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The
tsunami 
Source:
AusAID, Jan 2004 On the morning of Sunday, 26 December 2004, there was a
severe earthquake in the Indian Ocean off the coast of northern Sumatra, Indonesia.
The earthquake measured 9.0 on the Richter scale and was followed by aftershocks
ranging from 6.3 to 7.0 in severity in a zone 1,000 kilometres north to the Andaman
Islands. The underwater earthquake also resulted in a powerful tsunami ('soo-na-mi',
from the Japanese words meaning 'harbour wave'). The wave travelled quickly under
the ocean, building to a wall of water up to 10 metres high when it reached the
shallow coastal waters and causing massive destruction when it hit land. Without
an effective warning system and disaster plan, many people did not know to move
quickly to higher ground to escape the wave and its load of debris. In some places
the sea receded for hundreds of metres before the wave rushed in. Curious people
looking at this strange occurrence from the beaches did not recognise this as
a sign of danger, and as a result were killed by the tsunami. 
The
impact 
The
tsunami wiped out most houses, roads and water and electricity in the province
of Aceh.
Source: AusAID
The tsunami caused extraordinary damage.
The death toll was put at roughly 187,000, with nearly 43,000 missing and many
hundreds of thousands injured and suffering trauma and the grief of losing family
members, their homes and their livelihoods. Countries lost people with the knowledge
and skills that were needed for their ongoing development. Roads, bridges, water
and electricity supplies, health centres and schools were destroyed. The landscape
was altered unrecognisably, with some areas lifted high out of the water while
others were washed entirely away. Debris and waste were scattered widely and salt
inundated farmland and underground water supplies.
One of the most severely
affected areas was that closest to the epicentre, the province of Aceh on Sumatra,
Indonesia. More than 130,000 people died and 36, 786 were still missing in December
2005. The highest tolls were among the women and children who were in the low
lying coastal areas while their husbands were at sea fishing. Over 800 kilometres
of coast was severely affected, often up to five kilometres inland. At least 654
villages were damaged or destroyed, more than 500,000 people lost their homes,
and more than 150,000 children were left without schools.
To add to the
devastation an earthquake measuring 8.7 on the Richter scale struck the west coast
of Sumatra near the island of Nias on 28 March 2005.
Emergency
response
Boxes
of food waiting to be distributed to people affected by the tsunami.
Source:
Robin Davies/AusAID
Australians responded generously, donating
more than $345 million to aid agencies. The Australian Government also quickly
responded with food, personnel and aid. In the first days, weeks and months following
the disaster Australia's efforts were focused on providing necessities such as
food, clean water and shelter, and the resources needed to treat victims, stop
the spread of disease, clear debris from roads and restore essential services.
Some of the emergency relief responses included: - coordination
and transportation by plane of critically important relief supplies such as food,
water, water containers, medical supplies, tents, tarpaulins, fuel and batteries
to affected communities;
- civilian teams of 24 doctors, specialists (in
child protection, medical supplies, infectious diseases and mental trauma), a
microbiologist and two laboratory technicians;
- medical supplies, including
injections for vaccinations against tetanus and a 90-bed Australian Defence Force
field hospital located in Banda Aceh;
- the establishment and stocking of
a temporary bulk medical supply warehouse;
- a water purification plant
to produce up to 480,000 litres of water a day in Banda Aceh;
- the delivery
of telecommunications equipment and technicians;
- HMAS Kanimbla, a navy
transport ship, with 250 sailors, 150 engineers, two Sea King helicopters, two
landing craft, bulldozers, cranes, trucks and building materials;
- sending
a total of 15 AusAID staff to Banda Aceh, Padang and Medan to help coordinate
the relief effort.
The swift and well-coordinated emergency effort
managed to prevent a major outbreak of disease or hunger.
Recovery
Construction
of the access road to Ulee Lheue Port, Aceh.
