Discussion of the crisis issues associated with the Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami Disaster in 2004
Management in crisis is a tough enough situation. However, the horrific onslaught of a suddenly unexpected tsunami literally crashing dramatically upon one’s doorstep is simply unthinkable. The inconceivable occurred in Indonesia, when the Aceh-stimulated earthquake stirred the violent killer waves in 2004 costing the lives of 127,000 people, roughly half a million injured – leaving behind potential scores of disease-prone epidemics and mourning of loved ones (Pascapurnama, Murakami, Chagan-Yasutan, Hattori, Sasaki & Egawa 2016). One international journalist and helper in the aftermath of the Indonesian Indian Ocean Earthquake Tsunami disaster, Bill Nicol, in his book Tsunami Chronicles, described the major natural disaster as covering a destructive trail of coastline nearly 500 miles long. An official Humanitarian Action Report from Unicef characterized the Indonesian tsunami as greatly challenging worldwide assistance efforts, involving eight countries participation to help immunize approximately 1.2 million children (2004 Indian Ocean 2008). The impending consequences following the disaster brought many aspects to mind.
Simply evaluation of the range of issues would take time, in years, to assess how better preparedness, recovery help, and a bolstering of adequate communications throughout such a scenario could prevent or mitigate the enormity of what was lost. According to one analyst, the natural intellectual response to such a crisis is to ask the critical questions and attempt to find the answers, firstly in terms of data, statistics, and narrative (Jenkins 2016). Next, Jenkins proclaimed that a better comprehension of the abstract in the case of this natural disaster could utilize the employment of a metaphor to help accomplish what the eventual recovery will look like (2016:151). This paper embraces the theme to discuss and evaluate a range of issues associated with disaster preparedness in the specified context of the chosen zone of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia and the immediately affected, and surrounding hinterland. Some aspects shall include its physicality of lowlands, preparedness, medical, community, and psycho-social dimensions.
Overview
Healthcare and communications are both key elements in the response and recovery cycles of the onslaught of natural disasters, and evaluation in terms of theory and practice today widely opens the field for continued examination of approaches. Medina discusses the factor that emerging disease outbreak panics, such as the 1918-flu catastrophe are not the only worry – but following the tragedies of the September 11th, 2001 World Trade Center terror-event, other episodes followed – including Ebola scares, ISIS murders, and confused massive migrations of millions of asylum seekers into Europe’s borders (2016: 281). Thus, disaster management requires coordinated cooperation at all levels of governance. Local, state, regional, and national agencies are often called upon to perform life-saving and stabilizing efforts while also using an approach of the best practices in professionalism.
This joint effort is not always easy to achieve, especially since not all disasters are the same. Certain disasters reflect human-induced handiwork, while natural disasters such as in the case of the Indonesian earthquake-tsunami of 2004, surprise inhabitants and take them by a terrifying surprise. Theorists, disaster managers, and academicians responsible for delving into more research about how to better control ill-effects from hazards will not easily forget the damage natural disasters can cause to human, animal, and plant life. Hurricane Katrina was one such enormous display which devastated one corner of America’s nation. Therefore, it is imperative that crisis management professionals try to cogently keep in mind every element of risk involved in coping with both sides of a disasters coin: (a) preparedness, and (b) recovery. Also, lessons can be learned along the way.
It is important to realize and recognize that in the case of natural disasters, such as in Katrina or the present study of what happened in 2004 in the Indonesia tsunami, geography comes into play. For example, common knowledge dictates that the low-laying lands of the New Orleans, Louisiana’s Gulf region provided ample geophysical opportunity to allow a greater devastation of impact. In much a similar way, the 2004 earthquake-tsunami in Indonesia portrayed a vulnerable position. Research disaster and developer-practitioner professional, Shesh Kafle has studied the case of the Indonesian coastal communities, in terms of mitigation of natural resource management and responses in the form of strategic plans for mitigation programming. It was stated that after the tsunami hit the Indonesian community in 2004, on December 26th (which incidentally was a high-season for holiday), the framework reflected that the affected villages and outlying Nias Islands comprised some 43 communities (Kafle 2002). By targeting the affected geophysical area from a community-risk based approach, disaster management could begin to figure out how to employ risk reduction measures.
