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05 March 2010 07:35:50 / 19 Rabiul Awwal 1431 H
Irony between Disaster Handling and Local Wisdom
Disaster once again whipped our country. After series of earthquakes in the middle of last year, in the beginning of this year we were repeatedly blown by flash flood and landslide. Just mention flood in Jakarta, Bale Endah (Bandung) and landslide in Tenjolaya, Ciwidey, Bandung District, West Java, which just happened last week.
People say “accidents will happen”. We can never stop the disaster indeed, but we can prevent and minimize its impact. However, it is so ironic that as “a university of disaster”, this huge country can never take a lesson to learn from previous disasters. Government has never maximally prepared an effective program to make people know and aware of the consequence of living in this country. As the result, people become blind to the danger of disaster threat.
Ciwidey landslide was the latest example. It was so astonishing that in this high-technology era, district government of Bandung just being informed about Ciwidey landslide after seven hours, when tens of villagers had already pressed and died heaped up by soil.
To Learn from Other Countries
It seems that we should learn much from other countries about how to prevent people from becoming victims of any disasters. What Japan did in evacuating its people from the threat of tsunami few times ago should have made us envy. As already broadcasted by media, Japan had successfully evacuated more than 50 thousand people residing in coastal area from tsunami happened in Pacific coast being triggered by an 8.8-Richter Scaled earthquake in Chile.
As reported by ABC News on Sunday (28/2), Japan Meteorological Agency had predicted that tsunami would attack the northern Hokkaido Island through the southern Okinawa Island chain. The first wave would hit coast of Hokkaido Island facing Pacific Ocean at 1 p.m local time. Countries located at the sides of Pacific Ocean released the tsunami warning after such a tremendous earthquake affecting Chile at 3:34 a.m local time or 3:34 p.m Western Indonesian Time, Saturday (27/2). Hawaiian people were instructed to evacuate themselves to higher places. Eastern coasts of Australia were also closed after a small wave hit. Government of Philippines also suggested its people in 19 provinces facing Pacific Ocean to evacuate themselves to higher places since tsunami was predicted to come in a few hours.
Local Wisdom of Smong Tradition in Simeuleu
Besides being expected to be responsive in handling disaster, the government is also required to encourage people in organizing prevention and anticipation steps. Local wisdom in identifying natural disasters is also necessary to be used again, for instance, by smong tradition in Simeulue Island, Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam. Simeulue people were saved from tsunami in 2004 because they directly climbed up the hill when seeing the sea water subsided extraordinarily.
Please listen to this story/In the past/A village was drowned/So it was told/It was started by an earthquake/Followed by the low tide/Suddenly entire country was drowned/If the earthquake is strong/Followed by the sea water subsiding/Right away find/A higher land to save your life/This is what we call smong/Our ancestor’s history/Please remember all of these/The message and advice/Smong (tsunami) is your bathwater/Earthquake is your cradle/Thunderbolts are your drums/Flashes of lightning are your lights.
The above story is usually told orally by parents in Simeulue Island, Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD) to their children and grandchildren; it warns people of tsunami, which is known as smong by them. Parents are used to tell the story to their children and grandchildren, likewise their children which later became parents retell the same to the next generations. The story is told again and again. Although the later generations neither know about nor experience smong by themselves, they remain to continue passing on this story-telling tradition.
No one definitely knows when the story about smong was told for the first time. However, it is strongly estimated that the story was told by the survivors of tsunami disaster in Simeulue in 1907. The first tsunami in Simeuleu was happened in 1833. However, it seemed that there had never been any local wisdom story told until the giant tsunami happened again in 1907. The massive number of died victims made parents at that time stunned and realized that there would always be any possibility of smong to happen in the future.
From the lesson learned in 1907, parents have begun to give information in the form of oral story about the disaster to the next generations; it has been hereditarily and continually passed on. Even UNESCO also considers the local wisdom of smong story as a culture must be shared all over the world. Now, this smong story of Simeulue people is not only retold in Simeulue, but also all over the world.[]
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