What might the tsunami have looked like on social media?

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Aerial views of Banda Aceh, Indonesia, after the 2004 tsunami (top) and today

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How has social media transformed our understanding - and our ability to respond to - major disasters?

The Indian Ocean Tsunami was one of the worst natural disasters on record. But it also occupies an unusual place in history. Although it occurred in a globalised world, and was covered by every major media source on earth, it took place just before the modern age of social media.
Facebook was founded in early 2004 - the year the tsunami hit - but it wasn't open to the general public at the time. Twitter didn't come into existence until 2006. And part of the inspiration for YouTube came when a founder was looking for online videos of the tsunami - and couldn't find them.
So what might the reaction to the tsunami have looked like on today's social media? We asked the audience of the BBC's Indonesian Service to tweet messages as if they had gone back in time to 26 Dec 2004.

Translation: "Aceh in emergency. Need your help to help them."

Translation: "God forgive us - and save our brothers and sisters. Will the world come to an end?"

Translation: "Go climb a coconut tree and hang tight."

The internet was of course well-established in late 2004, and blogs captured the devastation of the tsunami and the human impact of the wave. Online news outlets, including the BBC, covered the disaster with a full range of online video and audio.
But without the immediacy and intimacy of social media, many internet users turned to blogs for personal accounts of the disaster. Mark Oberle, a doctor and professor emeritus at University of Washington School of Public Health in Seattle, was on a family holiday in Thailand when the wave struck. He immediately started treating victims. And a few days in, he started a a gripping account online from Bangkok - a blog post which continues to get traffic today.

A screen grab of Mark Oberle's post about the tsunami.

"I knew that there were a lot of people who were trying to make sense of the situation," he says. "[Online], I pretty much only found news stories that were posted by reporters and news services ... I felt that writing was my own personal catharsis but also a service to other people. I got a tremendous number of queries and I still, a decade later, get a note every few months from someone saying 'Thank you for posting this.'"
There were social media stirrings in 2004, even if widespread adoption of those technologies was some years off, according to Leysia Palen, an associate professor who researches the use of social media during disasters at the University of Colorado Boulder.
"We had been getting these indications that some major changes were underfoot," during the tsunami, and even earlier, during the 11 Sept attacks in New York and Washington, she says, pointing to activity on the photo-sharing site Flickr.
These days social networking can translate into practical help for people on the ground.
"Those people who are onlookers to the event, sometimes get involved in helping activity. Not a huge number, but more than one might expect," Palen says.
Twitter and other platforms are also now used to provide early disaster warnings - such as this account run by the US National Weather Service.
Social networking can help in the search for missing people, Oberle says, pointing out that a relatively low-tech system was used in this way after the 2010 Haiti earthquake, in which he lost a family member.
"That technology wasn't available at the time of the tsunami," he says. "People used paper and boards as people wandered from hospital to relief camps to find people who were missing."
But the importance of networks isn't limited to immediate practical concerns like guiding people to safe havens and coordinating emergency response - it has also profoundly affected our our overall understanding of history.
"Usually when we think of social media we think of that immediate instant response," Palen says. "But social media accounts are going to be very important in the future, we will see them as part of a rich way in which we document what has happened."
Even the stories of historical, pre-social media disasters are being retold online today, often - like the tsunami now (being marked on Twitter at @BBCNewsAsia and elsewhere), or this year's World War I commemorations - at the point of key anniversaries. Seemingly ephemeral messages are becoming key to the way we will tell stories far into the future, Palen says.
"Those significant disasters even in the 'before social media' age are being revived and commemorated anew in the social media world," she says.

Reporting by Mike Wendlin

Just got back from a field trip in Aceh, and later, From survivor to volunteer.

The village of Mate Ie, in Aceh Jaya district of Aceh province. We visited this village to monitor the integrated community development approach of the Canadian Red Cross. Note the transitional shelter attached to the rear of the house. The villagers lived in the transitional shelters for 3 years while their permanent house was being built. Photo: Bob McKerrow

It's been an amazing journey south of Banda Aceh to inspect a number of the 40,000 houses built by the Red Cross in Aceh after the tragic Tsunami operation of late 2004. We visited many of the 4000 houses built by the Canadian Red Cross along 75 km of coastline between Lamno, to south of Calang.

