‘We still carry the tsunami with us’: Aceh thrives 20 years after disaster, but scars remain

Madam Fauziah Basyariah, 55, is one of the survivors of the tsunami. She now runs a souvenir stall near the boat that saved her and her five children.

She recounted being out on the street after the quake that fateful morning on Dec 26, 2004, afraid to seek shelter for fear of aftershocks.

The last thing she expected was for the seawater to rise.

“My eldest son was on his way to school, but he came running back, yelling at me to get to higher ground,” she said.

Only seven years old then, Madam Fauziah’s son pushed her up the stairs of her neighbour’s two-storey house, along with her four other children, including a five-month-old baby.

However, their relief was short-lived.

A fishing boat that had been carried inland by the waves crashed into the roof, leaving them trapped on the upper floor as the surrounding waters began to rise.

They stayed in the boat until late afternoon, when the water had receded enough for them to disembark. By then, the streets were littered with corpses. Madam Fauziah’s husband, mother and younger sister were among the more than 166,000 people who died – predominantly in Aceh – many of whom were unidentified and buried in mass graves.

Banda Aceh, on the northern tip of Sumatra, was nearest to the powerful quake’s epicentre and the first waves arrived within half an hour. A roiling mountain of water deluged the coastal city of about 239,000, crushing buildings, vehicles and trees, the rushing rapids sweeping away everything in its path. Here, more than 60,000 men, women and children died that day, or one out of every four residents.

Aceh was the worst hit by what became known as one of the world’s worst natural disasters of the 21st century. In total, the worst tsunami disaster in history claimed more than 226,000 lives in 15 countries across Asia and Africa, including India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and to a lesser extent, Malaysia.

Today, the only visible signs of the tsunami’s trail of destruction are the numerous monuments erected throughout the province. But the aftermath of the disaster bestowed a larger legacy – economic aid, new infrastructure and political stability.

Dozens of countries poured billions of dollars, and sent teams for relief efforts and reconstruction in the ensuing years, setting the foundation on which Aceh’s residents could rebuild their lives and an economic future.

In the immediate aftermath of the tsunami, Madam Fauziah helped with the clean-up, for which she was paid 50,000 rupiah (S$4.20) a day.

The following year, she received training to make “ikan kayu”, a local delicacy made from tuna, that she now sells to tourists for 50,000 rupiah a jar. Her cooking lessons came courtesy of the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency (BRR) for Aceh and Nias, an initiative to rebuild Aceh by then-Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Today, Madam Fauziah is a successful entrepreneur, shipping her products throughout the archipelago, and with 10 workers in her employ. Each month, she rakes in an average income of 30 million rupiah – a fourfold increase from what her shopkeeper husband used to earn.

International assistance in the form of funding, manpower and expertise have yielded other gains.

Before the tsunami hit, the Acehnese were generally wary and cold towards foreigners, Mr Teuku Ali Devi, who heads West Aceh’s chamber of commerce, told The Straits Times. But attitudes have changed since.

“Last time, if we saw a foreigner, maybe all we’d give were curious glances. Right now, you’ll almost always hear locals say, ‘Welcome’ instead,” he said.

“Foreigners have also taught us to build infrastructure such as roads and bridges to a high quality standard,” said Mr Teuku, who is also head of the West Aceh branch of the Indonesia Off-Road Federation.

“All the help we’ve received from the global community… really helped to set up a strong foundation for the economy, and the progress we are seeing today is much attributable to them,” he added, referring to foreign nations, as well as international non-governmental organisations and United Nations agencies.

Professor Hafas Furqani, dean of syariah economics and business studies at Ar-Raniry State Islamic University in Aceh, said that in the first 10 years after the tsunami, Aceh’s economy was heavily reliant on international assistance. But by the second decade, Aceh could stand on its own two feet.

Better infrastructure and an openness to outsiders have sparked ambitions for Aceh to become a tourist destination on par with Bali and Labuan Bajo.

Mr Teuku said: “These are not just pipe dreams. We have caves, waterfalls, and beaches. We even have a volcano, and hot springs.”

Since 2004, several hotels have sprung up in Aceh, with most of them clustered in the capital Banda Aceh.

While its natural landscape is its main selling point, Aceh’s tsunami-related monuments are attractions in their own right, bringing in Indonesian and foreign visitors.

The “lifeboat” that saved Madam Fauziah and her neighbours remains perched atop the now-abandoned house in Lampulo village, a testament to the indelible events that unfolded on that fateful day.

There are reminders elsewhere too.

At the site of PLTD Apung, an electric generator barge nestled in the middle of a residential neighbourhood in Jaya Baru, dozens of people had shown up on Nov 24 to climb the ship’s deck and explore the surroundings.

One of them, Mr Ari Saefudin, 51, from Jakarta, said he made the journey after learning about the 2,600-ton vessel in the media.

“All this time, I had only seen videos of this vessel being carried by the tsunami 3km inland in the news and on YouTube. Today, I finally got to see it with my own eyes,” he said.