One aspect which was truly inspiring about Kafle’s erudite journal article, was the factor that he clearly recognized the core secret in best dealing with this kind of disaster was to remind emergency management actors that people “are at the heart of decision making” (2012: 319). Nevertheless, Kafle put together a ten-step program of following up in the Indonesian tsunami disaster, which focused on key strengths of the procedure. First on the list was for disaster professionals to value placing an emphasis upon social involvement of the community itself, and to fight against such vulnerability by organizing groups. Since it was assessed that the biggest risk factors in the geographic region of the Aceh-Nias coastline included earthquakes, tsunamis, and epidemic outbreaks they first conducted a survey to document different associated features. Local and Red Cross volunteers came together to accomplish tools such as mapping-out areas of especially vulnerable areas. In this way an analysis could be performed to equip community members with knowledge.
When the local government in the immediate geophysical hinterland surrounding the at-risk Indonesian coastal areas, the various village heads and other coordinators could align their activities. Once knowledge and understanding were aligned in terms of agency-villager teams they could share valuable information and data about the situation as derived from the baseline survey. Brilliantly, as reported by Kafle, the roughly 40 percent of those in community and committee training were younger members who had the energy to organize and effectively, and appropriately respond to planning, and supervisory roles as well (2012). One observation from the report, by focusing upon the immediate hinterland of the geographical area, was the generation of a scientifically-based assessment of a Community Resilient Index (Kafle 2012). This showed rankings and values broken down into the priority areas of: (1) governance, (2) risk assessment, (3) education/knowledge, (4) risk-management reducing vulnerability, and (5) disaster cycle preparedness/response. In this way, the worse flood-affected pockets could be coordinated with helicopter support and adequate communications.
Preparedness
Perhaps the single-most important lesson from the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami in 2004 in Indonesia, is gathering valuable clues from the event in how to improve risk mitigation. Connections to the catastrophic effects of certain geophysical locations, can aid recognition of understanding the need for future determinants or risk management, and expand evidence-based research from other natural disasters that suffer similar kinds of nature-induced land disruptions. One such study of researchers comprised of a global team, from Sweden and Guatemala, examined natural disasters which were caused by excessive instances of rainfall in the Central American region. It was determined that the natural geo-landscape positioning in particular areas of Central America triggered promotion of vulnerable coastline events (Barrientos et al. 2015). When flooding and landslide disasters occurred, it revealed that crisis management teams could learn about which natural mishaps were the most common. By studying the number of casualties, it was discovered that the economic-correlated disasters – including hurricanes – involved the handful of countries in the region: Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Belize (Barrientos et al. 2015: 85, 86). The key to this particular study indicated the importance of dealing with a situation that struck quickly, and more forcibly than anyone could predict.
Also, when devastation reaches the heights of destruction as did the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake-tsunami event, international cooperation in emergency management is required. The two main aspects the journal article exposed concerning natural flooding-like disasters were the economic damages of infrastructure and agriculture (Barrientos et al. 2012:86). Awareness of situations from wet to dry seasons helped to better understand climate change, and align coordination of risk-management efforts to the uncertainties associated with the region. Thus, preparedness projects could better integrate with agency and local community efforts in coordination with internationally organized emergency responders who – in turn – had greater resources to create study designs, further evaluation, and data collection to publish more learning materials. In this way, documents could be translated into languages of other geo-physically vulnerable areas around the globe to help them meet goals of preparedness. Medical concerns, also, were a huge part of dealing with the earthquake-tsunami crisis in the 2004 Indian Ocean natural disaster.