I travelled with Nina Nobel and Menaka Tennekon, from our Tsunami office in Kuala Lumpur, and Ebrahim Faghihi who runs our Tsunami recovery operation in Aceh.

I have worked more than four and a half years on the Red Cross tsunami operation in India, Maldives, Sri Lanka, and for the last three years have been in charge of the Red Cross Tsunami operation in Indonesia.

Above, Iskander, the village chief (left) at Lho Kruet talking to me in front of his new house and new village. Meneka looks on. She is our legal advisor for the tsunami. Here the Canadian Red Cross have built 3480 houses, with each house having a clean water supply and state of the art toilets. In addition to livelihood, risk reduction, gender. Photo: Galal
From left to right: Ebrahim Faghihi, Abdel Gadir Galal, Bob McKerrow, Menaka Tennekon, Nina Nobel, and the house owners, mother, father and daughter right. A Canadian Red Cross staff member in front. The name of the village is Kareng Ateuh

Photo: Galal

I feel a great sense of pride when I monitor the work done by our various member Red Cross and Red Crescent societies in Aceh and Nias. It is a truly integrated community development programme with permanent houses, transitional shelters placed at the back for extra space, quality water supply, toilets, community centres, schools, clinics, livelihoods and power supply. We have built back better and beneficiary satisfaction is very high. The Indonesian Red Cross have trained villagers in risk reduction and first aid, so with earthquake resistant houses that can withstand floods, this is part of a wider risk reduction programme.



We also had a look at the municipal water supply in Calang built by the American Red Cross and inaugurated last month. This is another high quality programme bringing clean water and sanitation to 6000 people.


I have travelled this coast line over 15 times and never tire of the beauty. Photo: Bob McKerrow

Each visit I make, I find some outstanding red cross worker. On this trip, Abdel Gadir Galal impressed me beyond expectations. Born in the Sudan, Galal has a strong community development background and has worked in the Tsunami operation since the beginning. He has supervised the construction of 4000 Canadian Red Cross houses, and the other integrated components of water and sanitation, community centres, roads, drainage, livelihoods and community activities. As we walked about the villages everyone greets Galal with a broad smile. He replies in fluent Bahasa. It is our delegates like Galal who live in these remote corners of Indonesia, and their Indonesian Red Cross counterparts, who are the unsung heroes of this massive operation. I salute you Galal !

Now its back to reality. A heap of mud splattered clothing in my suit case, a report to write, consultants and staff to meet and paper piled high in my in-tray and 200 emails wanting an answer. This is the price of travelling and talking to the recepients of our work.

I just had a look at our website and saw this article written by Nanda Aprilia from the American Red Cross


Cut Resmi at her home in Banda Aceh. Photo: American Red Cross


Banda Aceh: From survivor to volunteer

When the tsunami came, Cut Resmi was planting flowers in the yard of her home in Banda Aceh. The waves swept away one of her two children and destroyed her house, leaving Cut, her husband and their surviving son homeless. After the disaster, Cut says she was devastated and felt nearly hopeless.

“I gave up and never imagined that we would have a home again,” she says. “I just tried to think about my son, who was still very young and needed me to be strong.”

Cut and her family found refuge in temporary barracks built for individuals displaced by the disaster. Soon after their arrival, the American Red Cross and Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) psychosocial support programme began providing support to survivors in the area.

Support networks

Early on, the programme focused on barracks and temporary living centres to provide help for those who needed it most - survivors like Cut who had lost nearly everything in the tsunami and were separated from the traditional support networks of friends, family and neighbours that enable individuals cope with and overcome tragedy.

Along with several fellow residents, Cut took part in activities focused on helping affected individuals to cope. Altogether, the American Red Cross and PMI provided emotional support to more than 30,000 survivors like Cut in the six months following the disaster.

Actively engaged in community life before the tsunami, Cut soon became a community psychosocial facilitator, helping to organize supportive activities within the barracks and providing solace to those who were still grieving.

Heal from the trauma“Survivors really needed this kind of assistance,” she says. “It allowed us to come together and begin to heal from the trauma, even while we were still unsure about the future and mourning those we had lost.”

