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30 May 2006
QUAKE IN CENTRAL JAVA
The New Paper
By Shree Ann Mathavan
I am going to die
In Yogyakarta to pick songs for a new album, Anugerah 2005 runner-up Syed Azmir has the most harrowing experience of his life.
The walls began to crack.
THE floor under him shook.
Singapore's budding singer thought the worst.
'I thought I was going to die,' said Mr Syed Azmir Syed Azman, 21, last year's runner-up in Suria's talent show, Anugerah.
Mr Syed Azmir was speaking to The New Paper in an exclusive phone interview from Bandung, Indonesia, yesterday evening.
But the night before, he was in the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta, where a devastating earthquake, measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale, hit early on Saturday at about 6 am.
Over 4,500 have died so far and the toll is rising.
It was supposed to be a leisure-cum-work trip for Mr Syed Azmir.
But it turned out be his worst nightmare.
He had gone there on 15 May to work with his friends from the band Warna Warni, and to pick potential songs for his upcoming album.
He had wrapped up some live perfomances and was planning to take a break before recording his album in August.
But all that went out of the window.
When the earth rumbled, he and 11 other friends were in an apartment block near Malioboro in Yogyakarta.
FINISHED WORKING
They had finished their work just hours earlier, at about 3 am.
They chatted for a while, watched TV and ate some food.
By about 5.45am, with some of his friends already asleep, Mr Syed Azmir was getting ready to retire for the night.
Then, a persistent 'jig, jig, jig' sound shook him out of bed.
He told The New Paper: 'It was shaking so badly, everything was shaking, falling, the tables, the walls. I could actually see my whole apartment going left and right..
'The feeling was like when you bend down and turn yourself round and round 10 times, then try to walk. You simply can't walk properly.'
He added: 'I was praying a lot. Inside my mind, I was thinking, this is it. I am going to die.'
Somehow, he managed to brush panic aside and tried to get out.
He checked that all his friends were okay.
He then grabbed his passport and they rushed out from their two second floor apartment units.
Outside, it was complete chaos.
'Everybody was screaming, some had their shower caps on.
'I saw this ang moh guy whose head was bleeding. We didn't know what what was going on.
'We heard from some people that another quake could happen soon.'
As the quake stopped after what seemed like a few seconds, Mr Syed Azmir and his friends decided to return to their apartment to get their belongings.
While inside, he heard cries of 'Oh my God, oh my God, tsunami, run, run!'
Panic had gripped the streets.
He looked out to see people running out on to the main street.
He said: 'It was just like in the movie The Day After Tomorrow.'
Seized by fear, he and four of his friends ran along the road.
They saw a lorry stop, so they just climbed on to the back of it.
He recalled: 'When I was on the truck, I could see everybody running towards us. They were saying, 'Please help me.'
'Then, one of my friends almost fainted. I was telling her don't faint, just hold on.
'This was something that I will always remember.'
The truck dropped them some 10 minutes away from their apartment. Only then did they realise that the tsunami was just a rumour.
At about 9am, they walked back to the apartment where their other friends, whom they had
been earlier been separated from, were gathered.
CAMPED OUT
Although the group planned to drive out of Yogyakarta immediately, they were short of fuel and could not find a petrol station that was open.
Worse still, they had heard on the radio that another quake may happen at 10am.
They were afraid to return to their apartment for fear of another quake happening.
But as their belongings were still there, Mr Syed Azmir and his friends decided to camp out on the road in front of their apartment.
They did so for about six hours from 9 am in the morning till about 3pm.
Amid the chaos, Mr Syed Azmir managed to contact both his mother and sister to tell them that he was well.
He also asked them for pray for him.
At about 2pm, some of his friends volunteered to go into the apartment, to help get all their belongings out.
They threw their belongings out from the windows to the others who caught them from outside.
It was the fastest way of clearing out of the building.
Luckily for the group, the manager of the pub where his friends in the band perform, came by and offered to take them to his bungalow.
Mr Syed Azmir was thankful for the help, but even after settling down at the house, which appeared to be more stable, his mind was still racing.
'Even when I tried to close my eyes, I could still hear the sounds - 'jig, jig, jig', even though there was actually no sound.'
In the meantime, the group booked two vans to leave Yogyakarta and headed for Bandung, where most of the group were from.
The vans arrived at 6.15pm and after a long 12 hours on the road, they reached Bandung yesterday morning.
Mr Syed Azmir was able to stay with one of his friends.
It might have been a throughly harrowing experience, but he does not regret going to Indonesia.
As he puts it: 'What happens is God's will.
'Of course, we didn't want it to happen, but there was nothing we can do.
'I just thank God that me and my friends are safe.'
Surviving an earthquake was a sobering experience which he said has 'woken' him up.
He said: 'This is the closest I have come to death.
'In Singapore there's nothing like this. I'm just not ready to die and I tell myself to appreciate my life right now, not do anything stupid and never take life for granted.'
For now, he can't wait to return to Singapore.
He was due to return only on 11 Jun.
His original plan was to take a holiday in Bandung and do some shopping in Jakarta before returning.
'I have not bought my return ticket yet, but I plan to do so this week.'
