Meulaboh
Meulaboh is a port city in the north of the Indonesian island of Sumatra in the Aceh province . The place was almost completely destroyed by the seaquake in the Indian Ocean on December 26, 2004.
Meulaboh is 175 kilometers as the crow flies and almost 250 kilometers along the coastal road southeast of Banda Aceh on the west coast of the island. Before the tsunami , the capital of the Kabupaten (administrative district) Aceh Barat ("West Aceh") had around 60,000 to 80,000 inhabitants, immediately afterwards 40,000 to 45,000 people were estimated to be living in the vicinity of the city. This included around 29,000 internally displaced persons. According to the authorities, there were up to 40,000 victims. The epicenter was about 150 kilometers away in the Indian Ocean .
In this stretch of coast, the tidal wave first came ashore and flooded an approximately two-kilometer-wide strip of flat land in which the city and most of the surrounding villages were located. Up to 62 villages were devastated in Aceh Barat, 16 of them in Meulaboh County. In April 2005 there were around 70,000 homeless people in Meulaboh. All road bridges on the coast and the bridge on the connecting road inland to Medan were badly damaged or impassable. Initially, Meulaboh could only be reached by helicopter or landing craft. After the restoration of the 175-meter-long jetty, Meulaboh was the only port on the west coast through which relief supplies were distributed in the affected region.
Meulaboh is the birthplace of Teuku Umar (1854-1899), who belongs to the series of Indonesian national heroes (Gelar Pahlawan Nasional Indonesia) . In the Aceh Wars, which lasted from 1873 to 1903, he waged a war of freedom against the Dutch conquest of Aceh from the start and died in a surprise attack by Dutch troops on Meulaboh near the city. In many Indonesian cities like Jakarta or Denpasar streets are named after him.
The city is known for its dance troupes who perform Islamic seated dances such as the meuseukat or the ratéb duek . Men and women often accompany their singing on the frame drum Rapai.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Vernon J. Lee, E. Low et al. a .: Disaster Relief and Initial Response to the Earthquake and Tsunami in Meulaboh, Indonesia. Annals Academy of Medicine Vol. 34, No. 9, October 2005, pp. 586–590 ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Estimated Population Exposed to Earthquake Shaking. earthquake.usgs.gov ( Memento of the original from October 29, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Map with epicenter
- ↑ Apriadi Gunawan: Dock construction underway in Meulaboh. Jakarta Post, April 7, 2005 ( Memento of the original from May 13, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Teuku Umar. melayuonline.com ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Teuku Umar. Acheh / Sumatra National Liberation Front ( Memento of the original from March 25, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Web links
- Earthquake Spawns Tsunamis: Meulaboh NASA Earth Observatory Aerial photo from May 18, 2004 before the tsunami and from January 7, 2005 after the destruction
Coordinates: 4 ° 8 ' N , 96 ° 8' E