Learning survival lessons in the wake of a tsunami

More than a decade after the tsunami that devastated the city of Banda Aceh on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, a Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC student is visisting a nearby island close to the epicentre to discover why it largely avoided loss of lives in the disaster.

Charles Darwin University PhD student Steve Sutton has travelled to Sinabang on the southern end of the island of Pulau Simeulue this month to talk to the community about how preparedness played a role in their survival.

“The island of Simeulue, 150 km off the coast of Sumatra, was the first location struck by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami but reportedly lost only a handful of lives,” Steve said.

“In neighbouring Sumatra three per cent of the population died.”

With a background in archaeology and Indigenous heritage, Steve said he hoped to investigate and understand the social and environmental factors that led to such an outcome. 

“Most research into disaster risk reduction focuses on the losses arising from bushfires and natural hazards and how to avoid similar losses in the future,” he said.

“Very little research considers situations where losses have been avoided by effective practices. The really compelling thing about the story of Simeulue is the way the entire community responded to the disaster.”

As part of his PhD Steve will talk to the community in Sinabang and document the behaviours that contributed to averting devastating loss of life.

“I want to understand why this particular community prepared and what, if any, were the environmental or cultural signs,” he said.