Medical Concerns & Database Recovery
Infectious diseases, bodily injuries, and enormous death tolls complicated the colossal impact of the 2004 Indonesian earthquake-tsunami. Electrical power failures, destruction of infrastructure, and loss of communication cloud clear avenues of allowing crisis management personnel to understand how to best approach these situations. In other words, the environmental damage is one thing, but the need for medical intervention cannot be underestimated. Massive death tolls and injuries can prove a daunting challenge to medical emergency interventions. Pascapurnama et al. (2016) noted that instances of tetanus outbreaks occurred in two previous Indonesian tsunami-or-natural-disasters. Furthermore, in the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake-tsunami tragedy over one hundred cases of tetanus did occur, as data finding gleaned from World Health Organization (WHO) records indicated (Pascapurnama et al. 2015). A morbid reality of the massive death toll indicated that, according to Morgan et al. (2006) management of the dead in terms of lack of refrigeration for preservation not being available, immediately after the disaster, caused quite a challenge. However, through innovation and necessity, dry ice helped in addition to temporary burial measures (Morgan et al. 2006:e195). As anticipated, medical/forensic personnel were able to identify bodies by usage of dental and fingerprint records.
Of key importance at this juncture, is for emergency management professionals to treat the dead with as much dignity and careful concern as possible, while simultaneously getting the job efficiently done. In the Sri Lanka sector, health authorities engaged police to take literally hundreds of photographs of the deceased, although in many cases facial recognition was impossible due to disfigurement (Morgan et al. 2006:e195). It is hard to fathom that some 5,000 died in Sri Lanka alone. The mass graves in Indonesia helps shed the sharp realization of the vastness of the tragedy, and according to the same immediately aforementioned source, disposing 60,000 to 70,000 human cadavers as burial victims. Especially difficult psychologically, this extra-large burial site sat in very close proximity to the community. Thus, healthcare management faced a tremendous task of overseeing public disease outbreak threats, of (as mentioned) tetanus, wound care, and laceration management.
Obviously, critical medical care is ultimately dependent upon communications. When database/electronic systems are interrupted – especially in such a dire natural disaster situation – crisis managers speedily become cognizant of how vital telecommunications facility apparatus is. According to Qiantori, Sutiono, Hariyanto, Suwa, and Ohta (2012) a tsunami-earthquake disaster is particularly disruptive, and in the case of the Aceh during the 2004 Indian Ocean natural-disaster, “All major carriers completely lost coverage for weeks” (Qiantori et al. 2012:41). In the same journal article, it was also observed from the learned experience that the low-laying land mass so affected called for the need to implement appropriate wireless networks, as alternative, to provide a better system for emergency medical services communications to operate. Thus, this additional communication architecture would improve outcomes in the region of future disasters.
Community
Perhaps there is not one person among us who has failed to take their community relationships for granted. Whether living in the busy confines of a sprawling industrial city, or a smaller more intimately slower town, people must engage with one another on some levels to survive. One who did not directly, or even indirectly, experience the terrible heartfelt loss of the Indonesian hinterland’s earthquake-tsunami of 2004 can hardly imagine the insufferable grief the people endured there. Qiantori et al. (2012) conveyed data findings from the Indonesian Government of the official figures of deaths at 129,775, 38,786 people missing, and in Aceh a displacement of 504,518 of the populace. It is truly difficult as a human being to wrap one’s head around these sad factors as a result of the tsunami. Post-tragedy officials and management personnel, as partly described above, ascertained the need for a better set of system-wide requirements for enhancement of communication standards to handle these types of situations. Emergency medical teams in the most nearby locations, unfortunately never had an adequate level of communication systems. Staff communication and ubiquitous coverage, as Qiantori et al. (2012) described, are crucial to decreasing fatalities in this type of situational natural disaster.
