20 Years of the Aceh Tsunami: Remembering Resilience, Continuing Preparedness
The Sunda Strait megathrust has become a prominent topic of discussion in 2024. As the risk of a megathrust disaster becomes a public concern, the 2004 Aceh earthquake and tsunami has inevitably entered the conversation. Several Indonesian news outlets have reported that the impact of this megathrust could be comparable to what Aceh experienced 20 years ago.
Acehnese people have received information about the Sunda Strait megathrust with worry and resignation. The magnitude of the impact and the deep sense of loss caused by the tsunami still linger in the minds of the Acehnese people. Now, when everything has recovered, the megathrust has become a source of concern that what happened before could happen again. However, the experience of witnessing the Aceh tsunami has also made them realize that humans must learn from history while still surrendering to the Almighty.
Indonesia is the second-highest risk country for disasters in the world, according to the 2023 World Risk Report. The presentation of this data often triggers panic more than preparedness. However, we must realise and accept that the risk of disasters like megathrusts will never disappear and cannot be predicted. Facing this risk with panic is not the right choice.
The experience of the Aceh tsunami, when disaster preparedness was still foreign, should be a reflection for the Indonesian people to prioritise stronger measures in facing the reality that we indeed live in a disaster-prone area. A disaster as large as the Aceh tsunami has triggered more concrete follow-up actions for better disaster management and higher public preparedness. Now, 20 years after the event, with the learning and awareness that the megathrust remains a disaster risk in Indonesia, the Indonesian people and government should be increasingly prepared, alert, and responsive.
Tsunami Aceh Through the Eyes of Child Survivors
On a Sunday morning, December 26, 2004, an earthquake measuring over 9 magnitudes centered southwest of Banda Aceh shook the city and its surrounding areas. Approximately 20 minutes after the earthquake, a tsunami wave of about 30 meters swept across the coastal areas of Aceh and into the city center. A total of 227,898 casualties from the earthquake and tsunami, which also hit Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Singapore, and the Maldives. Indonesia suffered the greatest impact compared to other countries.
"At that time, I saw the tsunami wave. My aunt carried me and we ran to save ourselves at someone else's two-story house. We took refuge there because our house was destroyed by the water. We waited there for the water to recede and then ran to the evacuation center. After that, we were taken to a social building and then foreigners started to come. That's all I remember because I was still very young," said Idawati, a survivor of the Aceh tsunami. When the tsunami happened, Idawati was only five years old. Due to this disaster, she lost both her parents. Her childhood without parents still leaves a mark of sadness for her.
With a high level of vulnerability and a very large impact of the disaster, children survivors were the priority during disaster response. The main focus of Wahana Visi Indonesia (at that time still using the identity of World Vision Indonesia) upon arriving in Aceh was to activate assistance as quickly as possible that would directly benefit children. The Child Friendly Space (CFS) was the initial activity that WVI implemented. Twelve days after the disaster occurred, on January 7, 2004, the CFS began operating. Child survivors of the tsunami received psychosocial support through various fun activities held at the CFS. A total of 3,500 children, including Idawati, received psychosocial support and other assistance.
"What I remember is that there were two tents with many games. I often played with building blocks there. At that time, I also received an education scholarship from elementary school to college from one of the sponsors," she said. The assistance and support that Idawati received was one of the things she was grateful for, even though she had to grow up in a refugee camp and continue her life in the recovery period after the disaster. "If there was no scholarship support, I might have dropped out of school. In my family, no one could go to college. I was the only one who could go to college," she said.
Currently, Idawati is 25 years old and lives as a wife and mother. As a child who once experienced the difficulty of growing up without parents, Idawati and her husband pour a lot of love and attention on their son. "Now, with this small family, I am happy. My child can grow up well, his development is also very good. I hope that everything will be the best for my family. Hopefully, we will be happier," she concluded.
In disaster conditions, especially a disaster as large as the Aceh tsunami, the safety and continuation of life for every child is very valuable. Support and assistance for children must be provided quickly and appropriately so that children's lives can run as normally as possible in a situation that is actually very abnormal. Physical recovery is very much needed while psychosocial recovery is very important. Child survivors of disasters have the right to continue their lives as adults who are able to carry out their functions to the maximum extent possible. With well-directed disaster management, children can benefit that will have an impact until they are adults.
