Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
lrdores|arLessorsor3urv|v|rTsurar|sNearT|e|r3ources
8cene1 2 3 4
5 7 8
9 10 11 12
Published in 2010 by United Nations Educational, Scientifc and Cultural Organization (UNESCO),
Ior its Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), 7 Place de Fontenoy, 75 352 Paris 07 SP,
France
Produced by Jakarta Tsunami InIormation Centre (JTIC), UNESCO/IOC, UNESCO OIfce Jakarta,
Jalan Galuh (II) No. 5, Kebayoran Baru, Jakarta 12110, Indonesia. www.jtic.org
Supersedes 'Surviving a tsunami Lessons Irom Aceh and southern Java, Indonesia, 2009. Based
on 'Selamat dari bencana tsunami, 2009 (IOC Brochure 2009-1)
First printing 2010 Ior UNESCO/IOC - NOAA International Tsunami InIormation Centre, Honolulu,
Hawaii
When citing this booklet please include its IOC series and number, IOC Brochure 2010-4 (or IOC/
BRO/2010/4), and designate UNESCO/IOC as its publisher. In addition, consider using each
compiler`s names in Iull because none is a Iamily name (citation style Ior reIerence 14, p. 26).
The designation employed and the presentation oI the material in this publication do not imply the
expression oI any opinion whatsoever on the part oI the Secretariat oI UNESCO, concerning the legal
status oI any country or territory, or its authorities, or concerning the delimitation oI the Irontiers oI
any country or territory.
(c) UNESCO 2010
This booklet in pdI Iormat may be downloaded Iree oI charge at http://www.jtic.org/en/inIo-sources/
jtic-inIo-sources/publications.html?download13173Awhere-the-frst-wave-arrives-in-minutes. Also
posted there are the booklet`s diagrams in their native cdr Iormat and as pdI fles.
FR0NT60VERV|deoscenesfromandaAceh,0ecember2,2004.A||butthe|astwereshot
|n8|mpangL|ma,atthetsunam|sfeatheredgea|most3kmfromthesea(p.|||}.
Scene
1-4 6rowdsgatherandanambu|ancepasses|nfrontofadepartmentstoreco||apsedby
theAceh-Andamanearthquake,wh|choccurredc|oseto8:00a.m.(t|me||ne,p.4}.L|tt|e
morethanthestoresfacaderema|nsupr|ght(scene1;s|dev|ew,p.7}.
5-8 6|ose to 9:00 a.m., peop|e beg|n 0ee|ng on a street that |s st||| dry. They have heard that
the sea |s com|ng. The water fo||ows. 6h||dren can run through |t at rst.
9-11 househo|d objects congest the grow|ng 0ood.
12 Asurv|vorrece|veshe|p.
Cred|ls,p.22
ur|led Nal|ors Educal|ora|, 3c|erl|lc ard Cu|lura| 0rar|zal|or
lrleroverrrerla| 0cearorap||c Corr|ss|or
l0C 8roc|ure 2010-1
Public knowledge, natural warnings, and evacuation strategies
that helped people live through fast-arriving tsunamis in Aceh and southern Java
6omp||edbyEkoYu||anto
1
,Fauz|Kusmayanto
1
,Nandang8upr|yatna
1
,andHohammad0|rhamsyah
2
Adaptedbyr|anF.Atwater
3
,EkoYu||anto,andArd|toH.Kod|jat
4
1
Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia (Indonesian Institute oI Sciences), Bandung
2
Universitas Syiah Kuala, Banda Aceh
3
United States Geological Survey, Seattle
4
United Nations Educational, Scientifc and Cultural Organization, Jakarta
wheretheF|rstwaveArr|ves|nH|nutes
lrdores|arLessorsor3urv|v|rTsurar|sNearT|e|r3ources
Nuroer|rbold italicsderolesooo||elpaeW|erep|ace|srerl|ored.
|| WHERE THE FIRST WAVE ARRIVES IN MINUTES
|ndexHaps
N
Banda Aceh and vicinity
5 km 0
Digital Globe image from Google Earth, taken June 22, 2004
11
9
14
14
11
11
14
10
9
10
10
10
7
8
5
5
5
2
2
3
6
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6
5
2
2
2
2
2
1
1
2
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4
4
5
5
5
3
4
1
6
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0
0
9
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10
5
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7
7
7
7
7
6
6
10
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8 4
Ulee Lheue 10,20
Mosque 16,17
Krueng Cut 9
Aceh River
Deah Raya 10
MALACCA STRAIT
Alue Naga 9,19
Kajhu 17,18
t
i
m
i
l
i
m
a
n
u
s
T
Bridge 14,15
Lampulo 4
Black dot in Lampulo locates evidence that
the tsunami first flooded this area 45-50
minutes after start of earthquake. The
evidence consists of the times on two
stopped clocks, believed disabled by the
tsunami, that had been hung 2-3 m above a
house floor (timeline, page 4).
Serambi Indonesia building 16
Jeulingke 13
Sawmill 9
95 20
5 35
Simpang Lima front cover, 2-4, 7
Black dot at Simpang Lima is centered on
white monument in scenes 5, 6, and 10 of
front cover. That monument is 150 m
northeast of the collapsed Pante Pirak
department store shown in scenes 1-3 and
on page 7.
Data sources cited on page 23.
10-15 m
5-10
2-5
<2
Local ground surface
Flow depth
rounded to nearest meter.
Color assigns site to one
of four flow-depth ranges:
Highest level reached by
tsunami with respect to
ground surface. Values
As on facing page, place names
are indexed to booklet page by
black numbers in bold italics.
0 1 2 3
2004 Widely >5 m deep
and reaching 3-4 km inland
(measurements, this page)
2006 Mainly <5 m deep
and < km inland
(measurements on facing
page, bottom left)
Distance inland from coast (km)
Setting of mosque 16,17 Simpang
Lima
Coastal plain
Flow depth
High-water profiles of 2004 tsunami in Aceh and 2006 tsunami in Java
1
0
m
1
0
m
iii
INDEX MAPS
WHERE THE FIRST WAVE ARRIVES IN MINUTES |v WHERE THE FIRST WAVE ARRIVES IN MINUTES
6ontents
lrdexVaps||
lrlroducl|or 1
TheEar||estwarn|ngs
urderslard|rw|yTsurar|slapperlous 3
Fasl-Arr|v|r waves Terd lo Pose l|e 0realesl T|real 4
T|e Earl| Vay Rereroer w|al Peop|e Forel 5
loW 0rardparerls ard 0raves Kepl Veror|es A||ve
warn|ngsofaTsunam|Underway
lll|eEarl|3|a|es,aTsurar|Vay3oorFo||oW 7
T|e Tsurar| Vay Arr|ve 8elore 0llc|a| 0u|darce Car 8
T|e 3ea Vay w|l|draW 3|orl|y 8elore ll Allac|s 9
T|e 3ea Vay 8oor 10
8|rds Vay F|ee 10
Evacuat|on8trateg|es
Rurlol|el|||s 11
Aoardor 8e|or|rs 12
3lay 0ul ol Cars 13
8eWare ol R|vers ard 8r|des 14
C||ro a Ta|| 8u||d|r 1
C||roaTree 18
use F|oal|r 0ojecls as L|le Ralls 19
ll 0lls|ore, 0o Farl|er oul lo 3ea 20
Expecl Vore T|ar 0re wave 21
During the tsunami
Noles 22
In the decades before a tsunami
INTRODUCTION 1
THIS BOOKLET draws public-saIety lessons Irom recent Indonesian
experience with Iast-arriving tsunamis. Initially prepared Ior Indonesian
readers, it is adapted here Ior international use.
Most tsunamis in Indonesia arrive Iast because they begin within or just
outside the nation`s archipelago. An earthquake, volcano, or landslide sets
oII a train oI ocean waves that reaches the nearest Indonesian shores in an
hour or less.