Four years later, she and her family have moved into a new home on the land where their old village once stood. Cut has started a small business selling clothes and remains active in her community. So when the American Red Cross and PMI community-based first aid (CBFA) programme began in her village, she was eager to get involved.

The programme addresses the longer-term health needs of tsunami-affected individuals through outreach and education about emergency first aid as well as common health threats. The disaster destroyed more than 400 health facilities and displaced or killed nearly a third of all health workers in Aceh, further weakening a healthcare system strained by nearly three decades of conflict.

Preventable diseases

Though significant progress has been made in restoring health services, many, especially those in rural areas, remain unable to access basic health care. Preventable diseases such as dengue and malaria remain common and are all too often fatal.

As a health volunteer, Cut feels empowered to educate her friends and neighbours about health risks and how to avoid them. For several hours a week, she visits fellow villagers in their homes and discusses common health issues in their community.

In total, the programme will train volunteers like Cut to educate individuals in 140 villages in Banda Aceh, Aceh Jaya, Sabang and Bireuen.

Life and death

“Other mothers often ask me questions about their children, about nutrition or about how to detect if there is a serious problem, like dengue,” Cut says. “I am glad that I can provide information and help people, as it could be a matter of life and death.”

Through first aid and other emergency training, Cut says she feels prepared if there is another disaster.

“Before, I would have been scared and might have panicked,” she says. “But now I know exactly what to do if some is seriously hurt and needs assistance.”

Indonesia: New beginnings for young survivors

I spent last week in the Tsunami affected areas of Aceh, Indonesia, where the Red Cross is nearing the end of its Tsunami recovery operation. As I travel about inspecting the work we have done, I hear so many stories from Tsunami survivors. Here are a few of them.

Four years after the disaster, Masrizal and Bahtiar are looking to the future. Along with nearly 500 other young people, Bahtiar is participating in a vocational training programme provided by the American Red Cross and the Indonesian Red Cross

Masrizal is a sensitive and quiet young man. At age 27, he has a strong vision and a desire to enrich himself and help others. But beneath his stoic demeanor lies a moving story of tragic loss and new beginnings.When the December 2004 tsunami struck, Masrizal lost his entire family, his home and all of his earthly possessions in a matter of hours. His village of Lamlumpu, in Aceh Besar, was utterly destroyed and many of its residents killed.“My parents and siblings disappeared in the waves, together with most of the other people who lived in my village,” he says. “It left me all alone in the world.”

Compassionate and concerned

But Masrizal says the experience made him more compassionate and concerned about the well-being of those around him. He says he often thinks of his mother and tries to emulate her. He remembers her as a warm and lively woman who was at the centre of community life.“My mother was always involved in community events,” he says. “She was easy to talk to and I felt like I could tell her anything.”More than a year ago, he received a new house from an international organization near where most of Lampulu's surviving residents have settled. He has also found a job at a local blood testing laboratory, where he works part time.

Badly injured

Like Masrizal, 20-year-old Bahtiar also lost nearly everything to the tsunami. Caught up in the waves, he was badly injured but luckily managed to survive. Unfortunately, both of his parents and five of his siblings did not.“There was nothing left from our home - it disappeared completely,” Bahtiar, who was aged 16 at the time, recalls. “I felt sad and confused, but thankfully I had my relatives to care for me during that time.”His surviving family members helped nurse him back to health and supported him while he completed secondary school.

Sustainable income

Four years after the disaster, Masrizal and Bahtiar are looking to the future. Along with nearly 500 other young people, Masrizal is participating in a vocational training programme provided by the American Red Cross and the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI). The training, which is part of the psychosocial support programme, aims to help tsunami-affected youth like Masrizal to gain the skills they need to earn a sustainable income.“We are allowed to choose the type of training based on experience and interest,” Masrizal says. “Once I complete the course, I hope to earn more money and establish my own business.”Participants can choose from a range of courses, including carpentry and computer skills.

The training, which is part of the psychosocial support programme, aims to help tsunami-affected youth like Masrizal to gain the skills they need to earn a sustainable income.