The Greatest Disaster of the 21st Century
“At that time, we knew that Aceh was in a state of conflict, so on the morning of December 26th, after morning prayers, I took some time to rest as I had just finished night watch. Suddenly, while I was asleep, I was woken up by a violent shake. I could hardly believe the shaking was so severe. The wall clock was swinging violently, the doors of the cupboards were opening. At that time, we didn't know what was happening, we didn't understand,” said Junaidi, one of the survivors of the Aceh tsunami. When this disaster happened, Junaidi lived in a coastal village, 11 km from Banda Aceh. The distance between the sea and his village was only about 200 meters.
In the city of Banda Aceh, Khairani, another survivor, also felt the same earthquake. “So when the earthquake happened, I was scared because I had never experienced such a strong earthquake in my life. We immediately woke up and went outside,” recalled the woman who is now a teacher. When this disaster happened, Khairani was studying in Banda Aceh. Her hometown was located in a coastal area in Aceh Besar district, about 20 km from Banda Aceh. “After that, it calmed down for a while. We went into the house to get my uncle's bag, the police bag. We were always reminded during the conflict, if anything happened, don't bring anything else. Just take that one bag,” she said.
A typical slow Sunday morning turned into a frantic one. People rushed out of their houses due to the strong earthquake. Buildings in Aceh were damaged because the earthquake lasted for 10 minutes before finally subsiding.
Although surprised and scared, after the earthquake subsided, Junaidi took a moment to check on the condition of his house and neighbors. A few minutes later, he heard a man shouting from a distance. “The man said, ‘Come on everyone, let's run to the mountain! The sea water is rising!’ From a distance, we could faintly hear a sound like the roar of the wind ‘Whuuusshhhh’ like that. But we didn't know what was actually happening,” recalled Junaidi.
The rumbling sound then appeared before Junaidi's eyes. A very high sea wave, towering over the mangrove trees, was moving towards Junaidi. His survival instinct immediately kicked in. Junaidi and his parents ran as fast as they could towards a hill.
When the wave continued to move towards the center of Banda Aceh, Khairani heard people shouting "The water is rising!". She could not imagine what the "rising water" looked like until a very high sea wave began to appear. Immediately, Khairani and her cousin ran away on a motorcycle. “I looked back, I mean the water was high. I didn't expect we would survive the water because it was close, very close,” she said. She managed to escape from the tsunami wave that chased her motorcycle from behind.
The sea waves kept coming. After successfully climbing the hill and being in a higher area, Junaidi saw the sea waves as if they were falling and smashing houses and then dragging the debris of those houses. “The second wave didn't look like a wave anymore, but the water was like it was hitting directly. I immediately jumped onto a rock and held on tightly there. When the water receded, my parents, who were originally next to me, were no longer there,” said Junaidi. When the water came, Junaidi drowned. When the water receded, Junaidi surfaced. Until finally the water slowly receded completely and he looked towards the city of Banda Aceh which had been covered in water. "The water was pitch black," he said.
The tsunami had caused Junaidi to lose both of his parents. So did Khairani. Her parents and immediate family did not survive. Currently, Khairani's childhood home is now under the sea. Lives, property, and memorabilia were swept away in an instant. The survivors continued their lives in uncertainty, fear, and loss. Twenty years ago, Aceh was devastated. In such a critical and vulnerable condition, humanitarian support played a decisive role in ensuring that survivors could survive and recover.
Rebuilding Together and Cherishing Second Chances
On December 28, 2004, two WVI staff arrived in Banda Aceh. The city was paralyzed. Tens of thousands of dead bodies lay scattered everywhere. All the survivors were still struggling to find lost family members or salvage what little they could. Communication and electricity were down. Roads to other areas were blocked or destroyed by the tsunami.
The damaged infrastructure made communication extremely difficult, hindering the flow of information about the conditions and needs of the Acehnese people. Indonesia at that time was also not yet prepared for disaster and was unable to respond quickly to the impact of the disaster. Junaidi had to survive on the hill he had climbed for several days without any help. “There were coconuts, I drank their water. And that night we couldn't get any food. But somehow, from somewhere, there was rice mixed with sand. We shared it, we got a little bit to taste. That was the first time we tasted sandy rice,” he said.
WVI staff, who were already in Banda Aceh, had to struggle to coordinate various activities in difficult conditions with limited food and shelter. Aftershocks continued to occur. The workload was immense. In addition to being ready to provide assistance and support to survivors, the staff in Aceh had to be able to support themselves and other staff.
On January 4, 2005, rice allocated by the World Food Programme finally arrived in Banda Aceh. That same day, WVI staff rented several trucks to distribute it to evacuation points. That day, more than 4,000 IDPs (internally displaced people) were assured of a one-month food supply.