Fast-arriving waves account Ior most tsunami deaths worldwide. They
threaten coasts near tsunami sources, most oI which are on the Pacifc Rim,
beside parts oI the Indian Ocean, in the Mediterranean and Caribbean Seas,
and at volcanic islands. The waves aIIord little lead time Ior the delivery oI
oIfcial tsunami warning, and they commonly begin with an earthquake or
volcanic eruption that can cut phone service, electric power, and roads. They
tend to be bigger than the same tsunami on distant shores reached hours later.
|ntroduct|on
Th|sbook|etdrawsoneyew|tnessaccountsoftsunam|sthatarr|ved|nanhouror|ess.8uch
fast-arr|v|ngtsunam|sthreatenmanycoasts,part|cu|ar|ythosethatadjo|nsubduct|onzones
(g|oba|d|str|but|on,above;seea|sop.3and23}.|nthephoto,EkoYu||anto|nterv|ewsa
surv|vorofonesuchtsunam||nLampon,Java.
Many oI the lessons in this booklet are based on experiences oI
eyewitnesses to two Iast-arriving tsunamis: the enormous waves that took
an estimated 160,000 lives in Aceh on December 26, 2004; and lesser waves
that leIt some 700 dead on the south coast oI Java on July 17, 2006. The
booklet`s compilers interviewed some oI the eyewitnesses, and they obtained
other accounts Irom published sources.
The lessons, outlined on the Iacing page, have three main themes.
Several kinds oI knowledge provide TheEar||estwarn|ngs oI tsunami hazard,
during the decades beIore a tsunami begins. Among warn|ngsofaTsunam|
Underway, earthquake shaking provides the most immediate natural signal to
go to high ground. This reaction, in turn, is among the nine survival tactics
under Evacuat|on8trateg|es.
2 WHERE THE FIRST WAVE ARRIVES IN MINUTES
3
THE EARLIEST WARNINGS
TheEar||estwarn|ngs
Understand|ngwhyTsunam|shappentoUs
TSUNAMI WARNING begins decades beIore
the tsunami does. It takes time to build scientifc
and public knowledge oI tsunami risk. Can
tsunamis damage a coastal community? II so,
how oIten can they be expected to occur, and
how much harm can they cause? In Indonesia
these questions lead to a more basic one: Why
do tsunamis happen to us? Here are two oI the
explanations oIIered in Indonesia:
1. It is by God`s will that we fnd RXUselves
on an Earth that both sustains and endangers us.
Rocks yield minerals, oil, gas, and coal. Soils
enriched by beautiIul volcanoes nourish plants
that Ieed and delight. Surrounding seas provide
fsh and ports. But these same lands and waters
are also rich in natural hazards. Tsunamis, along
with earthquakes, volcanoes, and landslides, are
not punishments Irom God, but rather are part oI
God`s giIt to contemplate.
2. Most tsunamis result Irom plate tectonicsthe
motion oI rock slabs that Iorm our planet`s outer
shell. Most tsunamis originate near a sloping
boundary between tectonic plates, where one
plate descends, or subducts, beneath another.
Subduction yields the Iault ruptures that set oII
most tsunamis. The plates themselves are moving
about as Iast as our fngernails grow (arrows on
map, p. 23). The motion, monitored by orbiting
satellites, shows no sign oI stopping.
The2004tsunam||n8|mpangL|ma,andaAceh,9:14a.m.
WHERE THE FIRST WAVE ARRIVES IN MINUTES 4 WHERE THE FIRST WAVE ARRIVES IN MINUTES
Fast-Arr|v|ngwavesTendtoPosetheCreatestThreat
THE 2004 TSUNAMI arrived soonest and with maximum Iorce in on the
shores nearest its source. Near Banda Aceh it came ashore within 20 minutes
(clock, leIt; timeline, below). In parts oI that city it ran 5-10 m deep (yellow
dots, p. iii). It Iollowed an earthquake that had knocked people oII their Ieet
and had brought down buildings (scenes 1-6, Iront cover; photo, p. 7).
This combination oI short lead time, large waves, and prior damage
helps explain why Iast-arriving waves account Ior most tsunami deaths
worldwide. It also helps explain why Indonesia leads the world in tsunami
losses.
The Indonesian archipelago accounts Ior two-thirds oI global tsunami
Iatalities since the year 1800. Even without the estimated 160,000 deaths in
Aceh in 2004 and the 36,000 deaths Irom waves set oII by 1883 eruptions oI
Krakatau, Indonesian tsunami Iatalities since 1800 rival the total Irom Japan
and exceed the sum Ior South America.
Today, millions oI Indonesians are vulnerable to Iast-arriving tsunamis.
Many have no other place to live. Some Ieel that iI a tsunami will cause
their death, that is their destiny. Although most have probably heard that
they can survive a tsunami by going to high ground in the event oI an
earthquake, some lack easy access to high ground. Similar challanges Iace
many other countries where a tsunami can arrive in minutes.
Tsunam|ss|nce1800havetakenmore||ves|n|ndones|athananywheree|se,|npartbecause
thewavesarr|vequ|ck|y.|mamAbuAbdu|Rhaffarho|dsac|ockbe||evedstoppedbythe
tsunam||nLhokNga(|eft}.Thet|me|sa||tt|emorethan20m|nutesafterthestartofthe2004
Aceh-Andamanearthquake(above}.
5
THE EARLIEST WARNINGS
TheEarthHayRememberwhatPeop|eForget
PAST TSUNAMIS can provide the earliest warnings oI Iuture ones. This
Iorewarning usually depends, however, on written or oral records that may
span too little time to include a rare tsunami, like the one in 2004, that
takes centuries to repeat. Geological records, though usually incomplete
themselves, can help clariIy and extend an area`s tsunami history.
Over 100 tsunamis are known Irom the last Iour centuries oI Indonesia`s
written history. On average in the last decade and a halI, a tsunami happened
somewhere in the archipelago every other year. Yet the time between
tsunamis at any one place commonly spans decades or even centuries. Such
long times between successive tsunamis contributed to the recent tsunami
losses in Aceh and southern Java.
0nmostcoasts,adamag|ngtsunam|happenssorare|ythatpeop|eforgetaboutthehazard.Earthsownextendedmemoryoftsunam|h|storycanhe|pthemremember.
In Aceh, as elsewhere around the Indian Ocean, the 2004 tsunami
seemed without precedent. Geological evidence Ior its predecessors had yet
to be reported (the Thai example, below leIt, was discovered in 2007). The
waves in 2004 thus took most people by surprise.
Similarly in Java, the 2006 tsunami came as a surprise to many in
Pangandaran and Cilacap. Its most recent predecessor occurred 85 years
earlier, in 1921. Whether Java is subject to tsunamis as great as Aceh`s
remains to be learned (below right).
WHERE THE FIRST WAVE ARRIVES IN MINUTES WHERE THE FIRST WAVE ARRIVES IN MINUTES
howCrandparentsandCravesKeptHemor|esA||ve
KNOWING ABOUT A PREVIOUS TSUNAMI helped save thousands Irom
the 2004 tsunami on Simeulue Island, oII the Aceh coast. The 2004 tsunami
reached Simeulue within a Iew tens oI minutes. The islanders received
no tsunami advisory Irom radios, sirens, cell phones, or tsunami-warning
centers. Yet among the island`s mainly coastal population oI 78000, just
seven people died. What saved lives was a combination oI natural and
traditional deIenses: the island`s coastal hills and the islanders` knowledge
oI when to run to them.
Islanders had passed along this knowledge by telling oI smonga local
term that covers a three-part sequence: earthquake shaking, withdrawal oI
the sea beyond the usual low tide, and returning waters that rush inland.
Smong can be traced to a tsunami in 1907 through the memories oI old
people like the woman at leIt, who learned oI that tsunami Irom her parents.
Interviews in 2006 showed islanders Iamiliar with tangible evidence Irom
1907: coral boulders in rice paddies, victims` graves, and stones transported
Irom the Ioundation oI a mosque. They also knew oI religious leaders`
graves that the 1907 tsunami had leIt unharmed (example, below leIt).
Smong stories most commonly passed Irom grandparent to grandchild.
