Welcome back Pecinta Indonesia! One of the most unforgettable days for Indonesia, especially Acehnese, lies on 26th December 2004. It was the day where Aceh was hit with the world’s third biggest earthquake ever with the scale of 9.1 magnitude and a disastrous tsunami right after.
Until now families and friends are still mourning their loss. Hundreds of thousands of people lost their homes, wives and husbands were separated, children looked for their parents, souls were taken, and many of the bodies were never recovered by their loved ones. The catastrophe is still clear as day to those who survived it.
How It All Happened
Sunday morning 26th December 2004 started like a nice day for children, parents, friends, and many people to enjoy their day off. Many people also had started activities. This was until 07.59 AM local time when the biggest earthquake Indonesia had ever seen happened. The 9.1 magnitude earthquake was felt for 10 minutes straight and was centered in the Indian Ocean at a depth of about 10 kilometers on the seabed.
Of course, if only it stopped there. Sad truth, but that was only the beginning of the biggest disaster in this early 21st century. Triggered by the massive earthquake, the seabed experienced a drastic rise as high as 40 meters. Meanwhile on the land after the ground shook, buildings collapsed, trees and electric poles went down, people were still processing what just happened. Chaos was all over the city.
Still filled with shock and panic, people living on the coast were confused with the sudden receding sea water. Hundreds of fish scattered as the water disappeared. Now this could’ve been a big warning but sadly they didn’t know what’s to come next as the people never seen a situation like this before in their life. Not well-informed that this is a sign of a tsunami, they dismissed it and kept themselves occupied with the earthquake that just happened.
Within 20 minutes of the earthquake, the first of several high waves hit Aceh. With height up to 30 meters and speed reaching 100 meters per second/360 kilometers per hour, people had no chance of escaping it. The number of victims in Aceh reached over 170,000 people. Apart from the locals, there were also a handful of tourists that died in the tragedy. Sweden was the European country that had the most victims with 534 of their citizens killed in the tragedy.
Do know that the magnitude of the earthquake also affected the neighboring countries. Multiple tsunami waves hit a number of coastal countries in Southeast and South Asian countries – Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and India. This killed tens of thousands more.
8 hours later and 5,oo miles away, the tsunami hit its last destination and claimed the last death on the Eastern coast of Africa, reportedly killing 303 people. All in all, there were at least 14 countries affected by the earthquake and tsunami, with Indonesia suffering the worst as it’s the closest country to the range of its epicenter. With the death number reaching nearly 230,000 people. This was truly one of the deadliest disasters in modern history.
Recovering
Every inch of Aceh that was swept by the tsunami was then covered with bodies, debris, and pieces of buildings. The tsunami destroyed approximately 134,000 houses and 1,488 schools – leaving around 500,00o people homeless and affecting 150,000 students. Plenty of health community centers and harbors also suffered heavy damages.
The disaster brought everyone and countries to unite with thousands of foreign volunteers and troops rushing to bring humanitarian assistance. A massive aid and reconstruction programs were put together with approximately 463 non-government organizations and agencies spending about $7.5 billion. The government and people of Australia gave over $1 billion. This marks post-tsunami Aceh as one of the largest reconstruction projects in the developing world.
Through the plenty of loving hands and help from all over the world, Aceh still had to suffer the effect of the tsunami even until a decade later. Every year on 26th of December, the people of Aceh pray together and grieve over their loss. A reminder of what happened and a caution for the future. Loud sirens would also be heard from every corner of Banda Aceh for one minute long to mark the seconds of when the tsunami hit.
There are plenty of documentation videos regarding the earthquake and tsunami that you can find online to see and know more. This tragedy taught us to be strong, and be well prepared for anything that comes. We wouldn’t appreciate and know just how important our family and loved ones are without knowing grief. Be grateful each day and make it matter because nothing is to be taken for granted. Until next time Pecinta Indonesia!
