January 14, 2005
a torn fragment
This cut down of a panoramic photo does not really work as a representation of the devastation of town of Badah Aceh.View it as a torn fragment.
Mike Bowers, Banda Aceh
But I have left it because it is a good visual expression of the lived experience of the disaster. It is all darkness and blurry detail with a touch of light in the distance. It has a touch of Goya about it.
The Indonesian military has fought a brutal, if low-level guerilla war, to crush the Achnese independence movement. The tsunami hasn't stopped hostilities.
Francisco de Goya, Bury Them and Be Silent, Disasters of War
Most believe that more than 14,000 Achnese have died since the war began in the 1970s.
Indonesia is anxious to stop foreigners getting as close to this secret conflict and to hide a civil war from the international press.