Ashadi, Persistently Calling for Disaster Alert

KOMPAS/MEGANDIKA WICAKSONO

Ashadi

The tsunami that hit the southern coast of Java on July 17, 2006 devastated the Pangandaran area in West Java, Cilacap in Central Java and around Yogyakarta. Many residents were injured and killed. That experience opened the eyes of the residents to the enormity of the disaster and encouraged Ashadi, 45, a young man from Widarapayung Wetan village, Cilacap, to persistently call for disaster alert as early as possible.

“After the tsunami, everyone was displaced and there were only soldiers. While the bodies of the tsunami victims were collected in the village hall. I and Pak Carik [the village secretary] stayed observing the bodies of the victims,” Ashadi said on Friday (1/25/2019) at his home in Widarapayung Wetan village, Cilacap.