murky.

As adrenalin started pumping through his body, Owen recalled the tremor that shook his hotel bed that morning.

He frantically started paddling to catch the surge. .

"As I was swept into shore I was looking down onto the rooftops of buildings below. They were just exploding," he said. "Then the sea churned as it hit ground. I got caught up in it. Instinct kicked in. I grabbed onto my board. The water dropped. Thousands of fish were jumping in the air around me."

Owen was carried past the buildings and debris in the swirling water until his board got trapped in a pandanus tree and the leg rope pulled him under.

"I thought this was it," he said. "I was struggling to get free and running out of breath.

"Then the rope broke and I came up," he said. "The noise was incredible. The water was crashing through the brick houses smashing walls. I swam with it and was swept along the streets until I grabbed hold of another tree."

The water receded briefly before a second and third wave smashed the shore. Each time Owen managed to scramble to safety.

Then it was over.

"The water was still about a metre deep," he said. "I made my way back to my hotel. Trucks and buses had been swept off the roads. People would put their hand up and I'd help when I could."

The hotel was on high ground. Owen got his passport, tickets, some cash and a change of clothes. He went up to the temple where the survivors were seeking refuge. That afternoon when he returned, they were already wrapping the bodies in the streets.

Owen got a lift to the Sri Lankan capital Colombo and stayed a week helping at the Australian Embassy.

"People were in shock," he said. "I did whatever I could to help -- what any person would do in that situation. But I just can't get my head around the generosity of the people there. They had nothing; their lives were decimated but in the streets they were offering tourists rice and curry. They still wanted to help us, when it's us who need to be helping them. Apheda is the best bet. We should do whatever we can."

Scientists now estimate the tsunami which devastated 11 countries in Asia, killing at least 250,000 people, peaked at 30 metres -- the height of a 10 storey building, and speeds of 13.7 metres a second.

Tsunami Fund

The Maritime Union of Australia set up a special fund for tsunami victims in Aceh and Sri Lanka immediately after the tragedy.

In a circular to branches MUA National Secretary Paddy Crumlin said MUA members needed to demonstrate solidarity with the tsunami victims.

The "MUA Tsunami Support Fund" is co-ordinated by National Training Officer Eddie Seymour and operates through the Maritime Workers' Credit Union so that members can channel money where it is most needed.

All funds raised are donated directly to families in the worst affected areas through the ACTU overseas aid arm, Union Aid Abroad (Apheda).

"Comrades, the catastrophic effects of the Boxing Day tsunami are yet to be fully realised around the world," said Paddy Crumlin. "The death toll continues to grow across many countries and aid experts are warning of cholera outbreaks. When the situation finally stabilizes, thousands of workers and their families will be without any means of providing for their themselves or their communities. Towns and coastal cities will need to be completely rebuilt while workers are faced with enormous challenges just to survive."

The National Secretary called on all branches and delegates to inform members, ships and workplaces of the union fund.

"Our union has a long and proud history of helping people in crisis, particularly workers and the disadvantaged," he said.

The response was immediate with MUA members donating $250,000 over the coming weeks -- in cash and in kind.

This is not counting donations members made to aid agencies in the first two weeks after the tragedy, or those donations that have gone directly to Apheda.

Port Botany, P&O wharfies signed up for a record $24,000 in payroll deductions, according to the pay office -- the biggest single donation from an MUA workplace.

In Victoria wharfies at P&O also signed up for payroll deductions of $2,000 over three weeks.

At Patrick Melbourne, delegate Paul Harkins reports that management would not agree to payroll deductions so he and another six delegates collected around $9,000 from members.

Patrick yard foreman Graeme 'Havachat' Bailey assisted in raising $170,000 in goods to ship to Sri Lanka.

More than a hundred members made individual donations of $100, with at least one member donating $1,000 in savings.

Strategic Cooperation

Meanwhile, a specially convened ACTU meeting and media conference in Sydney in January also considered strategic co-operation between unions and business to aid the long-term reconstruction of the tsunami-affected countries. The meeting decided the Australian union effort would be co-ordinated with international trade union organisations.

The Maritime Union contacted both the Indonesian Seafaring Union and The International Transport Workers' Federation asking for urgent information on what could be done to help workers in Aceh.

The ITF/Tokyo and its Indonesian affiliate KPI (Seafarers Union of Indonesia) sent a delegation to Aceh which confirmed that port workers were among the worst affected by the Tsunami.

The ITF reported 11 local ports suffered heavy damages, two vessels capsized and an electric power plant tug, which was supplementing the city's electricity supply before the Tsunami, was carried into Banda Aceh by the tidal wave and dumped three kilometres inland. Of the 16 crew members, 10 were killed. Many fishing boats carried by the wave remain in the town's streets.

On January 11 the ITF and other sector based Global Union Federations (GUFs) together with the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions representing national trade union bodies, agreed at their annual meeting to establish a global initiative to provide funding for sustainable rehabilitation and reconstruction. ACTU President Sharan Burrows was recently elected ICFTU president (see last MWJ).

The MUA and the ACTU are part of this initiative.

National Secretary Paddy Crumlin stressed the importance of donations going through union and community organisations as reports of the Indonesian army continuing attacks on villages, rather than distributing food and aid, continue.

Aid Projects

Through Union Aid Abroad - Apheda, Australian unionists have donated over three quarters of a million dollars.

Apheda is currently co-ordinating tsunami relief efforts in Sri Lanka and Aceh. Working through local trade unions and community groups, assistance is being given in food, water and medicine distribution, the establishment of health clinics, cleaning community wells and the running of camps for internally displaced people.

With the emergency relief phase of the disaster slowly ending, the ACTU aid agency is committed to supporting long-term reconstruction projects.

In the words of ACTU president Sharan Burrow : "Houses and general public infrastructure will need to be rebuilt, jobs and livelihoods re-established as well as the rebuilding of communities and civil society structures. It could take years to restore some regions devastated by the tsunami. This is why long term plans need to be put in place."

How to Donate:

Visit the Maritime Workers' Credit Union http://www.maritimecu.com.au/ and request to donate to the MUA Tsunami Support Fund. A receipt will be issued on the spot.

Ring 1800 888 674 (free call) or (02) 9264 9343 between 8:00 am and 6:00 pm. Ring 0409.047.353 any time, day or night, seven days a week.

Visit the Union Aid Abroad - Apheda website on http://www.apheda.org.au/

(Any donations over $2 to Apheda are tax deductible)