The 2004 earthquake and tsunami transformed Aceh forever. The tsunami devastated the Acehnese, who already had the misfortune of suffering a 30-year conflict and seen their province slide from relative prosperity in the 1970s to one of the poorest in Indonesia, notwithstanding its rich gas and other natural resources. The massive outpouring of aid and solidarity both domestic and international in the wake of the tsunami not only provided crucial relief and emergency assistance, but also created a window of opportunity to transform the political environment. Both the Government of Indonesia and the people of Aceh seized the opportunity: the Government of Indonesia and GAM signed a historic peace agreement and this ultimately led to former GAM members winning seats in free and fair elections in provincial and many district administrations. It is difficult to imagine a more remarkable and inspiring turnaround in a region that only three years ago had been cut off from the outside world. The earthquakes and tsunami
On December 26, 2004, an earthquake measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale (Source: United States Geological Survey) struck off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. It was the most powerful the world has seen in a generation. The epicentre was some 150 kilometres south of Meulaboh and about 250 kilometres from Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh province. The earthquake originated at a shallow point, some 30 kilometres below the Indian Ocean. In terms of energy released, it is the worst natural event in Indonesia since the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883. The earthquake generated a large tsunami that travelled rapidly throughout the Indian Ocean, striking beachfront areas in many countries with catastrophic results in Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh, as well as other Asian and East African countries, killing more than 150,000 people in the Indian Ocean region. The tsunami travelled at high speeds and 45 minutes after the earthquake it hit the Aceh coastline and within minutes it swept clean an 800 km coastal strip of Aceh – equivalent to the coastline from San Francisco to San Diego. Over 110,000 people were killed in Indonesia alone with over 700,000of those surviving findings themselves displaced from their homes when their houses were swept away or left in ruins. The tsunami caused unimaginable devastation and the scale of the damages to the local economy, infrastructure, and administration were unprecedented. In an instant, the livelihoods and security of hundreds of thousands of the survivors were ruined. Only three months later, another major earthquake struck the nearby island of Nias, causing additional heavy damage. The magnitude of these events triggered an amazing outpouring of compassion and generosity from around the world. Private citizens provided huge amounts of support, and donors pledged generously to help survivors.
Damage and losses
These events caused immense social, economic and environmental devastation to areas that were already poor, while sparking unprecedented emergency support. Before the tsunami, more than 28 percent of the population of Aceh and Nias lived in poverty and swift recovery was further complicated by the backdrop of the decades-long conflict in Aceh. The total estimate of damages and losses from this catastrophe in Indonesia was Rp. 41.4 trillion, or US$4.45 billion. Of the total, 66% constitutes damages, while 34% constitutes losses in the terms of income flows lost to the economy. The damage provides both an idea of the destruction of assets in the country as well as a baseline for defining the program of reconstruction. The sectors most impacted were primarily private-sector dominated assets and activities that relate directly to the personal livelihoods of the affected urban and rural communities: housing, commerce, agriculture and fisheries, and transport vehicles and services (US$2.8 billion, or 63% of total damage and losses). The biggest public sector damages were to infrastructure, the social sectors, and government administration (US$1.1 billion, or 25% of total damage and losses). There was also significant environmental damage to coral reefs and mangrove swamps, as well as destruction of many hectares of arable land. Damage & Losses Sector Assesment
Source: World Bank, Mar 2007 Tsunami Impact | Aceh | Nias | Fatalities | 129,775 | 961 | Missing people | 36,786 | 18 | Internally displaced people | 192,055 | 42,200 | Houses requiring repair (1) | 78,000 | - | Houses to be replaced (1) | 128,000 | 13,500 | Schools damaged or destroyed | 2,087 | - | Major health facilities damaged/destroyed | 106 | 16 | Small water sources damaged/destroyed | 10,124 | - | Coastal fishing boats lost | 4,717 | - | Hectares of fish ponds destroyed | 20,000 | - | Farmers displaced | 60,000 | - | Source: tsunami Recovery Indicators, UNIMS and BRR December 2005. (1) BRR, CFAN 3 Summit, April 2006 |
Reconstruction Landscape
Recognising the extent of the devastation, the Government of Indonesian (GOI) declared the tsunami in Aceh a national disaster. The international response that followed came from all corners of the world. Some 133 countries provided assistance to this humanitarian mission. Following the end of emergency response phase the government then established an agency responsible for the coordination and implementation of the rehabilitation and reconstruction plan for Aceh and Nias, the Agency of the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction for the Region and Community of Aceh and Nias (BRR).
