The Indian Ocean Tsunami and Land Use Changes in Indonesia

Several tsunamis generated in the Indian Ocean have delivered impacts on land use and spatial planning for the affected areas. New regulations for city planning have also been introduced as part of mitigation efforts and to control land use in Indonesia. This chapter is aimed at elaborating the land use changes at several selected areas in Indonesia, those were motivated by tsunamis in the Indian Ocean. Three tsunami-affected areas will be taken into consideration in this chapter, namely, Banda Aceh and Meulaboh (after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami) and the Mentawai Islands (after the 2010 Mentawai tsunami). Policy change analysis was done, and it is coupled with spatial analysis using previous published data and images. Banda Aceh and Meulaboh were the most affected cities due to the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004. Meanwhile, land use changes at Mentawai Islands are analyzed based on the latest interventions made around their areas. Three major units of land use were classified in this chapter. Relocation programs made at the three selected locations faced difficulties due to the land price hikes, and there are some coastal communities who work as fishermen, and this made them difficult to be relocated far away from coastal area. To prevent further uncontrollable land use changes at coastal area, the local Government of Banda Aceh and Meulaboh puts a strict regulation for the coastal area. Meanwhile, the disaster mitigation-based spatial planning in the Mentawai Islands is still in the process of formulation.