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BANDA ACEH, Indonesia, BAN NAM KHEM, Thailand, and WASHINGTON — Two decades after tens of thousands were killed in the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami – considered the deadliest on record – Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia have established early warning systems, but activists say that disaster preparedness is lacking.
The tsunami struck in the wake of a 9.1 magnitude earthquake off Sumatra island on Dec. 26, 2004. Its massive waves traveled thousands of miles, wreaking devastation and killing more than 230,000 people in over a dozen Asian and African countries, which were caught off guard.
In Indonesia’s Aceh province alone – near the epicenter of the undersea quake – the tsunami killed over 167,000 people, while neighboring nations Thailand and Malaysia reported over 8,200 and 75 deaths, respectively, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA.
Along the Aceh coast, tsunami waves crested as high as 50 meters (167 feet). They were triggered by the earthquake whose epicenter lay 30 kilometers (19 miles) below the ocean floor, and which struck in the morning on that Sunday, which fell on Boxing Day.
Twenty years later, an Acehnese survivor is calling on her nation to do more.
Irma Lisa, whose village lost 90% of its residents, has dedicated herself to teaching younger generations about tsunami risks.
“The government is not doing enough to educate the next generation,” she told BenarNews. “Some schools are located very close to the sea, yet disaster preparedness is completely absent, not only from their curriculum, but even from their extracurricular activities.”
Irma, the Mon Ikeun village secretary, recalled the day giant waves washed through her village.
“We saw the seawater rising and shouted to people along the road to run,” she told BenarNews. “We didn’t even know it was a tsunami at that time.”
Despite such concerns, an official who coordinates the Tsunami and Disaster-Mitigation Research Center at Syiah Kuala University in Banda Aceh, said the province had a sophisticated detection system in place. Still, some components including buoys that monitor sea-level changes have been damaged, he indicated.
“The main system, including earthquake sensors, is still functioning well and has even been upgraded recently,” said Muksin, who goes by one name.
He stressed that even the most advanced technology could not replace human judgment and action.
“There’s a general understanding here that we live in an earthquake zone and this awareness has led to better building practices compared to other parts of Indonesia,” he said.
Indonesia’s warning system relies primarily on a combination of sensors including seismometers, GPS instruments, tide gauges and ocean bottom pressure sensors, according to officials. Buoys are not necessary, they said, because they could be damaged or stolen by fishermen.
When an undersea earthquake occurs, the system uses data from sensors placed along the ocean floor to detect any resulting changes in sea level. This information is relayed to a central monitoring station where experts analyze the data to determine the likelihood of a tsunami.
Key locations for the system include areas in Sumatra, particularly Padang, as well as regions in South Java, Bali and other coastal areas at risk of tsunami events.
If the potential for a tsunami is confirmed, warnings are issued to relevant authorities and the public, using various communication methods, including text messages, radio broadcasts, and sirens.
‘Risk remains high’
Ahmad Dadek, who heads Aceh’s Development Planning Agency, said the region was still vulnerable to tsunamis.
“Our disaster risk remains high, but the resilience index is still low,” Dadek told BenarNews, referring to the capacity to cope with and recover from disasters.
He said Aceh’s government has taken steps to incorporate disaster-prone zones into its urban planning to mitigate risks.
“However, the implementation on the ground is more complicated than we anticipated,” he said. “Coastal areas were initially planned as no-residence zones, but due to various issues, these areas have become populated. We need to take additional measures.”
Disaster preparedness is personal for survivor Arif Munandar, 55, who lost 27 family members in the 2004 tsunami. A technician for Aceh’s disaster management agency, Arif maintains the tsunami warning system and leads community education efforts.
“The government is utilizing various media, such as videos and YouTube, to educate the public about tsunamis,” he told BenarNews. “The media serves as an effective tool to convey information and involve the community in disaster simulations.”
Elsewhere, the Thai government has installed two tsunami detection stations – one in 2006 about 965 km (600 miles from) Phuket and one in 2017 about 340 km (211 miles) from Phuket and within the exclusive economic zone.
A Thai senator expressed concern that warnings from those detectors could be ignored.
“The most frightening aspect is people’s lack of awareness and preparedness. Even with warning buoys in place, it depends on whether people understand when to prepare for potential warning signals,” Ratchaneekorn Thongthip told BenarNews.
“In Thailand, we place more emphasis on post-disaster recovery rather than prevention. We allocate substantial budgets for recovery efforts, but never the same level of funding for prevention and preparedness,” said Sen. Ratchaneekorn, founder of the International Tsunami Museum in Phang Nga, the Thai province on the Andaman Sea that bore the country’s brunt of the 2004 tsunami.
She called for a shift in focus “because being prepared can mitigate the severity of any disaster.”
Malaysian siren network
Meanwhile in Malaysia, the meteorological department (METMalaysia) established the National Tsunami Early Warning System, which has been integrated into systems including the U.S.-run Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii and the Japan Meteorological Agency.
The Malaysian system has 83 sirens strung across the nation that activate along with short message service (texts) and media alerts when a threat is identified, said Mohd Hisham Mohd Anip, METMalaysia director-general. He said tsunami-response drills had been held since 2006.
“Malaysia recognized that the public has to be aware regarding the tsunami risks,” he told BenarNews. “This is vital as this is the deciding factor to mitigate the tsunami risk to the public.”
Authorities in the three countries did not release details on the number of times their warning systems had been activated.
In the United States, the NOAA admitted that the “Indian Ocean tragedy was a wake-up call to the world about the dangers of tsunami,” adding it had taken significant steps to improve detection at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii and other locations. On Dec. 26, 2004, the Hawaiian center had detected the earthquake off Sumatra and tried to help alert Indian Ocean countries about the approaching tsunami.
Those steps include: increasing the number of Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunami, or DART, buoys from six to 39; installing or upgrading 188 coastal stations to support warning operations; upgrading the network to transmit 100% of seismic data in real time; and developing forecasting models.
Tsunamis: An old phenomenon
At Banda Aceh’s Syiah Kuala University, researchers have been working to uncover the region’s geological history, revealing a pattern of devastation.
“We have found evidence of tsunamis occurring as far back as 7,400 years ago,” researcher Nazli Ismail told BenarNews. “And the pattern is not regular – there have been clusters of smaller tsunamis followed by massive ones, and then long periods of quiet.”
Such unpredictability underscores the need for vigilance.
“We cannot assume that just because a major tsunami happened in 2004, we are safe for another 200 years,” Nazli said. “Our research shows that tsunamis can strike with intervals of just 50 years, or even thousands of years.”
In Thailand, Ratchaneekorn, the senator, issued a warning.
“Because we don’t know when [a tsunami] will happen, many think, ‘It won’t happen during my lifetime,’ or that it’s something far in the future.”
Uzair Thamrin in Banda Aceh and Iman Muttaqin Yusof in Kuala Lumpur contributed to this report. BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news organization.