Aceh hopeful to be tsunami ready as Indonesia beefs up warning system 20 years after disaster

Record ID: 1892161

  • Title: Aceh hopeful to be tsunami ready as Indonesia beefs up warning system 20 years after disaster
  • Date: 24th December 2024
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Bahasa Indonesia) 28-YEAR-OLD EARTHQUAKE OBSERVER, TEUKU HAFID HUDUDILLAH, SAYING: "Devices and equipment owned by the Indonesian Agency for Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics (BMKG) have been upgraded rapidly since the tsunami in 2004. We now have 25 sensors installed across Aceh, in which each sensor is made up of an accelerometer and a seismometer. We also have automatic weather broadcasting systems now, which can provide notifications in real-time or within one minute via phone messages, or radio for those on the same frequency as the monitoring equipment at the Geophysics Agency."
  • Embargoed: 7th January 2025 06:33
  • Keywords: Indonesia alarm device disaster evacuation mitigation sirene tsunami warning
  • Location: BANDA ACEH, ACEH BESAR, INDONESIA
  • City: BANDA ACEH, ACEH BESAR, INDONESIA
  • Country: Indonesia
  • Topics: Asia / Pacific,Disaster/Accidents,Earthquakes/Volcanoes/Tsunami
  • Reuters ID: LVA003898823122024RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: As waves lapped gently onto the coastline of Indonesia’s northwestern province of Aceh on Monday (December 23) afternoon, the scenic landscape bore no signs of the devastation wrecked by the Indian Ocean tsunami that hit the region nearly 20 years ago.
    Traumatised by the catastrophe, Teuku Hafid Hududillah has spent his adult life making sure that if disaster strikes again, his home province will be ready.
    Hududillah was among those who lost many relatives when the tsunami struck on Dec. 26, 2004, killing 126,000 in Aceh, where no sirens were heard, resulting in the highest toll among the 230,000 dead along the coasts of more than a dozen countries.
    The tsunami was triggered by a 9.1 magnitude earthquake off the island of Sumatra.
    Now a quake observer for Indonesia's geophysics agency, 28-year-old Hududillah is part of a team tasked with upgrading Aceh's quake detection and tsunami warning system, including sirens loud enough to be heard 100 km (62 miles) away.
    "We think Aceh will be ready for evacuation if a tsunami occurs," Hududillah said at one of the siren towers in the provincial capital of Banda Aceh, adding that he was thankful for the effort, while hoping there would be no more disasters.
    The system will quickly dispatch telephone and radio messages to notify residents of earthquakes of magnitude more than 5, he said, while the sirens will signal the likely risk of a tsunami.
    Meanwhile, people in Aceh said they now receive regular training in responding to a big tremor or a tsunami.
    Still, Zainuddin, 54, who goes by one name like many Indonesians, urged the government to beef up urban planning measures.
    "Our streets are not wide enough, especially during rush hour, and it would be difficult to get through if a tsunami happened," he said.
    Elsewhere, the agency’s tsunami warning system has failed to avert deaths, in areas such as Palu in Central Sulawesi, where thousands died in a tsunami in 2018 unleashed by a quake of magnitude 7.5 after sirens did not go off in warning.
    Indonesia, which straddles the seismically active area known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, is one of the world's most disaster-prone countries, but has often been criticised for not investing enough in disaster mitigation infrastructure.
    (Production: Yuddy Cahya Budiman)
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