Role of Universities in Disaster Management and Recovery from the Indian Ocean Tsunami: Perspective from Aceh, Indonesia

The Province of Aceh, Indonesia, was massively devastated by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami on an unimaginable scale for most of the Acehnese people. This mega-disaster caused an enormous number of human casualties, ruined almost all critical sectors, and paralyzed many government functions. Such an extreme disaster was the worst ever experienced by Aceh, and there was a severe lack of knowledge on how to manage the aftermath of the disaster. Although the Syiah Kuala University, the largest public university in Banda Aceh (the capital of Aceh Province), was severely affected, it played a crucial role in the recovery process and is still continuing the same, particularly in building disaster-related knowledge and dissemination capacity in the region. This paper presents an overview of two main issues: (1) to describe general conditions in Aceh before the tsunami, damages caused by the tsunami, and Syiah Kuala University's involvement in post-tsunami recovery and disaster risk reduction (DRR) activities and (2) to share our perspective and consideration of the role of disaster-affected universities (universities located in disaster-prone areas) in the anticipation of future disasters. We firmly believe that one important role of the university is to accumulate disaster knowledge and conduct education on DRR. Through such activities, the university can promote and help develop DRR in the communities. Therefore, universities located in disaster-prone areas should put significant efforts into building their knowledge capacity, and collaborations and knowledge sharing among these universities should be encouraged.