Elders would tell oI smong at Iamily gatherings aIter dinner. The stories
taught good behavior by illustrating a kind oI disaster that bad behavior
can attract. The smong oI 1907 was sure to be mentioned aIter any small
earthquake as an example oI what a bigger earthquake can do. The teller
oIten concluded with guidance like this: 'II the ground rumbles and iI the
sea withdraws soon aIter, run to the hills beIore the sea rushes ashore.
Tsunam|h|storyandcu|tura|her|tagem|xat8|meu|ue|s|and,whereon|ysevend|edfromthe
2004tsunam|.Theh|storygetshandeddownbypeop|e||keP|0awan(photographed|n200
w|thagreat-grandson|nLabuanajo}.herparentshadto|dherofthe1907tsunam|,tang|b|e
rem|ndersofwh|ch|nc|udethegraveofanear|yre||g|ous|eader,Tengku0|Ujung(|eft,|n
LatakAyah}.HanyknewTengkusgravenoton|ybecausehehadspread|s|amonthe|s|and
buta|sobecausethetombstonehadsurv|vedthe1907tsunam|.|trema|nsstand|ngtoday,
hav|ngsurv|vedthe2004tsunam|aswe||.
8eac| 8oal slrarded oy 2001 lsurar| 3|e|leroveru|arasrave
7
WARNINGS OF A TSUNAMI UNDERWAY
warn|ngsofaTsunam|Underway
|ftheEarth8hakes,aTsunam|Hay8oonFo||ow
AN EARTHQUAKE usually shakes the coasts that its tsunami will strike
soonest and hardest. The shaking provides a natural warning to go to high
ground or inland, or to seek reIuge high in buildings or trees.
At Simeulue it has become almost routine to run to the hills whenever
a strong earthquake is Ielt. The islanders especially take this precaution
at night, when they cannot easily confrm a smong by watching Irom
high ground Ior its next sign, recession oI the sea. At Simeulue, a strong
earthquake is suIfcient reason to expect a tsunami (Iacing page).
By contrast in mainland Aceh, Iew heeded the giant 2004 earthquake
as a tsunami warning. The shaking could not have gone unnoticed, Ior it
damaged buildings, knocked people oII their Ieet, and was said to have lasted
ten minutes. When it was over, many people went outdoors, Iearing Iurther
damage Irom aItershocks. Some gathered at buildings that had collapsed
(photo, right; scenes 2 and 3, Iront cover). Others just carried on with what
they had been doing. A Iew even Iollowed a receding river 2 km to the
sea (story, p. 9). Meanwhile the tsunami was approaching. It Iollowed the
earthquake by 15-20 minutes on mainland Acehnese coasts and by 45-50
minutes in Lampulo, 1.5 km seaward Irom the scene at right (timeline, p. 4).
Some Indonesian earthquakes, however, scarcely shake the nearby
coasts their tsunamis will soon strike. Such gentle earthquakes sent deadly
tsunamis to southern Java in 1994 and 2006. The 1994 tsunami took 238
lives in the east (survivor, p. 1), the 2006 tsunami about twice that number
in the west (estimates, p. 23). They had the stealth oI a tsunami in 1896 that
killed 22,000 people in Japan, that country`s greatest tsunami disaster.
Earthquakeshak|ngprov|dedanatura|tsunam|warn|ngthatwasw|de|yheeded
on8|meu|ue|s|and(fac|ngpage}butnot|nandaAceh.Theshak|ngbrought
downthePanteP|rakdepartmentstore(r|ght}aco||apsethatsurpassedmost
otherearthquakedamage|nandaAceh,andwh|chdrewon|ookers|nthehour
beforethetsunam|chasedpeop|efromthearea(frontcover}.
WHERE THE FIRST WAVE ARRIVES IN MINUTES 8 WHERE THE FIRST WAVE ARRIVES IN MINUTES
The Tsunam| Hay Arr|ve efore 0fc|a| Cu|dance 6an
SHOULD A PERSON WAIT Ior oIfcial evacuation orders aIter Ieeling
a large earthquake on a coast that is subject to Iast-arriving tsunamis?
Tsunami-warning centers now need just a Iew minutes to fgure out whether
an earthquake has probably set oII a tsunami. The centers relay this
determination to oIfcials and the media, and they post it on the Internet as
well. However, tens oI additional minutes may pass beIore people in harm`s
way receive oIfcial inIormation on whether to evacuate. By then, a Iast-
arriving tsunami may already be coming ashore.
In Padang, Sumatra,where a tsunami can arrive in 30 minutes, it has
become city policy that upon Ieeling a strong earthquake, people near the
coast should evacuate without waiting Ior oIfcial guidance. With selI-
evacuation underway, oIfcials can reinIorce or cancel it on the basis oI
inIormation Irom Indonesia`s tsunami-warning center.
In September 2009 that policy was reinIorced by a strong earthquake in
Padang that Iailed to generate a tsunami. The National Tsunami Warning
Center, in Jakarta, took just Iour minutes to determine and announce that the
earthquake, because oI its 70-km depth, lacked tsunami potential. However,
the public in Padang did not begin to receive this news Ior another 20-25
minutes. The delay resulted Irom the earthquake, which had cut power and
communications while taking nearly 400 lives in the city.
Padang`s Operations Control Center had managed to receive the Tsunami
Warning Center`s announcement just 5 minutes aIter the earthquake. AIter
September 2009 the Control Center was given the city`s mandate to order
and cancel tsunami evacuations and to disseminate this guidance. As a
precaution, however, the city maintains its policy that citizens should rely
frst on Ielt shaking, and secondarily on oIfcial guidance that may Iollow.
Anearthquakew|thoutatsunam|re|nforceda8umatranc|tyspo||cythatuponfee||ngastrong
earthquake, peop|e |n |ts tsunam|-prone areas shou|d evacuate w|thout wa|t|ng for ofc|a|
gu|dance.Theearthquaketookp|ace8eptember30,2009nearPadang,wheresevera|hundred
thousandpeop|e||ve|ntsunam|-evacuat|onareas.|ndones|astsunam|-warn|ngcenter
qu|ck|yannouncedthattheearthquakewastoodeeptosetoffatsunam|.utmostpeop|e|n
Padanghadtroub|erece|v|ngth|snewsbecauseofearthquakedamagetoe|ectr|c-powergr|ds,
ce||phonenetworks,andrad|ostat|ons.Atr|ght,thejammedevacuat|onandat|me||neforthe
mayorsdec|s|ontocance||t.
9
WARNINGS OF A TSUNAMI UNDERWAY
The8eaHayw|thdraw8hort|yefore|tAttacks
A FELT EARTHQUAKE usually surpasses all other natural warnings oI an
impending tsunami in speed and reliability (p. 7). However, iI the shaking
is weak, as it was on the south coast oI Java in 2006, later cues to evacuate
may come into play. The most common oI these is a wave trough that may
precede the frst wave crest (diagram, p. 3). The trough causes the sea to go
out, and it may also cause river mouths to drain.
Those in Banda Aceh who saw
the water go out include Katiman
(right), who lost a leg and his wiIe
to the tsunami. He and coworkers
headed down Krueng Cut soon aIter
the earthquake threw them to the
ground at a sawmill 2 km Irom the
sea. They Iollowed the river to its
mouth near Alue Naga beach. Along
the way they saw fsh stranded, frst
on the exposed bed oI the river and
later at the beach, where a tsunami
crest would catch them.
Many people in Padang knew to expect initial withdrawal oI the sea in
the event oI a tsunami Irom the strong earthquake oI September 30, 2009
(Iacing page). Some oI these people focked to the beach, unsure whether to
evacuate in response to the earthquake alone. This response used up much oI
the time they would have needed to fee a tsunami had one been generated.
It also jammed up evacuation routes.
WHERE THE FIRST WAVE ARRIVES IN MINUTES 10 WHERE THE FIRST WAVE ARRIVES IN MINUTES
The8eaHayoom
INCOMING WAVES announced themselves by booming like cannons
during the 2004 tsunami in Aceh and during the 2006 tsunami at
Pangandaran.
In Aceh, those who heard such sounds include Harianto (story, p. 12),
Mochtar (p. 16), Sharla Emilda Binti Muhammad, and Emirza. Sharla,
onshore along west coast in Alue Ambang, thought she was hearing artillery
fre Irom a confict that had been going on Ior 28 years, since her childhood.
