At 0038 UTC on 26th December 2004, a 9.2-9.3 Magnitude earthquake happened near the Northwestern shores of Sumatra close to Banda Aceh. This unleased a tsunami that hit the shores of Sumatra, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand and all the way across the Indian Ocean to the coast of Madagascar and Eastern Africa.

The damage caused was unprecedented and over 228,000 people were killed by the tsunami. It is hard to appreciate the power of life-giving water to also destroy, but it did.

The time the earthquake happened was 7:58 in Banda Aceh, 6am in India which means people were just about waking up and getting on with the day. Fishermen that were out on the oceans would not have noticed anything because they would be just riding the waves.

I am not sure what time I found out about the disaster – probably on the radio news. I was at home, on leave and with plans to do some home painting.

As the enormity of the disaster got clear, I sent an email to the then Singapore Civil Defence Force Commissioner, James Tan, asking whether there are plans by the SCDF to provide assistance. He replied saying that there is communications on-going with Jakarta, Bangkok, Colombo and New Delhi around possible assistance that the SCDF can offer.

He also wrote that responding to Banda Aceh is challenging because at that point in time, the Aceh province was out of bounds to all because of on-going separatists activities and the Tentera Negara Indonesia (TNI).

All of this changed on 27 December 2004 when the Indonesian government opened up the Aceh province to anyone who can lend support and humanitarian service.

Suffice to say, on 29th December 2004, as a reservist officer of the SCDF, I was notified that I’m being mobilized. I did not have full info until I arrived at the SCDF HQ in Kaki Bukit and by the evening of the 29th, we were on the ground in Aceh (albeit in Medan).

Water is essential for life and when water moves with that kind of power, it can also destroy.

To all those who perished (over 250,000 although we will never know the total) from Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India, our collective hearts go out to them and their families.

I salute the contingents of SCDF officers, men, women and rescue dogs for the dedication and professionalism in the face of unimaginable destruction.