Indonesia
2004 Earthquake & Tsunami
The Disaster
On the morning of Sunday, December 26th, 2004, a magnitude 9.1 undersea earthquake ruptured an estimated 1,200 kilometers of faultline off the western coast of Sumatra. This triggered a tsunami that affected 11 countries, including Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand, claiming the lives of at least 225,000 people. The greatest impact occurred in coastal areas on the Northern part of Sumatra and Nias islands in Indonesia, including Aceh’s provincial capital, Banda Aceh. In just 30 minutes, waves as high as 30 meters hit the coastline, flattening one-third of the city, leaving it in rubble. With no effective tsunami warning system in place and no recent experience with tsunamis, the disaster was unexpected, leaving the local population limited time to escape. In Indonesia, the official death toll is listed at just over 165,000 people, including those who were reported missing and now presumed dead, with a further 400,000 people displaced.
Influence of Social and Cultural Capital
The loss of hundreds of thousands of lives in the disaster had significant social and cultural impacts, particularly in Aceh province. Familial networks were devastated, particularly as many more women were killed in the tsunami compared to men. Social and community networks were disrupted when displacement to temporary housing separated communities. Governance and decision-making structures, such as village leaders (Keucik), were heavily impacted due to the loss of human capital, but also due to the loss of buildings and communal meeting spaces, destroyed paperwork and records, and the destruction of infrastructural assets. Cultural rites and practices were severely disrupted due to the damage and destruction of mosques and the overall scale of devastation. Mass graves were built to bury thousands of people at a time, with many survivors not knowing where their loved ones were buried. This prevented the performance of cultural rites associated with death and burial that often provide solace and assist with the grieving process.
While social and cultural capital was inevitably affected by the disaster, these capitals still formed an important part of the resources available for supporting recovery efforts. Survivors used village governance structures, particularly through their Keucik (either pre-existing or newly elected) to negotiate housing reconstruction and tsunami recovery programs with donors. The spirit of gotong-royong, where community members work together for mutual benefit and to achieve common goals, supported recovery through rebuilding musholla’s and permanent housing, assistance with daily living activities and encouragement, and the return of other cultural rites such as funerals and weddings. Islamic religious beliefs and practices also facilitated recovery, offering a narrative for understanding the devastation caused by the tsunami, with religious leaders supporting the psychological and emotional recovery of survivors, and mosques and mushollas acting as key meeting points for community members. Cultural capital was also developed as part of the recovery process, with some survivors using music and dance for healing. Songs were composed that told the stories of survivors and the pain they suffered, with accompanying choreographed dancing. These songs and dances are performed for local survivors, as part of the healing process, as well as for tourist events and activities.
Tourism and Recovery
Before the tsunami, tourism was severely limited by the 30-year conflict between GAM (Free Aceh Movement) who were fighting for independence from the Central Indonesian government. After the tsunami, in 2005, a peace agreement was signed to prioritize the humanitarian response required to recover from the disaster. Tourism formed one part of the response to rebuild livelihoods and the economy after the disaster, articulated by the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery, Bill Clinton, through a report on “Key Propositions for Building Back Better”. Proposition 9 focuses on increasing the level of employment for local populations and providing opportunities for entrepreneurs, with expansion of tourism activities seen as one effort to promote local employment. As investments in tourism infrastructure increased, many of the estimated 5,000 expatriate non-governmental organization staff who worked on the recovery effort ended up depending on the services of Banda Aceh’s tourism network – the guesthouses, hotels, restaurants, and service providers who collectively make up the tourism ‘product’ in Banda Aceh.
The connections between the tsunami and tourism were evident throughout the recovery effort. A tsunami ‘trail’ of memorial sites has been established in Banda Aceh, allowing tourists to explore some of the ‘scars’ that remain on the landscape. The Aceh Tsunami Museum opened in 2009 and serves as a symbol of remembrance of the tsunami, focusing on tools for disaster preparedness and survival education. While this is targeted at the local population, the museum is also a major tourist attraction with up to 8,000 guests visiting every week. The Grand Baiturrahman mosque is another site on the tsunami trail, as a key building where survivors took refuge during the tsunami. While many of the surrounding buildings were destroyed during the tsunami, the mosque remained standing with only light damage. Other tourism sites on the tsunami trail include an oil barge pushed several kilometres inland during the tsunami, a hospital complex damaged by the tsunami waves, and some of the mass grave sites. Tourism to these sites is comprised of both domestic and international visitors.
Building Resilience
“Build Back Better” was first coined after Aceh’s tsunami experience and focuses on using the post-disaster period as an opportunity to reduce vulnerability and build resilience to future hazards. Through one of the world’s largest post-disaster recovery efforts, early warning systems and evacuation shelters were built to warn residents and provide a safe location to evacuate during a future tsunami. Accessibility was improved through rebuilding wider roads along key evacuation routes. Education programs and community-based disaster preparedness initiatives have shifted perspectives about risk and resilience. Achieving a long-term peace agreement, along with livelihood recovery programs, including tourism initiatives, have contributed to enhanced economic opportunities for surviving residents, helping to build capacity to cope with future hazards. Ultimately, many if not most of these resilience-building initiatives depend on the complex web of social and cultural capital that connects local community members, non-governmental organizations, religious networks, tourism ventures, and multiple levels of government.