Masrizal has chosen a course in electrical repair while Bahtiar has selected a mechanical repair course.“I want to continue my education and go to university,” Bahtiar says. “Hopefully the income I earn from being a mechanic will pay for my school fees.”

Incredible recovery

Though Aceh has seen incredible recovery and growth in the four years since the disaster, it remains one of the poorest provinces in Indonesia. Now that houses have been built and major infrastructure repaired, economic recovery assistance is one of the most pressing needs for survivors.With tsunami-related aid from the government and international organizations coming to an end, it is vital that young people have the skills that they need to continue on the path to recovery and self-sufficiency. The training is being implemented in partnership with local government agencies who help identify local experts to act as facilitators and provide professional certificates to participants successfully completing their course.On the last day of vocational training, Masrizal receives an “A” score for the course.“The more skills and knowledge that I have, the better my life will be and the more I can contribute to my community,” he says.

Bahtiar receives his training certificate.


Psychosocial Support Programme (PSP) in Aceh

The PSP programme is working in 160 villages and 139 schools in Aceh Besar, Banda Aceh and Aceh Jaya. After over two years of support in Aceh Besar and Banda Aceh, activities in these two districts are ending while activities in Aceh Jaya will continue through December 2009.To date, 388 community and school facilitators have been trained to design and implement psychosocial activities. 5,624 individuals have been trained in psychological first aid, equipping them with the skills to sensitively respond to the needs of those affected by crisis. It is hoped that these individuals will be able to continue to support their communities in times of need long after the programme ends.With Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) and the University of Indonesia, the American Red Cross is designing and supporting a Master’s degree course in disaster psychology. The first course will begin in February 2009 with 20 students from across the country. As PMI staff and volunteers, these students will trained and prepared to respond the psychological needs of disaster survivors nationwide.

Masrizal proudly display his training certificate.

Special thanks to Wilda Anggraeni, American Red Cross in Aceh, Indonesia for some of the text and photos.

Finale: I am off to New York tomorrow night, 22 April, to be there for the presentation of the Tsunami Global Lessons Learned Report to the SG of the UN and Bill Clinton who has been his special adviser. It will be great to see New York again. The last time I was in New York was 1986 after going to the North Pole with Will Steger, and I appeared on Good Morning America in Polar bear trousers, seal skin boots, Beaver mitts with a badly frostbitten face. Dan Rather was the host on the show. That night in 1986, after 4 months of isolation, I hit New York town and had quite a party.

Tsunami heroes - Indonesia

The province of Aceh - Indonesia

I am currently travelling in the northern most part of Indonesia, Pulau Weh ( the small island in the top left-hand corner) and the province of Aceh, which was devastated by the 26 December 2004, Tsunami which killed 127,000 people and the bodies of another 116,000 have never been found. A quarter of a million poeple killed in seconds. In my travels where I talk and motivate the volunteers and staff, inspect projects and plan for future programmes, I hear so many gut-wrenching stories and the work of unsung heroes, many of them Red Cross volunteers.

Here are two stories of Nuraini a Grandmother and Nasir, orphaned by the tsunami.

NURAINI

Despite having experienced profound tragedy, Red Cross Red Crescent volunteer Nuraini (left) is determined to help others.

After losing four children, 11 grandchildren and her home to the 2004 tsunami, 72-year-old Nuraini and her husband used their pension to build a kindergarten in Merduati village, Banda Aceh. “Children should begin their education early, which is why we started this kindergarten,” she says.

When she is not running after the children at her school, Nuraini teaches cooking and traditional handicrafts to other women in her village as a community facilitator for a psychological support programme (PSP) run by the American Red Cross and Indonesian Red Cross.


“It is important to share your knowledge and skills with others, so that they can grow and learn too,” she says, adding that many women use these new skills to earn additional income for their families. Nuraini also sheepishly admits that she has a hard time sitting still and is constantly looking for new projects to keep her busy.

Nuraini is one of 1,260 community and school PSP facilitators in the 137 communities and 154 schools in Banda Aceh, Aceh Besar and Aceh Jaya targeted by the programme. Nuraini and her fellow volunteer facilitators play a critical role in helping their communities to recover from the emotional toll of the tsunami.

