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Authorities struggle against tsunami complacency
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A new sign for a tsunami evacuation route is seen on Dec. 9, 2024, on one of Aceh’s main roads. (JP/Radhiyya Indra)
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s Aceh commemorates 20 years since the 2004 earthquake and tsunami that killed thousands in the province, authorities are striving to ensure that people are better prepared when future disasters come knocking at the door.
The magnitude 9.2 earthquake triggered huge waves that swept into Aceh to the shock of its unsuspecting residents. Previously, the most recent tsunami that the province had experienced was nearly a century before, when a tsunami hit Simeulue Island off the southern coast of Aceh in 1907 and killed 400.
A region prone to natural disasters, Aceh had recorded at least three tsunamis that hit the province before the 1907 tsunami: in 1394, 1450 and 1861. Layers of sand deposits in the Ek Leuntie cave in Meusanah Lhok, Aceh Besar regency show traces of tsunamis that go back as far as 7,500 years ago.
But due to the long intervals between the tsunamis, authorities find it hard to keep the focus of all concerned parties, locally or nationally, on bolstering Aceh’s disaster mitigation.
“Tsunamis, earthquakes and other geological disasters are tough [to handle] because they have a long cycle. Big earthquakes alone have an average of 100 to 200 years in Indonesia,” National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) director for disaster risk mapping and evaluation Udrekh told The Jakarta Post.
“This is what makes disaster management difficult, the collective memory of Aceh people cannot [recall] the events, since they take longer to happen than our lifespan,” he said.
Better alert system