Emirza, in his boat oII Ulee Lheue (p. 20), may have observed a real source
oI these loud, resonant sounds. From the crest oI a wave Emirza glimpsed
the exposed foor oI the sea. The sound oI an explosion flled his ears as the
water collapsed.
A loud noise noticed at Pangandaran had a somewhat diIIerent cause.
There, several people reported hearing the sound oI an explosion when a
tsunami wave ran into limestone cliIIs.
|rdsHayF|ee
A DISASTER can elicit stories in which cats or dogs, or snakes or elephants,
sense pending trouble beIore people do. Flocks oI birds, which tsunami
sounds may have Irightened, commonly fgure in accounts oI the 2004
tsunami in Aceh.
The morning oI 26 December 2004, Brigadier General Suroyo Gino
headed eastward Irom Banda Aceh toward the port oI Malahayati in Krueng
Raya. There he was to attend a Iarewell ceremony Ior 700 soldiers oI
Battalion 744 Kupang, who were that day fnishing their tour oI duty. On
the way he saw a fock oI white birds fying towards Banda Aceh. He turned
back toward Banda Aceh, thinking this unusual sight a warning oI something
bad. By then he was inland, out oI harm`s way. The soldiers oI Battalion
744 Kupang also survived because they had not yet boarded their ship and
were able to run to saIety.
That same morning Surya Darma bin Abdul ManaI oI Banda Aceh was
at work in his perahu, a wooden canoe, a halI kilometer oII Deah Raya. He
was pulling up fsh traps he had set the day beIore. When rocked by a wave
that Ielt unusual, he thought that an earthquake had just occurred. A couple
oI minutes later he saw a fock oI cranes fy out oI mangroves and head
towards the hills, as iI being pursued. Figuring something more was about
to happen, he abandoned his fsh traps and paddled the perahu to shore. As
he was preparing to pull crab traps Irom a pond, a wave roared into the
mangroves. He took reIuge in a nearby tree, which withstood the frst wave
but was swept away by the second. Surya survived by clinging to a jerry-can
that kept him afoat until the current carried him towards another tree, where
he stayed through the rest oI the tsunami.
oomsheard|nAcehdur|ngthe2004tsunam|sounded||keart|||eryfrom
the area's m|||tary con0|ct that the tsunam| he|ped to end. At |eft, un|formed
so|d|ersfromthenat|ona|armym|ng|ew|ththetsunam|swounded.
11
EVACUATION STRATEGIES
Evacuat|on8trateg|es
h|ghgroundprov|desreadyrefugenearNa|bos,on8|meu|ue|s|and.|nthestoryat|eft,a
ma|n|andh|||keepsayoungmansafeso|ongashestaysthere.
Runtotheh|||s
A SHORT DISTANCE Irom the shore to the high ground makes 'run to the
hills the standard procedure Ior tsunami evacuation at Simeulue (p. 6). In
mainland Aceh, many oI the residents oI Krueng Sabee, had the similar good
Iortune oI being a Iew hundred meters Irom the hills. The Iamily oI Harianto
bin Leginem, 18, used these hills as a reIuge Irom the 2004 tsunami, which
Harianto himselI barely survived.
At the time oI the earthquake Harianto had been at work in a quarry,
where he counted trucks exiting with loads oI rock. During or soon aIter the
earthquake, he and his coworkers fed the quarry Ior Iear oI rockIalls. They
returned to work but soon fed again upon hearing a loud boom, which was
Iollowed by Iour more. The workers dropped their tools and ran Ior home.
As Harianto made his way home he saw fshing boats rocking in the
sea and a giant wave closing in on the shore. He soon crossed paths with
his younger brother and niece, who were walking slowly towards a hill.
He shouted at them, throwing stones to make them run to saIety. Then he
continued to the Iamily`s house.
Finding that everyone had already fed to the hill, Harianto decided to
Iollow. But he could not fnd his older brother or the brother`s children
there. So he ran back to his brother`s house only to learn that they had
already fed to another hill.
Harianto headed toward his brother`s hill but now he was too late; the
tsunami was already lapping against it. The second foor oI the brother`s
house provided reIuge but not Ior long. Wounded by debris in the water,
Harianto clung to a mattress as the tsunami carried it out to sea. A fshing
boat returned him to his Iamily eight hours later.
Elsewhere in mainland Aceh the landscape commonly poses greater
challenges than those Iaced by Harianto`s Iamily. To reach high ground
during the 2004 tsunami, many oI the mainland residents needed to cross
a kilometer or more oI low ground that the tsunami would largely overrun.
The steepness oI some oI the adjacent hills makes them hard to climb.
WHERE THE FIRST WAVE ARRIVES IN MINUTES 12 WHERE THE FIRST WAVE ARRIVES IN MINUTES
Abandone|ong|ngs
ONE OF SIMEULUE`S seven tsunami victims was a 60-year-old man who
used the 2004 earthquake as a tsunami warning and evacuated promptly, only
to take a chance on retrieving things he had leIt behind.
The man, Lasamin, was a liIe-long resident oI Sinabang who Ielt the
ground shake strongly on December 26, 2004. Schooled in smong (p. 6),
he and his wiIe got on their motorcycle and sped towards the hills. They
reached high ground without incident.
As waters oI the frst wave receded, Lasamin told his wiIe he was going
to retrieve documents in their house. Perhaps he doubted that the sea would
come in again, or maybe he believed that iI it did, he could outrace it on his
motorbike. Whatever was going through his mind, he headed back toward
the tsunami.
On the way he met his young Iriend Sukran (right). He asked him
to come along, and Sukran agreed. An incoming wave soon toppled the
motorbike and fung Lasamin to the asphalt. Sukran survived by swimming
to and climbing a nearby tree, but Lasamin was later Iound dead.
Though8ukransurv|vedanattempttoretr|eve
be|ong|ngsdur|ngthe2004tsunam|on8|meu|ue
|s|and,thefr|endhewashe|p|ngwasnotso|ucky.
13
EVACUATION STRATEGIES
8tayoutof6ars
AN AUTOMOBILE can endanger its occupants and others iI used Ior
evacuation Irom a Iast-arriving tsunami. The earthquake minutes beIore is
likely to have severed the road with fssures or blocked it with landslides.
Even without such damage, the roads can become clogged by people on Ioot
or on motorbikes (photo, p. 8). Cars may injure these people, add to the
congestion, or both. Moreover, the tsunami itselI may trap motorists inside
their cars, as in these Iamily tragedies in Banda Aceh.
When Bukhari bin Abdullah, 45, in Alue Naga, heard people shouting
that the seawater was rising, he ordered his wiIe and one oI their sons into
the Iamily car. He drove them a Iew hundred meters beIore a wave turned it
upside down and dumped it into a river. Bukhari managed to escape through
a broken window, then stayed afoat by hanging on to a tire. But his wiIe and
son remained trapped with the car, sinking with it to the river bottom.
Two kilometers inland in Jeulingke, 57-year-old Sujiman bin Abdullah
also heard shouts that the sea was rising. Parked outside his house was his
younger brother`s car. He and his wiIe and their children got in. The car
could barely move among the throngs oI people on the road. An incoming
wave 6 m high, sounding like the roar oI an approaching aircraIt, slammed
into the car. The car began to fll with tsunami water. Sujiman tried to break
open the doors and windows but was unable to do so. Meanwhile the water
inside the car rose toward the ceiling. Sujiman and his wiIe managed to
escape but one oI their children drowned inside the car.
ukhar|b|nAbdu||ah,|eft,|osth|sw|feanda
ch||dwhenthetsunam|trappedthem|ns|de
anautomob||e.Above,acarmang|edby
tsunam||nandaAceh.
WHERE THE FIRST WAVE ARRIVES IN MINUTES 14 WHERE THE FIRST WAVE ARRIVES IN MINUTES
ewareofR|versandr|dges
15
EVACUATION STRATEGIES
A LOWLAND RIVER can be highway Ior a tsunami. Its channel admits
the incoming water more readily than do the walls oI houses and the limbs
and leaves oI mangroves. Buildings beside the river tend to be swept away
beIore those Iarther Irom the river banks.
