CHAPTER 7 – Waves That Come to Anchor
In Japanese, “tsunami” mean swaves that come ashore to anchor. A beautiful, deferential term depicting the arrival of something full of tenderness, care and accommodating.
However, the waves that came ashore in the last week of 2004 in Aceh were definitely not tender. A tsunami once occurred during the eruption of Mount Krakatau in 1883 and had come ashore at Banyuwangi in Java and on Flores Island, and this time it demonstrated its very might. It was The Wave that scoured, dashed, chopped and forced everything and everyone into complete surrender.
Following the calamity, quite a number of articles and analyses had been written commenting on the savage disaster. All pointed out that the impact of the tsunami could have been averted. The arrival of the deadly waves was proclaimed by a loud thundering sound, followed by the sudden ebbing of the sea which would then sweep back ashore with extreme force. The scientists quoted in the articles were convinced that there was always a 15- to 30-minute lapse of time between an earthquake and the arrival of a tsunami; an interval long enough for people to leave the seashore and run to safety. An article in Tempo weekly even dared to state, “Even without expensive instruments, a tsunami and its impact can be avoided.”
Was that true? On the island of Simeuleu there was indeed a local custom in which people would immediately run to the hills after an earthquake. This custom, called smong, forbade people to approach the sea after an earthquake because it would usually be followed by the onslaught of big waves. It was indeed a miracle that the small island only lost six people; not hundreds, not thousands.
Wartawan Tempo sejak 1998. Menjelajah berbagai desk, antara lain ekonomi, nasional, kesehatan, sains, gaya hidup, dan investigasi. Sejak Januari 2009 ditugasi menjadi Direktur Eksekutif Institut Tempo, sebuah lembaga yang dicita-citakan menjadi pusat pengembangan jurnalistik di Indonesia. Lulusan Fakultas Biologi, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, tahun 1996. Setelah lulus kuliah, bergabung dengan Majalah Warta Ekonomi (1996) sebagai staf riset dan kemudian menjadi reporter di majalah Panji Masyarakat (1997).