The Tsunami Museum in Aceh saw 16,993 foreign visitors between January and October 2024, with Malaysians making up the bulk of them, followed by tourists from the Netherlands, said Madam Nurul Latifa, one of the museum’s educators.

The museum also functions as an evacuation centre, and can hold up to 3,000 people in the event another tsunami strikes Aceh.

Muslim tourists in particular were drawn to religious monuments that survived intact, said Madam Latifa. These include the Baiturrahman Grand Mosque, which withstood the waves even as other buildings around it were reduced to rubble.

Another monument that draws visitors is a mosque’s dome which the waves carried kilometres away from the building it had been attached to.

“People visit these places to pray. It’s like a mini-pilgrimage where they remember God,” said Madam Latifa.

“The tsunami monuments here aren’t just a reminder of what happened, they also give people the opportunity to reflect on how fragile life is,” said the 35-year-old.

At the time of the tsunami, Aceh was a restive and impoverished region that had been dogged by armed conflict between separatist leaders from the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and Indonesia’s central government for nearly three decades.

Gunshots could be heard almost every single day, and people lived in fear, said poultry seller Jainuddin, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.

Seated at a Singapore-built pier in Meulaboh – located some five hours away from Banda Aceh – the 55-year-old said: “It was impossible to go out at night back then.

“There was always the chance that you’d get caught in the middle of a firefight between GAM and the Indonesian army.”

The conflict affected livelihoods too, said Mr Yusmi Hamzah, 53, a fisherman in Banda Aceh.

Fish was plentiful, but it was difficult for traders to travel around and to market the fishermen’s hauls. Sales were largely limited to customers in close proximity as people were reluctant to leave their homes to purchase fish, he added.

More than 15,000 people were killed in the years of violence between 1976 and 2005, and earlier attempts to broker a peace deal had always ended in failure.

The destruction wreaked by the 2004 tsunami, and the prospect of international aid for disaster relief and rebuilding efforts, expedited peace talks. On Aug 15, 2005, a peace agreement was signed between GAM leaders and representatives of the Indonesian government in Helsinki, Finland, ending the 30-year conflict.

Aceh received a special autonomous status, able to decide its own laws, and relying on the central government in Jakarta for only matters such as defence, foreign affairs, national security and monetary policy.

Meanwhile the government agreed to withdraw non-Acehnese troops from the province, leaving behind only 25,000 soldiers. In exchange, GAM agreed to disarm.

To monitor the transition, the European Union (EU) dispatched 226 people as part of a monitoring mission, with people drawn from EU member states, five Asean states including Singapore, as well as Norway and Switzerland.

In December 2006, Aceh went to the polls and elected a former GAM leader as its governor. Since then, former GAM members have taken the helm. The current Governor-elect, Mr Muzakir Manaf, used to lead the group’s guerilla wing before its dissolution.

Ahead of his election at regional polls on Nov 27, Mr Muzakir told ST over lunch in Meulaboh that he planned to promote foreign investment to help fuel the province’s economy.

Touting Aceh’s rich natural resources, he highlighted opportunities in sectors such as gold and coal mining, oil and gas, and tourism.

“Aceh offers many things that foreign investors want… It is more attractive (compared to other places in Indonesia). Now, we must convince these investors that we can guarantee security and comfort,” Mr Muzakir added, reiterating that Aceh is no longer a conflict zone.

Ar-Raniry University’s Prof Hafas noted that the decades-old Arun liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant will resume operations after a hiatus since 2014.

A new gas reserve was discovered in the Andaman Sea, north of Aceh, in late 2023, and was touted as the world’s second largest deep water discovery of the year with a potential for more than 170 billion cubic m of gas-in-place. The expected natural gas output from this will be processed into LNG at the Arun gas plant.

“We are optimistic. Things can only go up from here,” said Prof Hafas.

For now, the agriculture, forestry and fishery sectors account for the largest share of Aceh’s economy, at about 30 per cent as of the second quarter of 2024, according to data from the Central Statistics Agency published in November.

The province, which has a population of 5.5 million across 58,000 sq km, an area almost 80 times the size of Singapore, recorded a gross regional domestic product (GRDP) of 227.1 trillion rupiah for 2023. By comparison, the size of Jakarta’s economy for that year was 3,443 trillion rupiah, while GRDP for popular tourist destination Bali stood at 274.4 trillion rupiah.

Mr Muzakir said a Chinese firm is considering setting up a vehicle assembly plant in the province for export to Africa. He said the factory would take up a plot of land larger than 50ha, or roughly the size of 70 football fields, but declined to disclose further details.

He said that an investor from Singapore was eyeing Sabang – an island in the Malacca Strait that is a two-hour ferry ride from Banda Aceh – to build a cargo terminal.

He also said that he intends to give away 2ha plots of land in Aceh to each of the 53 nations that lent a helping hand after the 2004 tsunami. Among the countries that rushed to Aceh’s aid were Singapore, Britain, and China.