Various forms of assistance and support began to arrive, including humanitarian workers from other cities and countries. Everyone worked hard to carry out rescue and recovery efforts as quickly as possible for hundreds of thousands of tsunami survivors. Indonesia learned a lot about disaster management from this event. Indonesia also realised that a disaster of this magnitude was a constant threat. Efforts to build disaster preparedness in Indonesia could no longer be delayed.
With cross-agency and international coordination during the emergency response phase, Aceh began to recover. The Acehnese people also began to rebuild each other. Junaidi began to take on the role of village leader, coordinating his villagers during their stay in the evacuation center. While Khairani became actively involved as a facilitator of activities in the Child Friendly Space.
The true meaning of humanity was evident in Aceh. Everyone helped each other according to their abilities. Regardless of village or group, the main goal was to survive and recover together. Fellow survivors, whether or not they were still related, motivated each other to rebuild their lives. Difficulties felt lighter when shared together.
For Junaidi, his younger siblings were the main motivation to rise and recover. “I felt myself sinking in the water, my feet up but still holding on tightly to the tree. But I wasn’t injured at all. Perhaps there was a message that God gave me that day, a miracle that we don’t know about. And this became my motivation, I had to replace the position of my parents. This is what motivated me and made me ready to carry out my responsibilities, that is, there were younger siblings whom I had to guide,” he said. Junaidi took up a teaching position at a state elementary school in Aceh as a form of his responsibility to replace his parents for his younger siblings. He still continues his role as a teacher to this day. He has also started a family with his wife and three children.
Meanwhile, Khairani uses the hopes of her late mother as a source of motivation to carry out humanitarian missions to the best of her ability. “I could rise and recover because I remembered my mother's dreams and hopes for my future. With my experience of having experienced trauma, I am determined to help children and people around me with my abilities. By spending time and playing with them, listening to their stories who also need a place to tell stories, becoming a friend and becoming a family for those who have also lost loved ones. I want to help children who have lost their parents and people they love like I did. I want to be useful to others, even if it's just as a friend and listener to their stories," she said.
Humanitarian assistance during the emergency response phase became even more positive when the hope to rise and recover also returned to the hearts of the Acehnese people. Junaidi received a permanent house from WVI. He used this house as a home where he rebuilt his life with his wife and children, as well as his younger siblings.
Khairani was able to become an independent and empowered woman, she succeeded in becoming a teacher as her late mother had dreamed, and even became a driver of women's economic empowerment in her village. Her motivation and support from WVI became a double strength that could help her rise from such a sad and frightening situation. Khairani, along with other women in her hometown, managed to establish a Credit Union a few years after the tsunami hit. This Credit Union was present as a form of WVI's support during the community development program after the emergency response and rehabilitation phase ended in 2007.
Twenty Years On
Aceh is not the same as it was before the earthquake and tsunami struck twenty years ago, but it has become a different version of itself. An Aceh that has learned from the impact of disaster, an Aceh that has successfully proven that hope still exists amidst the weight of disaster, an Aceh that is ready to build a future for the next generation.
The 2004 earthquake and tsunami will never be forgotten. Every life lost is continually remembered and serves as a reminder to continue making the most of life's opportunities. The people of Aceh have a valuable legacy that needs to be continued from generation to generation. The legacy is that every human being must always be prepared because disasters are always a risk. However, this risk can be managed through self-reliance and various advances in science and technology.
Indonesia now has a disaster mitigation system in place, such as early warning systems for earthquakes and tsunamis. Technological advancements have been rapid, but this must still be balanced with the public's understanding of disaster mitigation. Therefore, disaster mitigation is not just about utilizing technology but also about a paradigm shift in society.
The threat or risk of disaster has not disappeared, nor has it decreased; in fact, it has increased with the climate crisis. Therefore, public preparedness should be even more acute so that the impact of disasters can be minimized, such as reducing the number of mortality and economic losses. Preparedness also applies not only to adults but also to children. Exposure to preparedness information from a young age can have a very positive impact. With thorough preparation in terms of trauma and stress management as well as disaster management, children can be more resilient when disasters occur.
Aceh today, which has successfully risen and recovered, is a historical legacy that should serve as a reminder that Indonesia must continue to prioritize the resilience of its children and people. Resilience is a determining part of Indonesia's future.
Source: World Vision di Aceh, Setelah Tsunami Melanda
Author: Mariana Kurniawati (Communication Executive)
