Solihin, 37, lost almost everything when Mount Anak Krakatau erupted and caused a tsunami on Dec. 22, 2018, which swept the coastal areas of Lampung, Banten and small islands in the Sunda Strait.

His family of five survived, but he lost his fishing boat and his house, located only around 5 meters from the coast of Sebesi Island, a 2,620-hectare island with fewer than 3,000 residents.

The island is located about 20 kilometers from the volcano, and the remnants of the tsunami could still be seen when The Jakarta Post visited it on Wednesday, almost nine months after the disaster. Rubble of houses was still visible at the coast along with dead coral reefs.

Solihin, who had lived on the island since 1992, went about his day as usual on the day of the volcanic eruption and tsunami. He harvested his field in the morning and went fishing in the afternoon.

“I even fished a bit on my boat until [sunset]. I saw an eruption [from Anak Krakatau] that was stronger than usual,” Solihin told the Post.

Then at night just as his family was about to go to sleep, Solihin heard a commotion outside of his home and saw large waves heading to the island. He immediately told his family to leave.

Solihin fled on a motorcycle with his wife and infant daughter to a designated spot on the island for evacuation and stayed there as the waves swept his house. They stayed for two days, before moving to Kalianda, South Lampung.

The tsunami left Solihin and his family in a state of trauma. His wife and children later left for Siringjaha, Sidomulyo, South Lampung.

“I don’t want my children to go to school here anymore. My wife and children don’t want to live on the island anymore, I won’t build a house here again. This [Sebesi Island] is just for my livelihood,” Solihin said.

M. Syukur, 40, also went about his business as usual, including fishing, on that fateful day.

Then at night, Syukur saw that the waves from the coast got bigger, then told his wife they should bring some essential items from their house and move to higher ground.

“I told my wife to leave the house and bring some essential items, but she was reluctant to do it alone. Only after there was an announcement from the mosque did she begin to pack,” Syukur said.

He and his wife then moved to Kalianda before going to his wife’s family in Jambi for four months, but later returned to the island because he could not make a living in Jambi.

Helmi, 34, was working to fix the village’s road on the day of the tsunami. He heard the rumbling sounds from the volcanic island, but at first did not worry about it.

“But we did not think anything of it because we were so used to the volcano,” Helmi said.

Helmi and some other villagers were patroling the beach prior to the tsunami, and alarmed other residents through a mosque speaker when large waves were coming.

He then brought his wife and two children to the Kalianda shelter area, through the 1.5-km evacuation route built almost a decade ago using the Mandiri National Community Empowerment Program (PNPM Mandiri), a state development fund disbursed to the village.

The slow disaster response revealed that Sebesi islanders needed to develop their local knowledge to be more responsive to disaster mitigation, People’s Coalition for Fisheries Justice (KIARA) secretary-general Susan Herawati said.

“Sebesi Island has enormous natural resources potential, unfortunately, local wisdom to respond to disasters was lacking,” Susan told reporters during the trip to the island.

She said the residents themselves had been resilient enough to have lived near the Krakatau volcanic islands compound for years, but they were no longer able to identify signs of a potential disaster.

The island itself fell vacant right after the massive Krakatau eruption in 1883, and was resettled by people from the surrounding area starting in the early 20th century.

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