In Aceh, people were surviving the 2004 tsunami by clinging to or riding
atop debris it was carrying, only to get crushed when the debris piled up
against bridges.
On the south coast oI Java, Suwardi witnessed the deadly assistance
that a river gave to the 2006 tsunami near Widarapayung beach. The beach
adjoins a swale, parallel to the coast, that a sandy ridge separates Irom the
sea. The swale contains a sluggish stream fanked by felds oI rice, Iruit, and
vegetables.
Suwardi was working one oI these felds at the time oI the 2006 tsunami.
He did not notice the weak earthquake beIorehand, and he had no chance
to see a wave looming on the horizon because the sandy ridge blocked his
view oI the sea. When the tsunami took him by surprise it came Irom two
directionsIrom across the ridge and Irom the river. He avoided getting
swept away by pressing his Ieet against a stout coconut tree and by clutching,
with his hands, a smaller tree beside it (reenactment, right). From this
position, with the water rising to his nose, Suwardi watched the tsunami rush
Irom the river into other Iarmed felds, where it carried people away.
The|ncom|ng2004tsunam|drovetherema|nsofhousesandent|reboats|ntoabr|dgeover
theAcehR|ver(|eft}.|nth|sarea,1kmseawardfromscenesonthefrontcover,thetsunam|
crested -8 m above the ground surface (0ow depths, p. |||}. 0n the south coast of Java,
8uward| (r|ght} shows how he braced h|mse|f aga|nst fast-0ow|ng water from a stream that the
200tsunam|hadengorged.
WHERE THE FIRST WAVE ARRIVES IN MINUTES 1 WHERE THE FIRST WAVE ARRIVES IN MINUTES
6||mbaTa||u||d|ng
17
EVACUATION STRATEGIES
6ons|derwaterTowers
The200Javatsunam|destroyed2,000
bu||d|ngsbutsparedmostwatertowers.
Theweakearthquakethatspawnedthe
tsunam||eftthetowersstand|ng.An
hour|ater,thetsunam|passedharm|ess|y
betweenthe|r|egsatthesamet|meas|t
wasdestroy|ngadjacenthouses.8uch
towers,|fequ|ppedw|thstepsor|adders,
maya||owvert|ca|evacuat|on.|nthe
examp|eabove,nearPangadaran,the
man stands on the 0oor of a washed-away
house.
A BUILDING may oIIer reIuge Ior people who cannot
escape a tsunami by going to high ground.
Four people survived the 2004 tsunami in Mesjid
Baiturrahim, the seaside mosque at leIt. Its reinIorced
concrete, though battered on the seaward side by water-
borne debris, kept the building standing in an area
otherwise demolished. The tsunami here, a neighborhood
in Ulee Lheue, reportedly crested 14 m above ground
level.
Another 52 people survived the 2004 tsunami in the
Serambi Indonesia building, Kajhu (right). In this area,
2 km Irom the sea, the water would crest 6-10 m above
ground and continue inland Ior another 1 km (p. iii).
Debris in the tsunami`s second wave rattled the building
but Iailed to bring it down. Most oI the 52 went to the
second foor. Among them were Mochtar A.R., Hasbi,
Ibrahim, and Rohani. Mochtar had heard three explosions
just beIore seeing a wall oI black water on the horizon.
The frst wave to reach him ran only knee deep but fowed
Iast. Children screamed with delight at having water to
play in. Mochtar and Hasbi ordered them to run to the
buildinghome oI a daily newspaper, the Harian Serambi
Indonesia.
The2004tsunam|drovepeop|eh|gh|ntobu||d|ngsthatsavedsome
ofthe|r||ves.Fourpeop|esurv|ved|nthemosqueat|eft,eventhough
thetsunam|removedra|||ngs,pushed|nwa||sandw|ndows,pee|edoff
green roof t||es, and demo||shed the second-0oor roof on the bu||d|ng's
seawards|de.Atr|ght,anewspaperbu||d|ngprov|dedrefugefor52
peop|e|nc|ud|ngRohan|(|eft},hasb|,|brah|m,andHochtar(backrow,
r|ght}andRohan|sch||dren,Hagda|ena,Huhaj|r|n,and|ntan(front}.
Theypose|nfrontofthebu||d|ngs|andwards|de.
WHERE THE FIRST WAVE ARRIVES IN MINUTES 18 WHERE THE FIRST WAVE ARRIVES IN MINUTES
6||mbaTree
PEOPLE CAUGHT IN A TSUNAMI sometimes survive it by reaching and
climbing trees. Some steer themselves toward the nearest tree, while others
have the good Iortune to driIt there by accident. Once in a tree, many people
manage to hang on Ior the tsunami`s duration (stories below and p. 10, 12).
Like so many others in the vicinity oI Banda Aceh, Wardiyah could not
help but notice the 2004 earthquake. Although her house in Kajhu stood 300
m Irom the shore, she heard none oI booms reported by others (p. 10). She
did, however, hear a sound like the roaring oI a wind just beIore the tsunami
washed over her. She was carried inland by the frst wave, then out to sea
by its backwash. Along the way she managed to grab a piece oI wood that
helped keep her afoat. The next wave moved her back onshore to a place
near a kedondong Iruit tree (right). There she Iound herselI standing in
water just knee deep. But soon more water surged in, carrying her closer to
the tree. She grabbed a branch and climbed to the tree top. FearIul oI more
waves she stayed in the tree several hours longer, along with a man who had
also taken reIuge there.
The 2006 tsunami Iound Teguh Sutarno on Widarapayung beach, where
he was collecting little clams to Ieed to his ducks. It was the season Ior this
type oI beach clam. Seeing something like a large swell on the horizon, he
wondered what it could be. He waited, watching, until realizing it was a
big wave. By then it was too late Ior an escape. The water frst carried him
into some bushes, where he remained until the second wave moved him to a
group oI tree stumps. During the third wave Teguh remembered hearing how
people had survived the 2004 Aceh tsunami by climbing trees. He aimed Ior
one oI the many coconut trees nearby. Managing to reach and climb one, he
held on while the tsunami fowed beneath him.
Twosavedbytrees:ward|yah|nfrontofthekedondongtreethatshec||mbeddur|ngthe2004
tsunam||nandaAceh;andTeguh8utarno,whousedacoconutpa|mdur|ngthe200tsunam|
near6||acap.
19
EVACUATION STRATEGIES
UseaF|oat|ng0bjectasaL|feRaft
MANY OF THE SURVIVORS in Aceh, though caught by the tsunami
and not necessarily able to swim, saved themselves by clinging to lumber,
tree trunks, mattresses, reIrigerators, jerry-cans, plastic bottles, tires, and
boats. Some driIted out to the sea with their makeshiIt foats, while others
used them as Ierries to trees or buildings. Many oI those who survived had
managed to climb atop the foating object; merely holding on to it exposed
the foating person to injury or death by other debris.
On the morning oI the Aceh tsunami, eleven-year-old Taha Yasin bin
Ilyas was helping his Iather plant mangroves along the shore in the Alue
Naga sector oI Banda Aceh. When the shaking stopped he headed home,
his Iather staying behind to chat with Iriends. Not long aIter reaching
home Taha heard a thundering sound coming Irom the direction oI the sea,
Iollowed by shouts that the sea was rising. Taha, his brother, and mother
rushed out oI the house and joined the throng on the road. A giant black
wave closed in, swallowing all in its path.
This frst wave carried Taha to a nearby tree. He clung to it but the next
wave broke his grip. Taha Iound himselI submerged beneath debris. He
struggled to the surIace, saw a pillow, and grabbed it. A third wave leIt him
adriIt in the open sea.
At this point Taha gain an additional foata book. Noticing Arabic
script he lost all Iear. He was still clutching both the pillow and the book
when he driIted ashore. He carried the book through the next ten days, until
fnding his Iather alive. He holds the book in a photo that accompanies his
Iull story (p. 26).