The Government has approved a national amount of US$ 2.3 billion (Rp 21 trillion) for the five-year rehabilitation and reconstruction program (see the table below). By the end of 2007, BRR had spent 74 percent of the budgets to date, creating a need to carry over unspent funds into subsequent years. BRR’s Annual debt moratorium | 2005 | US$ 271,200,000 | 2006 | US$ 754,940,000 | 2007 | US$ 852,390,000 | 2008 | US$ 505,430,000 | TOTAL | US$2,383,960,000 | Source: BRR |
Along with the Government’s assistance programme, an unprecedented amount of assistance came from the international community with assistance pledges for reconstruction and development totalling US$7.8 billion. With such an outpouring of support, the government requested the World Bank to set up a Multi-Donor Fund (MDF) as one of the mechanisms to ensure an efficient and coordinated delivery of financial support. The MDF efficiently and effectively contributes to the reconstruction of a better Aceh and Nias by pooling donor resources and providing forums for donor coordination and policy dialogue.
Aceh History
The Province of Aceh, known formally as Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD), is on the northern tip of Sumatera. Aceh is surrounded by a crucial trade route, the Malacca Strait, to the north and east, the Province of North Sumatera in the south, and Indian Ocean in the west. The province covers an area of 57,365 km2 and has a population of approximately 4 million. At present, Aceh consists of 18 municipalities (kabupatens) and 5 cities (kotas). Banda Aceh is the capital. Islam came to Aceh as early as the ninth century and has remained the dominant religion. The population is 98.7 percent Muslim (BPS 2002). Indonesia’s first Islamic kingdoms were powerful Acehnese trading states. By the 1300s, the great kingdom of Samudra, located near present-day Lhokseumawe, was renowned as a center for trade and Islamic study. Aceh’s stature as a center of Islamic learning led to its nickname, the Veranda of Mecca. Syariah has been used as the basis of law for kingdoms in Aceh and is implemented in Aceh’s administration system. The Kingdom of Aceh was founded in the early sixteenth century and rose to prominence after the 1511 conquest of Malacca by the Portuguese. The kingdom’s golden age came in the early seventeenth century under Sultan Iskandar Mudah, who made Aceh one of the most important military and trading powers in the region. By 1820, Aceh supplied half the world’s pepper. A powerful and wealthy kingdom, it maintained relations with foreign powers including the Ottoman Empire, France, Great Britain, and the United States. When the Dutch appended Aceh in 1874, the Acehnese started a guerilla war that continued until 1912. Left unoccupied after World War II, Aceh played a pivotal role supplying funds to the republican government of Indonesia during the struggle for independence. In recognition of its contributions to the Indonesian independence struggle, Aceh was made an autonomous region in 1949. Turbulence followed for the remainder of the Soekarno regime. In 1950 the newly autonomous region was incorporated in the province of North Sumatera leading to the first Acehnese rebellion. Led by Daud Beureueh, the rebellion resulted in Aceh’s reinstatement as a province (1957) and autonomous region status in 1959. Greater autonomy, however, did not protect Aceh from the severe economic hardship experienced during the last years of Soekarno’s rule. Under the New Order, conditions in Aceh did not improve. The obvious richness of the province’s natural resources on the one hand and persistent poverty on the other hand exacerbated the population’s feelings of unequal treatment by the central government. The government did not address the prolonged social and economic imbalances, and another rebellion/separatist movement known as the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) started in 1976 under the leadership of Hasan Tiro. This struggle between the Government and GAM continued until 2005. Partially in response to these developments, in addition to nationwide decentralization, Aceh was granted Special Autonomy status under Law 18/2001. This law seeks to address crucial issues relating to inequality and the poor economic situation in Aceh and to offer Aceh greater autonomy in managing its resources and governance functions. The three key features of Aceh’s special autonomy are: - Large share of retained revenue from oil and gas
- Direct election of governor and head of local government (Bupati / Walikota)
- Implementation of Syari’ah / (Sharia) Islamic law
The 2005 Helsinki memorandum of understanding ended this 30-year conflict. It offers great opportunity for Acehnese to improve their communities’ economic performance, attain better living standards, and move toward a good governance system. The central government agreed to provide Aceh with a larger share of revenue from natural resources and special allocation from the General Allocation Fund. Law 11/2006 implementing these provisions was passed in August 2006. Also as part of the accord, the Government agreed to facilitate the establishment of Aceh-based political parties and in December 2006 Aceh held its first democratic elections. Irwandi Yusuf, a former GAM member and peace-negotiator was elected as Governor and inaugurated in February 2007. |
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This report on the damage and loss assessment on the Aceh flood provides a summary of data collected in the flood assessment. Data was initially provided to local government at the end of February and was presented to international agencies active in flood relief and reconstruction in a UNORC seminar on March 15, 2007.
The report provides information on:
- Affected locations and people which is discussed in Section I;
- Estimates of damage and losses which is found in Section II; and
- Impacts by district which is recorded in Section III. It finishes with Conclusions and Recommendations (Section IV). Data break downs are annexed, as in an explanation of the methodology and assumptions used for generating cost estimates.
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