The volunteers identify psychosocial needs in their communities, and design and implement activities to meet these needs. These often include informal schooling and tree planting to help re-establish a sense of place in damaged or resettled communities. Facilitators receive extensive training in project planning and technical skills, such as psychosocial first aid, to help them carry out their roles.

“Facilitators in Banda Aceh began to provide support to their communities right after the tsunami hit, even though many of them had lost family members and their homes,” said Amin Khoja, the American Red Cross PSP programme manager. “Their contribution to this programme and to their community is noble and deserves appreciation.”

As the PSP programme comes to an end in Banda Aceh and Aceh Besar, the American Red Cross and PMI are working with the facilitators to enable them to continue to provide psychosocial support to those in need. The Red Cross Red Crescent is now expanding its PSP activities into new communities in Aceh Jaya.

NASIR

Nasir (left) found himself in the media spotlight in December 2007, when he became the recipient of the 100,000th house built in Aceh province three years after the tsunami had left around half a million people homeless.

The 14-year-old orphan was interviewed on local television at the ceremony to hand over the keys to his new pale green home in Tanoh Manyang village in the Teunom region of western Aceh.

He may be the star of the community but, a few months on, the media circus has moved on and he’s still facing life without his parents, who died in the disaster.

Parents

“After the earthquake, I went closer to the beach. Then I saw a big wave that dragged me away. Although I was only half conscious, I was able to swim, but I never saw my parents again,” he explains haltingly.

Nasir now lives with his older sister in a settlement of 140 houses, which were constructed from scratch by the British Red Cross for tsunami survivors who lost their land in the disaster. Some of them had previously inhabited a tiny island in the middle of an estuary, which was swallowed by up the waves.

Today there is a lively coffee shop and brightly-coloured flowers grow in the front yards lining the main street. People are slowly furnishing their new homes, although few have enough money to replace everything they lost in the disaster.

Financial

Nasir must wait until he reaches the age of 17 before he becomes the legal owner of his house. Until then, his financial affairs will be managed by Nourdin, his uncle, who has been declared Nasir’s official guardian by the local sharia court.

There, Nourdin signed a declaration confirming his responsibility to manage the assets given to his nephew by the British Red Cross until Nasir becomes an adult. The same process was repeated for the 348 orphans who received homes and cash grants under the Red Cross policy of providing extra support to groups left particularly vulnerable by the tsunami.

Nasir recently received a lump sum payment of around 520 Swiss francs to help with his education. Some of the money has been spent on books, pens and other stationery, and he has also enjoyed a bit of extra pocket money.

Thanks to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies for use of photos and information above.

Trip to Aceh - Indonesia

I have been in Banda Aceh for the last few days which is the headquarters for a huge Red Cross rehabilitation operation for people affected by the Tsunami in Aceh province. Around 180,000 were killed and millions rendered homeless. With the earthquake in China and the typhoon in Myanmar hitting the headlines, rehabilitation work continues in the Tsunami affected areas of Indonesia

Two photographs below of damage caused by the Tsunami in Aceh on 26 December 2004.


To date we have built 20,000 transitional shelters and have 20,000 permanent houses in various stages of completion. We also have major livelihoods, water sanitation, disaster preparedness, health, blood, ambulance and community outreach programmes.

A house built by the German Red Cross in Calang, Aceh

 

Family life is back to normal as people enjoy their new homes and improved coummity facilities



It is such a joy to see people rebuilding their lives and most have conditions which are better than before the Tsunami. The international community is helping the people of Aceh to build back better.
As I travel I can't help but be overwhelmed by the resilience of the people and the beauty of the country side.


I am now in Medan, the biggest seaport in Indonesia where we are having a meeting tonight and tommorw about the future of the Tsuanmi operation with the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, UN, Government of Indonesia.

The man who gave the leadership, displayed courage and innovation and has steered this operation through the last three and a half year is an exceptional man, Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, Director of the Executing Agency for Rehabilitation and Recontruction of Aceh and Nias, the Tsunami affected areas. Kuntoro has been a human dynamo and visionary working 15 hours a day, at least 7 days a week in leading this mammoth reconstruction operation which I believe has been the best in the world in decades, if not ever.
The photo below shows Kuntoro on the left, and myself on the right when we travelled to the island Simeulue recently.