Source: AusAID
The
massive scale of the human and physical damage caused by the tsunami and the number
of people and organisations who offered skilled assistance and financial support
meant it was an enormous task to manage the recovery effort. The Indonesian president
created the Aceh and Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency (BRR) in April
2005 to oversee and coordinate the process. The BRR placed a high priority on
local communities taking the lead in their own recovery, thus whole communities
of people were involved in decision making. This made the recovery process somewhat
slower than it might otherwise have been. Nonetheless, this type of decision making
is more effective over the long term because plans have full community support.
Recovery was also slow because: - land had to
be cleared of millions of tonnes of debris and silt before it could be used again;
- the
altered landscape and loss of records meant that areas had to be remapped to establish
ownership before infrastructure and houses could be rebuilt and alternatives found
for those whose land was no longer usable;
- water, sewerage, electricity,
public transport and other service connections had to be planned before houses
could be built;
- roads and harbours were washed away and the temporary
roads were unable to cope with the arrival of thousands of tonnes of building
supplies needed for reconstruction;
- survivors were severely traumatised,
dealing with the loss of family, livelihood and community;
- social and
community connections were drastically altered, with thousands of people living
in temporary shelters; the loss of skilled leadership in the areas of health,
government and education; many men having lost their wives and many children orphaned;
and many people unable to resume their work as fishermen and farmers;
- mounting
frustration at the slowness of the recovery effort led some people and organisations
to move outside the recognised guidelines, which created new problems;
- new
designs for housing, buildings and infrastructure were required to help them withstand
future earthquakes and tsunamis;
- a separatist conflict in Aceh meant that
the area had been isolated from international assistance for decades.
The
Australian Government established the Australia Indonesia Partnership for Reconstruction
and Development (AIPRD), which promised $1 billion ($500 million in grants and
$500 million in low interest loans) over five years to support Indonesia's reconstruction
and development within and beyond tsunami-affected areas. The Australian Government's
aid is focused on developing a range of sustainable solutions to assist displaced
communities to gradually move from emergency relief to a phase of reconstruction
and longer term development.
Reconstruction
New temporary housing under construction in the suburbs
of Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh.
Source: Rob Walker/AusAID
By
November 2005 Australian assistance under the AIPRD had helped to: - train
more than 1500 nurses, midwives and health administrators;
- restore the
buildings and services of the main training hospital;
- deliver more than
80 tonnes of school equipment to 46 schools;
- rebuild village halls and
community offices, which in turn helped rebuild community connections and create
a centre for local government activities such as consulting with villagers, issuing
identity cards, village planning and providing building approvals;
- train
community mapping teams to produce maps in order to establish ownership of more
than 15,000 parcels of land across 68 villages;
- establish temporary employment
agencies to find people employment and train them in areas where there was a skill
shortage, such as carpentry and the aquaculture industry;
- design and
provide engineering supervision for 42 construction projects;
- rebuild
the economic infrastructure, such as Banda Aceh's main port facility to service
offshore islands and the fishing industry;
- upgrade and replace temporary
shelters while permanent housing was being built.
Reconstruction will
take many years, but there are hopeful signs with the long-term commitment made
by the Australian Government and other donors to Indonesia. The greatest
hope for a lasting recovery was the signing of a peace accord in Helsinki between
the Government of Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) on 15 August 2005,
which ended a 30-year conflict during which almost 15,000 people died. Steps
are now being taken to establish a tsunami warning system, overcoming the previous
reluctance because of the expense and low frequency of tsunamis in the Indian
Ocean. It will take about two years to establish the system of ocean flood sensors,
surface buoys and satellites for technical monitoring and evaluation. Appropriate
systems are also needed to warn people likely to be directly affected as radio,
telephone and alarm systems are dependent on electricity, which many coastal areas
in the region do not have. Building safe places and establishing education programs
are also necessary so people know to move to higher ground when a warning is issued
and to return only when it is declared safe to do so.
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