0bjects 0oat|ng |n the 2004 tsunam| battered bu||d|ngs and peop|e but a|so, |n some cases,
served as ||fe rafts. E|even-year-o|d Taha, |n the story at |eft, stayed a0oat w|th a soggy p|||ow
andabook(account|n|ndones|an,p.2}.E|ghteen-year-o|dhar|anto(p.11},afterbe|ngstruck
by a 0oat|ng |og, used a 0oat|ng mattress that buoyed h|m and a fr|end's parent. Above, a
mattress|ntsunam|debr|sofandaAceh.
WHERE THE FIRST WAVE ARRIVES IN MINUTES 20 WHERE THE FIRST WAVE ARRIVES IN MINUTES
|f0ffshore,CoFarther0utto8ea
AS A TSUNAMI APPROACHES SHORE its great speed and wavelength
get converted into height. So it is not surprising that fshermen, already at
sea when the 2004 and 2006 tsunamis bore down on them, Iound saIety by
going Iarther seaward. One oI them, however, nearly Iell victim to tsunami
backwash and another lost a Iriend who had sought saIety by going to shore.
Emirza survived most oI the 2004 tsunami while oII Banda Aceh`s Ulee
Lheue coast. Here, Iour waves caught Emirza`s boat. He struggled to keep
the bow pointed into the incoming waves, and all the while trying to get
Iarther out to sea. Finally he reached calmer waters, where he waited beIore
deciding to head home. But just beIore he reached the harbor a torrent Irom
the land capsized the boat. Emirza survived by grasping an electric cable
and climbing up a power pole.
Budiyono and a Iriend were fshing, each in his own boat, about fve
hundred metres oII the shore at Pangandaran when the frst wave oI the
2006 tsunami loomed on the horizon. At frst Budiyono did not see it
because he was Iacing toward land. The Iriend noticed the wave, but by the
time Budiyono noticed it the wave was Iast approaching. The Iriend raced
towards the coast. Budiyono headed out to sea, needing all his strength to
fght the incoming waves. Budiyono survived but the Iriend who had turned
back to land did not.
Em|rza (|eft}, rode out the |argest waves of the 2004 tsunam| by tak|ng h|s sh|ng boat to deep
water,thoughhestrugg|edw|thtsunam|backwashuponreturn|ngtoandaAceh.head|ng
outtoseaa|sohe|pedud|yono(r|ght}endurethe200tsunam|,wh|chtookthe||feofafe||ow
sherman who had |nstead headed to shore.
21
EVACUATION STRATEGIES
ExpectHorethan0newave
THE FIRST WAVE oI a tsunami is rarely the biggest and never the last. The
2004 tsunami reportedly contained fve waves on Simeulue and perhaps
twice that number in Banda Aceh. The 2006 tsunami included three
consecutive waves a Iew minutes apart.
The 2004 tsunami returned again and again Ior Iorty-year-old Nurdin
bin Ahmad oI Peunaga Pasi. He and a companion, Amir bin Gam, were at a
market when the giant earthquake struck. AIter strong shaking ended Nurdin
and Amir headed toward home on a Honda motorbike. Along the way they
saw houses and shops that the shaking had brought down or damaged. They
were still a Iew kilometers Irom home when a chest-high wall oI water
knocked them over. The current swept Amir and the Honda into a coconut
grove. Nurdin managed to stand up briefy but then he too was carried along.
With the water still rising, he grabbed hold oI a block oI peat, larger than a
person, and climbed on top oI it. The block, also carrying a chicken, driIted
towards a mangrove swamp and lodged in the trees.
Nurdin did not know that there were more waves to come. AIter an hour
in the trees, he climbed down Irom the peat block into chest-deep water oI
the swamp. He started home, clambering over Iallen trees as he went. But
he had not gone Iar beIore another wave approached. He climbed a tree and
stayed there until the waters receded. He hopped down and walked on a bit
only to climb again when another wave approached. Only aIter three such
ups and downs did he manage to reach a main road. And even then the wave
train kept coming, sending him up a coconut tree Ior one fnal climb.
Asepandh|sbrother,|naboatoff
Pangandaran,wonatwo-hourbatt|eaga|nst
mu|t|p|ewavesofthe200tsunam|.
Multiple waves also reached Asep on the eastern shore at Pangandaran as
he tried to save his boat Irom the 2006 tsunami. He and his brother, making
a fshing platIorm a hundred meters oIIshore, Ielt the weak earthquake that
seismologists recorded at 3:19 p.m. Soon they saw a wall oI sea water
approaching. They could see three waves, one aIter the other. When the frst
wave smashed into the fshing platIorm they jumped into their boat. Asep cut
the mooring rope, started the engine, and turned the boat around in hopes oI
slicing through the oncoming waves. As they tried to head south into deep
water they battled waves refected Irom shores to their east and west. They
also nearly ran out oI Iuel. Their battle went on about two hours, until they
headed saIely back to shore around six o`clock in the evening.
WHERE THE FIRST WAVE ARRIVES IN MINUTES 22 WHERE THE FIRST WAVE ARRIVES IN MINUTES
Notes
THIS BOOKLET contains eight eyewitness accounts adapted
Irom a collection published by Aceh`s archive oIfce
5
:
Katiman (p. 9), Sharla (p. 10), Surya (p. 10), Harianto
(p. 11), Bukhari and Sujiman (p. 13), Nurdin (p. 21), and
Taha (p. 19). Eko Yulianto Iurther interviewed Katiman,
Bukhari, and Sujiman. Another collection oI dozens oI
essays and stories Irom Aceh
8
contains a Iuller account
Irom Brigadier General Suroyo (p. 10). The compilers also
consulted a collection oI newspaper accounts oI the 2006
tsunami in southern Java
15
. The remaining accounts come
Irom interviews by Eko Yulianto and Nandang Supriatna at
Simeulue Island and mainland Aceh in 2005, 2006, 2007 and
2008, and in Pangandaran and Cilacap in 2006, 2007, and
2008.
Photo credits: Bedu Saini (p. 2), Franck Lavigne (p. 4),
Patra Rina Dewi (p. 8), Herry Yogaswara (p. 12, back cover),
Murat Saatcioglu (p. 16), Ardito Kodijat (p. 26), Badan
Arsip Daerah Aceh (p. 7, 13, 14), Brian Atwater (p. 1, 5, 22,
27, Iacing 28), and Eko Yulianto (p. 6, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 18,
20, 21, 24). Scenes on Iront cover are Irom video Iootage
by Yasman YatiI (scenes 1-11) and Irom a documentary by
Kementerian Komunikasi dan InIormasi, a national agency
(scene 12)all provided by Badan Arsip Daerah Aceh, the
provincial archive agency.
The booklet evolved Irom several predecessors. It
resembles, in purpose and Iormat, a collection oI eyewitness
accounts oI the 1960 Chilean tsunami
2
. UNESCO`s
'Selamat dari bencana tsunami
14
, in Indonesian, was
published in 2008. An initial English adaptation,'Surviving
a tsunami Lessons Irom Aceh and southern Java, appeared
in 2009. The Iurther adaptation you are reading incorporates
translations by Eko Yulianto; diagrams and endnotes by
Brian Atwater, whose work on the booklet was supported in
part under a Fulbright grant; design by Ardito Kodijat; initial
editing by Sally E. Wellesly; and Iurther editing by Brian,
Ardito, Eko, and Mohammad Dirhamsyah in response to
reviews Irom Marco Cisternas, Nate Wood, Irina Rafiana,
Oakley Brooks, Pungky Utami, Veronica Cedillos, Delores
Clark, Michael Hoppe, Laura Kong, Velly Asvaliantina,
Joaquim Post, Lori Dengler, Patricia McCrory, and Jane
Ciener.
Additional booklets on tsunamis and tsunami saIety
can be Iound at http://ioc3.unesco.org/itic/categories.
php?categoryno75.
