CIANJUR, WEST JAVA — “It started with fear. Let alone evacuation, just by hearing the word innalillahi already made me unable to sleep well,” Erika Widianti (23) explained.
Erika is a member of Dompet Dhuafa Volunteer (DDV) West Java. She is currently the only woman in the Search and Rescue (SAR) Disaster Management Center (DMC) team of Dompet Dhuafa in accelerating the handling of the earthquake in Cianjur.
“Since the first day, I’ve been the only woman in the evacuation team,” Erika explained.
This woman from Bandung has a husband who is also a member of a humanitarian institution in Indonesia. The mother is also a humanitarian volunteer engaged in the health sector.
Before becoming a member of SAR team, she was a volunteer who was also engaged in the health sector. Her job was picking up less fortunate patients to get proper medical services. The number of patients she picked up was already countless. So that makes her dare to be a part of SAR team.
“I’m used to taking care of dead bodies,” she continued.
She has been devoted herself in SAR actions for a year. So that, searching and rescuing activities such as lifting the rubble of the ruins, lifting body bags and others have been carried out.
Erika said the reason she was interested in joining was because of a sense of humanity. She tried to imagine if she was in the position of a victim who was in need for help. She felt directly the grief experienced by the victims.
“When I saw the victim of an accident and no one helped, I felt like helping. Even though the fear of seeing the victim remained, and it made me hard to sleep,” she added.
“It was quite imprinted in my memory when I evacuated a young child victim. Because it reminds me of my child and younger sibling at home: what if the victim is my child or sibling? So every time I see a dead body, I will feel lost even though the body is someone else’s,” she concluded.
In order to treat the longing, every time she starts the action, in the morning she will have a group video call with her family; informing each other’s conditions, encouraging each other and praying for each other. But once or twice on several occasions, she meets her husband at the location of the search for disaster victims. Like not long ago, she met her husband at one of the search points for earthquake victims in Cianjur.
“Even though we are in different locations, we pray for each other and we don’t meet each other. Once we could meet, it would be at the site,” she added.
Nevertheless, she still wishes the best for disaster survivors everywhere. She hopes that the families left will be given fortitude, and for the family who passed away, they passed away in the state of husnul khotimah, as well as the children do not experience prolonged trauma. During her time in humanitarian action, she was very grateful to be able to provide assistance and contributions to survivors and the humanitarian world.
“Alhamdulillah, we can be useful for our colleagues, our brothers and sisters in the country,” Erika concluded. (Dompet Dhuafa / DMC / Fajar)