Seeing one’s neighbor helplessly hanging onto part of their roof only to succumb to a violent death, deeply impacts the psyche of community individuals as well as gives a collective sense of loss to their economic livelihoods and infrastructure. As common knowledge has it, many people were vacationing in Indonesia and the surrounding island communities at the holiday season towards the end of December in 2004. According to Wirtz et al. (2014) database management during such natural disasters are extremely important to sustain. It had been indicated and assessed in their journal article that earthquake damage is the number one deadliest, in terms of disasters, and that tsunamis run a close second. This research team posits that global management professionals must keep abreast of all the data associated with such natural disasters, in order to make use of the knowledge that can be gained from these lousy and tragic outcomes (Wirtz et al. 2014:135). Better criteria for a framework can mitigate community isolation from disaster responders, and international medical/hazard help. In other words, when the community can be connected to an unwavering worldwide communication disaster network, assistance may improve their immediate understanding of the situation and, in the process, save lives.
Social & Psychological Concerns and Outcomes
Data lose, communication network cutoffs, cultural pattern disruptions, community interrelationship upheavals, medical trauma, and the massive deaths of friends and loved ones can cause a severe impact on the social fabric of a neighborhood. It is one thing for crisis personnel to be involved with the rescue and disaster-response activities – even in a most compassionate manner and attitude – but the situation is perceived with a much more severe impact when people are hit with the kind of earthquake-tsunami that the Indian Ocean experience in 2004 caused. To state that the personal mental, social, and psychological implications are devastating is probably an understatement. At this point, it is crucial to comprehend that the tsunami of December 26th, in 2004, undeniably was one of the worst natural disasters recorded in human history. Thus far, it was learned from this paper that Sri Lanka was also affected, but portions of the East African coastal area was also touched by the tragedy. According to Chambers, the actual greatest impact of devastation occurred in the closest proximity to the Indonesian provincial-capital of Banda Aceh, bringing the “death toll internationally” to an estimate of over 290,000 people and nearly as many casualties – and additionally – figures stated 800,000 in Sumatra became homeless due to the natural disaster (2006:39). In times like this, humanitarian efforts cause the world to share in the grief of what they can only horrifically try to imagine the remaining victims had been faced with.
The sadly incredible part, is that the estimates of lives lost only represent best guesses. Exact figures remain unknown. Australian Government relief teams sprang into action, lending its military naval forces and transport helicopters to the scene of devastation (Chambers 2006). What truly makes even the most hardened emergency management professional cringe, is what happened to Aceh’s hospital. The operating theater as viewed below, (courtesy of Chambers et al. 2006) essentially was in ruins: As you clearly can see in Figure 1, (Fig. 1) the following photograph both local, and international, surgical teams must have been in shock at the scene. Some wounds were able to be dressed, sewn up, or otherwise treated for injuries like skin-splits, and the need for skin grafting to normalize and lessen the disfigurement rates. Obviously, some number of patients were able to receive surgical procedures in a work-around circumstance. Further photographs documented in the Chambers article, in reflection of this terrible episode, are far too graphic and disturbing to post herein. However, it is important for crisis management to obtain a realistic look at how devastating the Indian Ocean earthquake-tsunami of 2004 was.
The psycho-social dimensions were studied in consideration of mental health needs associated with the disaster, to the end of provisional assistance to mend community social life as best as possible. In a peer-reviewed journal article Shannon et al. examined an impact of the “social dimensions of humanitarian practice,” and in their research recognized that the case study of Indonesia revealed a “complex interaction between scientists, humanitarians, and the local community” (2014: 636, 637). The outpouring of scientific humanitarian personnel demonstrated the sensitive nature of integration of having a sense of duty to their fellow humans. The ones who participated almost certainly can be asserted that each of their individual lives were changed as a result of being part of the crisis management efforts in the disaster.
In conclusion, the decision-making processes and reaching an adequate evaluation of the difficult, wide-ranging issues associated with disaster preparedness in the case of the Indian Ocean earthquake-tsunami is complex. The integrative key elements of communications, medical aspects, the response/preparedness/planning cycle, further study and research on the geophysical nature, along with the psycho-social/mental-health perspective is going to take a lifetime of recovery. Some may never recover from the emotional shock. Needless to say, several ways exist in making proper evaluations of each contextual area, and a greater amount of study will demand a more detailed exploration.
Bibliographic Reference List
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