A Ship Pushed 3KM Inland By Tsunami

It's called Power Ship (or powership) in many countries, but in the Philippines we call it a Power Barge (or powerbarge). They all have one and the same function, ships that are themselves at the same time power plants, producing a lot of electric power usually to augment the electricity supply to/at a place.

We have many of those all around the country maintained by our National Power Corporation.

Anyway, this power ship in Banda Aceh is named PLTD Apung 1 (basahin mabuti ang abbreviation, 'di yan yung telco sa atin)! It was anchored in the Ulee Lheue Port area since July 2003 to support power needs of Banda Aceh City and Aceh Province, during their Indonesia-wide power crisis of that period.

This ship weighs around 2,600 tons - for comparison purposes, one car (kotse) is about 1.5 tons only. So, it was/is as heavy as 1,733 cars! It's 63 meters long and 19 meters wide. Malaki sya at puro bakal. The port is around 3kms from where the ship now sits. So ganun sya kalayo itinulak ng tsunami wave.

How far is 3 kilometers? Well, imagine the ship was at SM By the Bay sa MOA, itulak mo ang barko na yan hanggang Malibay, doon sa me Victory Liner. Ganoon kalayo. Hagip nya lahat ng bahay at building along the way. What kind of wave can do that? 9 meters daw ang taas ng rumaragasang alon na iyon.

Aw taga Cebu ka? Imagine naa ang barko sa tubig sa Carbon Market. How do you push that big a ship to the Capitol Building via Fuente nga wa may dagat dinha? Aw, ipa-tulod ipa-duso lang sa 9 meter tall nga tsunami. Sakto, anha gayud ka m'dunggo sa opisina ni Inday Gwen! Na! Mao na ang 3 kilometers!

When the tsunami water subsided, it became an even bigger problem for them. That barge crushed all houses and buildings on its path, alright. But how do you return it back to the port, 3 kilometers away?

Kahit tiktikin mo, ipa-acetylene, karnehin.., mahirap at magastos. Kaya eto, ginawa na nilang musum.

The time displayed on their monuments, 7:55AM in this case, are the times the wave struck the area.

A view from the entrance gate - port side of the ship...

This is front (bow) and starboard side of the barge. Note there is still the standing ruins of a house.

Some residences and business establishments were asked not to rebuild in this place (but transferred to a relocation site). They converted the surrounding area into a park, with parking spaces for tourists.

On board the ship, you can enter the various cabins, engine and electric plant areas..

Those spaces were converted into the museum display areas - except for one of the crew quarters.

From atop the ship looking southeast. Everything is new circa 2005/20066, since all was wiped out.

Looking east northeast. One can see the sea out on the horizon where this ship came from...

Ah, this is back and starboard of the ship, viewed from one of the little stores on the side of the park.

Of course "anopangaba", my favorites when in Indonesia - Coke, Keropok and Cigarettes while resting!

Trivia:
Museum information says there were 11 crew members aboard the ship when the tsunami happened. Ten died, only one survived. Where was he? What was he doing? How did he survive? He was asleep!

Lesson learned:
Dear Nanay, me napapala rin ang batugan oi! Kaya 'wag kang ano... 7:55AM pa lang eh. Don't me! 😁