Hundreds of Indonesians fled for higher ground Wednesday as they ran through disaster drills in the region worst hit by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami ahead of its 20th anniversary next month.<\/p>\n
Children burst down the stairs in a rush for safety from the second floor of a school near Aceh\u2019s provincial capital Banda Aceh, where more than 60,000 were killed in the tsunami.<\/p>\n
As school bells rang out, dozens of children ran into the road covering their heads, following marked escape routes as volunteers shouted \u201cevacuate\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith exercises, we can prevent, rather than cure,\u201d said 34-year-old participant and local village official Rizky Firmansyah.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s better like that I think, because it\u2019s better for us to anticipate than to have things that we don\u2019t want to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
The drills simulated a repeat of the magnitude 9.2 earthquake which struck off the west coast of Indonesia\u2019s Sumatra island on December 26, 2004, sparking giant waves that killed over 200,000 people in 14 countries.<\/p>\n
The UN-organised drills saw hundreds of students and volunteers run to safe houses, including one four-storeys high, when the mock quake struck. Nearly 20 years on from the disaster, the UN is trying to get 100 percent of coastal communities prepared for a repeat tsunami by 2030.<\/p>\n \u201cWe must ensure the next generation remains informed, prepared, and resilient,\u201d Ardito Kodijat, a UNESCO official and head of the Indian Ocean Tsunami Information Centre, told AFP.<\/p>\n \u201cEnsuring community preparedness requires regular drills.\u201d<\/p>\n Indonesia is one of the most disaster-prone nations on earth.<\/p>\n The archipelago nation lies on the Pacific \u201cRing of Fire\u201d, where tectonic plates collide and many of the world\u2019s volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur.<\/p>\n UNESCO experts say the world is much safer today from the threat of massive tsunamis due to early warning systems that were lacking in 2004.<\/p>\n But the agency has also warned coastal communities to stay alert.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile we have made significant strides, the nature of this hazard requires us to remain vigilant,\u201d Vidar Helgesen, executive secretary of UNESCO\u2019s intergovernmental oceanographic commission, told delegates in Banda Aceh on Monday.<\/p>\n Indonesia\u2019s meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency (BMKG) also took part in the exercises meant to test operating procedures, communications and evacuation preparedness.<\/p>\n Many people are believed to have lost their lives in countries around the Indian Ocean basin because of a lack of warning and preparedness.<\/p>\n So such drills are vital for locals, even though tsunamis are infrequent.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is extremely important for this community,\u201d said Cutraa Rasmanidar, a 21-year-old graduate working as a volunteer.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s important because it\u2019s reflective, so we can remember what happened in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n The post Indonesians drill for disaster before tsunami anniversary<\/a> first appeared on KBC<\/a>.<\/p>\n The post Indonesians drill for disaster before tsunami anniversary<\/a> appeared first on KBC<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hundreds of Indonesians fled for higher ground Wednesday as they ran through disaster drills in the region worst hit by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami ahead of its 20th anniversary next month. Children burst down the stairs in a rush for safety from the second floor of a school near Aceh\u2019s provincial capital Banda Aceh, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102127\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\n\u2013 \u2018Extremely important\u2019 \u2013<\/strong>
\nThe drills \u2014 which took place in two villages as hundreds of observers watched \u2014 were part of a tsunami summit of experts organised by the United Nations cultural agency (UNESCO).<\/p>\n