BY NURDIN HASAN (DEUTCHE PRESSE-AGENTUR)
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A woman riding a motorcycle past the Aceh Tsunami Museum in Banda Aceh [Nurdin Hasan Photo] |
Banda Aceh, TAG – Nine years after the Indian Ocean tsunami, the
capital of Indonesia's Aceh province is now a bustling city, with a museum and
a large ship pushed inland by the wave among few reminders of the devastation.
Lives
have returned to normal for many of the survivors, but others are still
struggling with a lack of adequate housing.
"I
will never forget that day. It was a terrifying experience," said
29-year-old Nanda Suhada, whose father, brother and grandmother died when the
giant wave stuck their neighbourhood in Banda Aceh.
She
now works as a guide on an erstwhile floating power plant that has become a
tsunami monument and tourist attraction. The 2,600-ton ship was pushed ashore
three kilometres by the tsunami.
"I
can tell visitors what happened in detail during the tsunami because I
experienced it myself. I also make a decent living working here," Suhada
said.
The
ship is visited by between 500 and 1,000 people daily, including some
foreigners, she said.
The
Dec 26, 2004 tsunami, triggered by a massive earthquake off Sumatra, killed
about 170,000 people in Aceh and wiped clean an 800-kilometre coastline.
Today,
the provincial capital Banda Aceh is a thriving city, with new buildings
including the posh city hall, hotels and shopping centres having emerged from
the devastation.
The
modern four-storey Aceh Tsunami Museum, built in 2009, serves a symbolic
reminder of the disaster, its roof resembling a high wave.
The
response to the disaster has been touted as an example of successful
international cooperation.
Since
the tsunami, more than 130,000 houses, 250 kilometres of roads, 18 new
hospitals and other infrastructure have been built, according to the
government.
More
than 80,000 hectares of agricultural land has been rehabilitated or cleared for
use and 15,000 hectares of fish ponds have been created.
The
disaster also prompted the Indonesian government to take steps to boost
disaster preparedness.
"Since
the tsunami, there has been tremendous increase in our capacity to deal with
disasters," said Sutopo Nugroho, spokesman for the National Disaster
Management Agency, which was set up after the tsunami disaster.
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Floating power plant ship has become a tsunami monument in Banda Aceh's Punge Blang Cut village [Nurdin Hasan Photo] |
The
annual budget for disaster control has increased tenfold since five years ago,
from 300 billion rupiah (24.6 million dollars) to 3 trillion rupiah, and local
disaster management agencies have been established in more than 400 districts
across the country.
An
advanced tsunami warning system, built with assistance from the German
government, can issue an alert less than five minutes after an earthquake and
regular tsunami drills are conducted on Sumatra.
“There
are still problems in improving the capacity at the district level because of
inadequate local funding,” Nugroho said.
But
things have improved little for some tsunami survivors.
Twenty
families still live in temporary barracks in Banda Aceh’s coastal village of
Ulee Lheue because they did not get permanent housing.
“No
one cares for us even though we were victims of the tsunami,” said Burhan, one
of the fishermen who live in dilapidated wooden shacks with their families in
Ulee Lheue since the village was obliterated by the wave.
The
government has built a harbour and a ferry service linking Banda Aceh and
Sabang island. It also created a small lake where families can have picnics at
the weekends or relax at nearby cafes.
The
road linking the city to the harbour is smoothly paved, in contrast to the
wooden shacks where Burhan and his neighbours live.
“We were supposed to get new houses but other people
took them away from us,” Burhan said. “So we ended up here.”[]
Aceh Thriving After Tsunami
Reviewed by theacehglobe
on
December 22, 2013
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