Simeulue

Visiting one of our project sites on the island of Simeulue, which is off the west coast of Aceh, Sumatra. Mosque under construction/renovation after a heavy rainstorm in the island's capital of Sinabang.

The north end of Simeulue was fairly close to the earthquake's epicentre just before the powerful 2004 tsunami yet reportedly only 6 people died on the island (population 70,000) out of a total death toll in Aceh of around 170,000. Many people credit traditional knowledge called smong, which apparently meant that receding tides were recognised as preceding a tsunami and people evacuated to higher ground. It's still an impressive achievement to have so low a death toll so close to the epicentre, with no warning system or decent communications. I suspect the shape of the island played a role in that its narrow northern coast, barely inhabited, faced the wave, so there was relatively little in the way of human damage that could be done...