Legend|nJavate||sofanoceanqueen,Ny|RoroK|du|,whocapturesmenand
women|nwavesshesendsashore.8|m||arstor|esareto|dasfarwestasthe
Hentawa||s|andsandeastwardtoF|ores.At|eft,RoroK|du|dr|vesachar|oton
acanvasbywasd|,whostands|nh|sstud|oastonesthrowfromthebeachat
Pe|abuhanratu,thePortofthe0ueen.
23
NOTES
|ndexmaps(p.||,|||}
DATA SOURCES: Iault-rupture areas on p. ii, reIerences 6
and 9; most oI the fow depths on p. ii, reIerence 11 and feld
notes oI Eko Yulianto; the inundation distances on p. ii, Itp://
Itp.agu.org/apend/gl/2007gl029404; and all data on p. iii,
reIerence 31 and www.tsunarisque.cnrs.Ir.
|ntroduct|on(p.1}
ESTIMATES VARY on death tolls Irom the 2004 Indian
Ocean tsunami. EM-DAT
58
, an international database
on disasters, reports 165,708 Iatalities in Indonesia. The
tsunami database maintained by the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
12
gives a similar
Indonesian total oI 165,659. For the 2004 tsunami the
NOAA database also lists Iatalities Irom eleven other
countries: Sri Lanka, 35,322; India, 18,045; Thailand,
11,029; Somalia, 289, Maldives, 108; Malaysia, 75;
Myanmar, 61; Tanzania, 13; Seychelles, 3; Bangladesh, 2;
and Kenya, 1. EM-DAT gives similar numbers except Ior
India, 16,389, and Thailand, 8,345. Caveat: A global risk
assessment published by the United Nations International
Strategy Ior Disaster Reduction Secretariat (ISDR)
55
,onits
page
25
, cautions against treating death tolls as exact, or even
approximately correct, Ior disasters that preclude accurate
counts.
The 2006 tsunami probably took about 700 lives, all
oI them in Indonesia. Figures Irom Indonesia`s Ministry
oI Health, tabulated in a 2007 analysis by geodesists Irom
Indonesia and Japan
22
, sum to 668 dead and 65 missing.
Other estimated death tolls: 373 according to the NOAA
database
12
; at least 600, according to a international post-
tsunami survey team
16
; and 802 according to EM-DAT
58
.
A total oI 414 died in Pangandaran and vicinity, the area
where most oI the Iatalities occurred, according to a detailed
list provided by local authorities to a joint New Zealand
Indonesia post-tsunami survey
11
.
Understand|ngwhyTsunam|shappentoUs
(p.3}
TECTONIC ORIGINS oI Indonesian hazards are discussed
in English-language reports that include a journal article on
historical earthquakes in Sumatra and Java
40
, documentation
Ior maps that underpin seismic provisions oI building
codes
32
, articles on West Sumatran earthquake history
38,48
,an
overview oI tsunami hazards in Sumatra and Java
41
,anda
monograph on the 1883 Krakatau eruptions and the tsunamis
they spawned
49
. A new book in Indonesian provides a well-
illustrated overview oI the country`s earthquake and tsunami
hazards
52
. Scientifc journals provide Irequent updates on
Global Positioning System measurements oI Indonesian plate
motions
50
, which include contortion oI the eastern part oI the
archipelago
51
and extraordinary displacements that occurred
during and soon aIter the giant 2004 Aceh-Andaman
Chilean mainshock oI 1960, on the moment magnitude scale
that seismologists now use to express earthquake size
29
.
Fast-Arr|v|ngwavesTendtoPosetheCreatest
Threat(p.4}
DEATH TOLLS Irom Indonesia`s tsunamis aIter 1600
were tabulated a decade ago by Indonesian and Japanese
researchers
21
. The comparisons with Iatalities in other parts
oI the world are based on fgures in the NOAA database
12
.
The travel times Ior the 2004 and 2006 tsunamis in Indonesia
are Irom reports oI post-tsunami surveys in mainland
Aceh
7,31
, on Simeulue Island
33
, and in Java
16
. Stopped clocks
and tsunami videos give evidence Ior a roughly 45-minute
travel time in central Banda Aceh according to a French
and Indonesian group that reconstructed the tsunami`s
chronology Irom comprehensive feld observations
31
. The
timeline is based on reIerences 33 (Langi) and 31 (clocks),
and on camera data provided by Bedu Saini, photojournalist
with Harian Serambi Indonesia.
The ISDR report
55
ranks Indonesia frst in number
oI people exposed to tsunamis. The report also places
Indonesia among the six nations Iacing the greatest losses
oI liIe Irom the combination oI tropical cyclones, foods,
earthquakes, and landslides (the others are Bangladesh,
China, Colombia, India, Myanmar). The report relates
these risks oI death not just to the natural hazards but also to
population, standard oI living, governance, environmental
quality, and climate change.
According to a recent survey that draws on tsunami
modeling and vulnerability assessments
41
, '4.35 million
Indonesians live in tsunami endangered areas on the southern
coasts oI Sumatra, Java and Bali and have between 20 and
150 min|utes| to reach a tsunami-saIe area.
Sea-level gauges
35
and computer simulations
54
show how
the 2004 tsunami spread across the Indian Ocean, continued
into the Atlantic, and leaked into the Pacifc. The tsunami
registered on tide gauges as distant as Valparaiso (24 hours
aIter the earthquake), Hilo (27 hours), Bermuda (28 hours),
and Kodiak, Alaska (39 hours). The 1946 Aleutian tsunami,
which spurred the frst eIIorts to provide advance warning oI
tsunamis generated on the Pacifc Rim, took about 5 hours to
earthquake
53
. The plate-tectonic map below is simplifed
Irom ones in reIerences 50 and 51.
OIten shown radiating Irom an earthquake epicenter, the
2004 Indian Ocean tsunami resulted instead Irom warping
oI the ocean foor in an area extending 1,500 km northward
along the trench Irom northern Sumatra to the Andaman
Islands and beyond
9
. This enormous rupture length, greater
than any other in the last 100 years or more, helps explain
why the 2004 Aceh-Andaman earthquake approaches the
greatest earthquake recorded instrumentally, the giant
WHERE THE FIRST WAVE ARRIVES IN MINUTES 24 WHERE THE FIRST WAVE ARRIVES IN MINUTES
reach Hawaii
47
. The 1960 Chilean tsunami reached Hawaii
in 15 hours
13
and Japan in just under a Iull day
2
.
TheEarthHayRememberwhatPeop|eForget
(p.5}
THE SAND BEDS in the Thai photo Iurther suggest that
a total oI Iour Indian Ocean tsunamis like the one in 2004
have occurred since 2,500-2,800 years ago, Ior an average
recurrence interval oI 800-900 years or less
27
. Geologic
evidence Ior predecessors to the 2004 tsunami has also been
reported Irom Aceh Barat near Meulaboh
36
and Irom India in
the Andaman and Nicobar Islands
43, 44
and south oI Chennai
42
.
The sand bed shown in the photo Irom Pangandaran haV
not yet been documented in scientifc journals.
Multiple centuries typically separate back-to-back
earthquakes recorded geologically at several other
subduction zones including Sumatra
48
, Cascadia
3, 19, 39,
Hokkaido
37, 46,
and south-central Chile
10
. At these zones,
steady motion oI tectonic plates converging at centimeters
per year produces the seismic slip that makes the zones`
largest earthquakes. The steady motion, like money put in
a savings account every payday, can take centuries to yield
the average slip oI 10-20 meters in a giant earthquake, oI
magnitude 9.
It is an open question whether earthquakes oI magnitude
8 or larger can happen on the subduction zone that slants
beneath Java
34
. This zone`s largest earthquakes measured by
seismology
6,40
yielded the tsunamis that reportedly took 238
lives in eastern Java in 1994 and about 700 in western Java
in 2006. At moment magnitude 7.8 and 7.7, respectively,
these earthquakes had less than 1/1000th the size oI the 2004
earthquake, which attained a moment magnitude in the range
9.0-9.3; each whole number increase in the logarithmic scale
oI earthquake magnitude corresponds to a nearly 32-Iold
increase in seismic moment, a linear measure oI earthquake
size
28
.
howCrandparentsandCravesKeptHemor|es
A||ve(p.}
THE SAVING OF THOUSANDS oI lives by Simeulue`s
tsunami traditions has been documented most Iully in
an Indonesian report also available in English
24
. A brieI
account oI the evacuation oI Langi appears in a collection
oI scientifc and engineering papers on the 2004 tsunami
33
.