“It’s up to them to put the land to use, like build a hotel there, or anything,” said Mr Muzakir.

Tourism and local consumption are other potential bright spots.

Sabang island has become a bustling destination for Indonesian and foreign visitors keen on watersports.

Sabang resident Hendri Mirza, 37, said the island offers attractions like white and black sand beaches, snorkelling and diving spots, hot springs from a dormant volcano, waterfalls and a cave.

“Many come here for snorkelling and diving. The highest number of foreign tourists are from Malaysia,” he said. According to government data, Aceh province saw nearly 30,000 foreign visitors in 2023, surging from 2,632 in the previous year amid Covid-19 travel restrictions.

Aceh’s economy too has improved since the tsunami, although it is still recovering from the effects of the pandemic.

“Business was generally good between the reconstruction and just before the pandemic. It has been lacklustre since the pandemic,” said Mr Harsha Ibrahim, a manager at a store that sells paint for houses and buildings on Banda Aceh’s thoroughfare Panglima Polem.

Prof Hafas says the overall economy has been consistently growing at between 4 per cent and 5 per cent annually in the past five years.

Banda Aceh was largely reconstructed during the first five years following the tsunami

“Among the positive indicators are the surging number of hotels in Banda Aceh, restaurant business is picking up, and processing industries such as those that make coffee beans, chocolate beans and foods are emerging,” Prof Hafas told ST.

While tourism is set to be a key focus for its economic future, Aceh’s reputation as the only Indonesian province to enforce syariah law may prove to be a dampener.

Local residents, of whom about 98 per cent are Muslim, however, say that the religious law is not implemented as strictly as perceived.

Canings have become less of an occurrence, compared to the early 2000s when such punishments were first instituted, according to Mr Sudirman Said, former deputy head of BRR. In 2018, Aceh province announced it will no longer allow canings for violations of syariah law to be carried out in public. Leaders like Mr Muzakir told ST he takes a more reformist approach, insisting that tourists would not be subject to syariah law in the same way that locals would.

Dr Mainita, the dean for the faculty of law at the Muhammadiyah University in Aceh noted that no foreigners have been punished under syariah law since it was instituted in the province in 2002. But she believes there should not be exceptions to how the laws are enforced.

“Wherever we travel, we’re expected to follow the law of the land. So if foreigners come to Aceh, they must similarly respect its laws,” she said.

While Aceh’s population has focused on moving on from the tsunami and rebuilding their lives in the last 20 years, memories of the disaster and lessons learnt from it linger on.

Meanwhile, the threat of future tsunamis, exacerbated by climate change, is ever present.

Banda Aceh took almost a decade to get back to its pre-tsunami population numbers

The Tsunami Museum’s Madam Latifa said of the threat: “It’s not a matter of if, but when, and we are definitely worried for our future generations, who may have been too young to experience the tragedy.”

To that end, she said the museum continually updates its exhibits to pique the interest of the younger Acehnese and keep them visiting, including setting up spots for social media photographs, or using manga – Japanese graphic novels – as a medium through which to educate them.

She added that the museum also engages students on a regular basis, practising tsunami evacuation drills with them.

“We sound the evacuation siren and time how quickly they can get to the rooftop.

“This reminds them of how much time they have to get to higher ground if the tsunami early warning system is triggered, because the waves can approach really quickly, and we want them to be prepared,” she said.

Over the years, seven tsunami evacuation centres have been erected across Banda Aceh, said Madam Latifa, as the hills are too far away for people living in the city to get to.

At four to five storeys high, these “escape buildings”, as they are known locally, stand out from their immediate surroundings because of how tall they are in comparison to homes and shops, which are mostly ground-level.

“Physically, a lot has changed,” said fisherman Che Iskandar, 44, who lives in a village about 5km away from the coastline, and lost his whole family to the disaster.

“Yet we still carry the experience of the tsunami with us. For those of us who survived, all we can do is keep on living.”

For Meulaboh resident Muhammad Saleh, 46, the tsunami left him without a stable job for seven months. He then became a pushcart seller until 2013, hawking women’s accessories such as combs, hairpins and wallets in residential neighbourhoods. Before the tsunami, he worked as a storekeeper.

“Months after the tsunami when things were starting to get normal and people had some money from the assistance, they began to shop. Anything we offered got taken,” said Mr Saleh, now a mechanic at an electricity power plant in Meulaboh.

Mr Munawir Saputra, 30, cultivates a 500 sq m durian plantation, which he inherited from his parents-in-law, in Calang district – about a 2½-hour drive from Banda Aceh. He lost his parents-in-law and a sister-in-law to the tsunami.

For him, the disaster had an equalising effect on Aceh’s population.

“Before the tsunami, the rich lived in a brick house and the poor in the wooden house here. Today, everyone is equal. Everyone lives in a brick house,” he said.