"Smong" as local wisdom for disaster risk reduction

• Published in: IOP conference series. Earth and environmental science Vol. 148; no. 1; pp. 12005 - 12011
• Main Authors: Suciani, A, Islami, Z R, Zainal, S, Sofiyan, Bukhari
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bristol IOP Publishing 01.04.2018
• Subjects: Casualties; Disaster management; Disaster risk; Disasters; Earthquakes; Emergency warning programs; Risk management; Risk reduction; Seismic activity; Tsunamis
• DOI: 10.1088/1755-1315/148/1/012005
• ISSN: 1755-1307

The province of Aceh is located in the northern tip of Sumatera Island, Indonesia, highly vulnerable to the disasters, the so-called earthquakes and Tsunamis. This is due to the geological location of Aceh, which is located where the Indo-Australian and Eurasian plates meet. Many people learned this just after the devastating earthquake and tsunami on December 26, 2004 that killed thousands of people and also caused countless material losses. Before 2004, people in Aceh did not even notice what a tsunami was. Yet, after the earthquake in 2004 which had a magnitude of 9.2, Aceh continues to experience earthquake with magnitudes of 56, just as it did in Pidie Jaya on December 2016. Due to these conditions, the people of Aceh need to be informed of the real and serious threats that these disasters can cause in order to reduce the impact of these potential tragedies. Local wisdom could be an early warning for preventing risk disaster. Local wisdom could be easy to understand, adapt, and use by the society. The purpose of this paper is to publish "Smong" as local wisdom to reduce the risk of potential earthquake and tsunami disasters. The word is referred to Tsunami was adopted from Devayan Language. It is part of the Simeulue indigenous culture, transmitted through songs, short poems, lullabies, and stories. It is fascinating to note that the earthquake and tsunami catastrophe of 2004 resulted in only seven casualties in Simeulue, which has approximately 86.735 inhabitants. Smong is a key word understood by the entire population of Simeulue that describes the occurrence of giant waves after a major earthquake. During the terrible event that plagued Aceh on December 26, 2004, there was a massive evacuation of the entire Simeulue beach area within a few minutes after the earthquake. Therefore, "Smong" is an appropriate term to be used in order to reduce the impact of disasters, viz. earthquakes and tsunamis in high risk areas.