Twenty years on: Indonesia’s disaster preparedness has much improved in the wake of the 21st century’s largest natural disaster

Simeulue, Aceh – When Ahmadi sings a lullaby to his one-year-old grandson, the songs include one that is not about boats and stars but instead about precautions to take during a possible tsunami:

A village once sank,

That’s how they tell the tale,

It began with an earthquake,

Followed by a massive wave,

The entire land submerged,

Suddenly, just like that.

If the quake is strong

 And the waters recede, 

Quickly find A higher place to be.

That is called smong,

The history of our ancestors. 

Remember this well.

“When there is an earthquake and a tsunami, you are in panic, you cannot be expected to think,” said Ahmadi, who like many Indonesians has only one name. “This is why the emergency drill must be engrained and be second nature. This has to start from an early age.” 

Despite being the closest inhabited island to the epicentre of the earthquake that caused the largest tsunami so far in this century, the death toll on Simeulue was relatively low. Six inhabitants died on this island of 100,000 – a lower rate than in any other affected area – after what was the third largest earthquake anywhere in the world since modern seismography began in 1900. 

“This was due to the local wisdom passed on from generation to generation in the form of a smong,” said Acting Regent Teuku Reza Fahlevi. The inhabitants of Simeulue had experienced a tsunami in 1907, and the oral tradition of running for higher ground when the sea recedes helped to save many lives in 2004. “In many other coastal areas of the country, people rushed into the seabed to pick up fish – and were crushed by the gushing sea water as waves of up to 30 metres wracked havoc and brought devastation,” he said.

Better prepared for when disaster strikes

Twenty years on, the province of Aceh in far western Indonesia is much more prepared. The smong is now part of the curriculum of every primary and junior high school on Simeulue as well as in some other regencies, Ahmadi, a journalist and local storyteller, said: “For full preparedness, we cannot rely on grandparents only – we must make sure every child is prepared.” 

The association of storytellers in the province is working with the Simeulue Board of Education to lobby the remaining regencies to do the same, Mr Fahlevi and Mr Ahmadi said. 

Mr Ahmadi himself was living in the provincial capital of Banda Aceh when the 2004 tsunami struck, and immediately fled to higher ground. He tried to convince many of his neighbours to do the same, but most would not listen, he recalls. “When I returned, I saw corpses all around,” he said. “Today, the loss of life would be far smaller – we are much better prepared.”

Over 167,000 people died in Indonesia during the event on 26 December, and a further at least 60,000 in other countries on the Indian Ocean. The United Nations – at the request of the Indonesian government – provided major relief support to the survivors. Ten UN agencies were involved in the work, from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) helping the internally displaced, to the United Nations Childrens’ Fund (UNICEF) providing emergency supplies for children and the UN Development Programme aiding reconstruction efforts (see box below for a full list).

The UN’s Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) facilitated the emergency response phase in 2004 and, together with partners, advocated for the importance of building community resilience through disaster education since 2006 based on international best practices. OCHA – along with other UN agencies, the Red Cross Society, universities, the private sector and NGOs – has remained involved long after the tsunami to support Indonesia and the Province of Aceh in improving disaster risk preparedness.

The tsunami has ushered in a new era of a more systematized and structured disaster management across the country, based on international best practices. Regulations have been put in place to establish and streamline processes in providing health care and food in case of disasters and also to establish local agencies to coordinate humanitarian efforts on the ground. The National Agency for Disaster Management (BNBP) has strengthened engagement with stakeholders across emergency response, recovery and development to implement global policies.

“We believe that disaster risk reduction, sustainable development and climate change must be addressed holistically,” said Raditya Jati, Deputy Minister at the National Agency for Disaster Management (BNBP). “Sustainable resilience ensures that we protect our development gains by investing in resilience building.”

The country has mainstreamed the post-2015 frameworks on Sustainable Development (SDGs), the UNFCCC Paris Agreement and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, an international agreement adopted by UN member states at the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in 2015.

“There have been major strides by the national and provincial governments, supported by multi-stakeholder partners, including community and faith-based organisations, on increased preparedness,” said Thandie Mwape, Head of OCHA Indonesia. The focal areas include education, and regular tsunami preparedness drills have been mandatory in all the schools in the province since 2010, she said. The implementation of a disaster-safe school programme was followed nationwide in 2012 leading to further increased preparedness. A siren system has been installed in some provinces and the population educated on what to do in case the alarms go off.

By now, thanks to the progress on disaster management in the country, the Humanitarian Country Team, which is made up of the UN, development partners and local NGOs, is focusing its support to the government on strengthening disaster preparedness capacity and enhancing anticipatory action, as well as the haring of best practices from Indonesia to countries in the region and worldwide.

“Indonesia is a knowledge hub and there is much that the world can learn from here – learnings that will lead to saving lives,” Ms Mwape said.

Explore the unique art of Smong from Simeulue – click here to listen!

BOX:

Support provided by UN agencies in emergency response in Indonesia following the 2004 tsunami

The 2004 tsunami emergency response in Indonesia was the largest international response to a natural disaster. It involved the largest number of donors – both public and private – and the largest number of implementing agencies. UN agencies worked in collaboration with their partners. Their work included:

This article was first published at UN News site through this link: Twenty years on: Indonesia ‘better prepared’ following tsunami (https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/10/1155616), 11 October 2024.