After 20 years, the post-tsunami generation stays vigilant for future disasters

(25 Dec 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Banda Aceh, Indonesia - 12 December 2024
1. Wide of students performing earthquake and tsunami drill by covering their heads and hiding under desks
2. Various of students hiding under the desks
3. SOUNDBITE (Indonesian) Rihadatul Aisy, high school student:
“This simulation is very useful because if a disaster happens, we will know how to do self-rescue. Then we also won’t be confused like people in the past."
4. Screen showing what actions to take in an earthquake or tsunami

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Banda Aceh, Indonesia - 11 December 2024
5. Various street scenes in Banda Aceh

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Banda Aceh, Indonesia - 12 December 2024
6. SOUNDBITE (Indonesian) Eka Sari Dewi, school principal:
“Students who attend the school now are those born after 2004. So, we also want to educate them about the history of the tsunami. We don’t want them to remain ignorant about that history, that there was a tragedy that may be dark for some people. However, today as the younger generation, they must know what they should do after the tsunami."

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Banda Aceh, Indonesia - 13 December 2024
7. Wide of people enjoying sunset at beach
8. Wide of surfer

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Banda Aceh, Indonesia - 11 December 2024
9. SOUNDBITE (Indonesian) Qurrata Ayuni, tsunami survivor:
“I hope the younger generation doesn’t forget that we were once hit by a very powerful tsunami. So for now, even though our infrastructure may have turned around and is very good, our economy has come back again, don’t forget the old incident."

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Banda Aceh, Indonesia - 13 December 2024
10. Mid of surfer
11. Wide of sunset

STORYLINE:
Qurrata Ayuni, a 28-year-old survivor of the earthquake and tsunami that devastated her hometown two decades ago, has transformed her resilience into purpose.

Defying Aceh's male-dominated coffee culture, she runs a café that serves as a welcoming space for everyone, especially women, by employing and empowering them in the region worst hit by the tragedy.

On Dec. 26, 2004, a powerful 9.1-magnitude earthquake, off the coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, triggered a tsunami that killed around 230,000 people across a dozen countries, reaching as far as East Africa. Some 160,000 of those were in Aceh, at the northwestern tip of Indonesia.

Ayuni survived the tsunami by chance, staying at her aunt’s house in Banda Aceh instead of her family home in Lampuuk, Aceh Besar district.

However, the disaster shattered her childhood, claiming the lives of her parents and younger sister, who was only six when their home was hit by the giant waves.

Infrastructure in Aceh has been rebuilt and is now stronger than before the tsunami. Early warning systems have been set up in areas closer to shores, to warn residents of a potential tsunami.

About 14 kilometers (nine miles) from Ayuni’s coffee shop, students in a public high school in Lhoknga regularly take part in disaster simulations, especially when there is a warning of an earthquake, and prepare to evacuate ahead of a possible tsunami.

They hide under the table and chant dhikr (the Islamic prayer) “la ilaha illallah” which means “There’s no God but Allah,” while waiting for the next direction to move from their classroom to the designated assembly point on the field at the front of the school.

The school has a devastating history. Situated about one kilometer (half a mile) from the shore, it was totally destroyed and flattened like other buildings.











AP video by Fadlan Syam



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