The same collection contains an analysis by geologists and
psychologists oI natural warnings oI the 2004 tsunami in
Thailand
20
.
In a widely known celebration oI traditional knowledge
about tsunamis, a Greek-American journalist fctionalized
an evacuation by Japanese villagers who in real liIe were
well-practiced in using an earthquake as their cue to go to
high ground. In the journalist`s dramatic retelling
23
,noneoI
them know to take this cue except Ior an elderly man steeped
in traditional knowledge. Too Iar away to be heard, the man
lures the clueless villagers to high ground by torching all oI
his Ireshly harvested rice. The earthquake that he notices
is weak, like the real earthquake whose stealth tsunami
killed 22,000 people in northeast Japan in 1896. The story,
published soon aIter that disaster and known in Japanese as
potential. Earthquake size is estimated most readily by
measuring what a seismologist, Emile Okal, has called
'treble notes the high-Irequency waves that people Ieel.
The 1994 and 2006 earthquakes, however, were dominated
by 'bass notes. For much the same reason that people
scarcely Ielt these earthquakes, it is possible to underestimate
their size by neglecting their low-Irequency content.
Seismologists have now come up with work-arounds
30, 56
.
Indonesia oIfcially inaugurated a national tsunami-
warning system in November 2008. As with such systems in
Japan and the United States
57
, the initial cue is an undersea
earthquake detected by seismometers (http://www.jtic.
org/en/jtic/images/dlPDF/bhabudpar/TheIndonesian
WarningChainV2.pdI). The seismic waves, by traveling
tens oI times Iaster than tsunami waves, make possible initial
warning messages within several minutes. Water-level
gauges on the coast and oIIshore are then to show whether a
tsunami has been generated, aIter time lags under evaluation.
The Tsunam| Hay Arr|ve efore 0fc|a|
Cu|dance6an(p.8}
INTERVIEWS IN PADANG fve to six weeks aIter the
earthquake oI September 30, 2009 yielded lessons on
the roles oI natural and oIfcial warnings in a city where
an estimated 200,000 persons reside in areas subject
to a Iast arriving tsunami. These lessons are spelled
out in a recent report
25
available at http://www.jtic.org/
en/inIo-sources/other-tsunami-sources/publications.
html?download13143A30-minutes-in-the-city-oI-padang.
Among 200 individuals interviewed, halI evacuated
in response to the earthquake alone, and Iour-fIths oI
these evacuees got underway in the frst 15 minutes. But
meanwhile, oIfcials Irom government agencies and non-
governmental organizations grappled with receiving and
broadcasting inIormation about the lack oI tsunami threat.
Outages oI power and telephone service contributed to delays
in notiIying the public in Padang that the earthquake was
unlikely to generate a tsunami. The report`s authors Iound
that in Padang, oIfcial inIormation about the absence oI a
tsunami threat was largely unavailable to the public in the
frst 30 minutes aIter the earthquake.
Decentralized government in Indonesia gives local
jurisdictions the authority to order and cancel tsunami
|nan|nterv|ew|n200,8abr|(|eft}ofLakuban,8|meu|ue,sa|d
hecou|dst|||reca||the1907tsunam|.
'Inamura no hi ('The rice-sheaI fre), brought the word
'tsunami into the English language
4
.
|fTheEarth8hakes,aTsunam|Hay8oon
Fo||ow(p.7}
FEEBLE SHAKING like that Irom the 1994 and 2006 Java
earthquakes poses a challenge Ior oIfcial tsunami warnings
as well as Ior natural ones. Tsunami-warning centers make
rapid estimates oI earthquake size as a frst clue to tsunami
25
NOTES
evacuations. Thus that authority resided with oIfcials in
Padang, not with the National Tsunami Warning Center.
The8eaHayw|thdraw8hort|yefore|tAttacks
(p.9}
THE INITIAL WITHDRAWAL in Aceh, uncommon to the
west in peninsular India and Sri Lanka, resulted Irom the
tsunami`s initial shape: an elongate ridge a Iew meters high
fanked on its east by a parallel trough
17
. This ridge and
trough at the sea surIace mimicked warping oI the sea foor,
a warping caused by the same Iault slip that produced the
earthquake itselI (diagram, p. 2). The sea foor raised the sea
surIace where the leading part oI the overriding tectonic plate
ran up the rupture on the sloping Iault plane. The sea foor
lowered the sea surIace where this sudden slip stretched, and
consequently thinned, the trailing part oI the overriding plate.
The downwarp included the northwest coast oI Aceh
31
.
According to a post-tsunami survey in southern Sri
Lanka
18
, the 2004 tsunami began there with a positive
wave about 1 m high. A later positive wave, or waves, Iar
exceeded the frst and attained a maximum measured height
oI nearly 4 m near the area shown on page 9.
6||mbaTa||u||d|ng(p.1-17}
A RECONNAISSANCE STUDY oI structures damaged
in Banda Aceh blamed tsunami-related damage on water
pressure Irom the tsunami and on the impact oI debris that
the water carried. The report
45
concluded that 'the damaging
eIIects oI the tsunami were most pronounced in unreinIorced
masonry walls, nonengineering reinIorced concrete
buildings, and low-rise timber-Iramed buildings. Regarding
the city`s mosques, the same report described them as
supported by circular columns oI high-quality reinIorced
concrete that resisted seismic loads. These columns limited
the damage that the mosques sustained beIore the tsunami
attacked them. Figure 26 oI reIerence 45 gives additional
views oI the Mesjid Baiturrahim, which post-tsunami repairs
have reshaped. Tenku Imum told Muhammad Dirhamsyah,
in 2010, that Iour persons survived the 2004 tsunami in this
mosque.
Recommended designs Ior vertical evacuation structures
in the United States are intended to allow a tsunami to
pass through ground foors without damage to supporting
columns, braces, or walls
1
.
A government report on property damage, issued two
weeks aIter the 2006 tsunami, states that the tsunami
destroyed 1,986 buildings. These included hotels, residential
and government buildings. The report is quoted in reIerence
22.
Teteu amusiat loga
Teteu katinambu leleu
Teteu girisit nyau`nyau`
Amagolu` teteuta pelebuk
Arotadeake baikona
Kuilak pai-pai gou`gou`
Lei-lei gou`gou`
Barasita teteu
Lalaklak paguru sailet
Teteu amusiat loga
Teteu girisit nyau`nyau`
Teteu katinambu leleu
Amagolu` teteuta Pelebuk
Aratadde ake baikona
Uilak pai-pai gou`gou`
Uilak lei-lei gou`gou`
GrandIather, the squirrel is chattering
GrandIather, noise comes Irom the hills
GrandIather, land is sliding
Angry our grandIather seashell
The Baiko tree is cut
The Kuilak bird faps its tail like a chicken
The chicken`s tail shivers
Here comes GrandIather
Rumbling sound people hiding
Earthquake the squirrel is chatteriing
Earthquake the landslide is roaring
Earthquake in the middle oI the Iorest
GrandIather Pelebu is angry
The baikona tree is cut
The tail oI the pai-pai bird is fapping
The tail oI the chicken is fapping
THE NORTHE5N VERSES and their literal meaning in
English were told to Ardito Kodijat by Koen Meyers,
Darmanto, and Hendrikus Napitupulu oI UNESCO Jakarta.
Darmanto and Hedrikus are stationed on South Siberut,
one oI the northeUn Mentawai Island. The southern verses
and their translation into Indonesian were provided to
Eko Yulianto by Jon Hendra oI Limosua, on the southern
Mentawai island oI Pagai Selatan.
An earthquake and tsunami on February 10, 1797, begin
the documentary history oI earthquakes and tsunamis oII
West Sumatra
21, 40
. Natural records Iound in corals have
helped to clariIy and extend this history; the corals show
the size and extent oI the ruptures on the subduction thrust
beneath the Mentawai Islands