A Journey to the Aceh Tsunami Museum: Remembering 2 Decades of Earthquakes in the Indian Ocean

It has been 20 years since the Aceh Tsunami. The enormity of the disaster is remembered in a museum called the Aceh Tsunami Museum which is located on Jl. Sultan Iskandar Muda No.3, Sukaramai, Kec. Baiturrahman, Banda Aceh City.

This magnificent building contains memories of when the incident occurred. An earthquake measuring 9.3 on the Richter Scale (SR) caused a tsunami that was even felt in Sri Lanka. I remember that moment very well because the earthquake was also felt in my hometown in Medan.

When entering the museum, we are greeted with a small hallway with minimal light and water splashing on the walls. Then we pass through a small hallway that leads to a room called Sumur Doa atau The Well of Prayer in which there are hundreds of thousands of names of victims of the Aceh Tsunami disaster accompanied by prayers that make anyone who enters this room goosebumps and sad.

There are many facilities in this museum for education especially. There is an exhibition room that contains photos of the moment of the catastrophic event to the moments that were immortalized until Aceh finally recovered.

There is also an exhibition room containing miniatures depicting the tsunami. How the evacuation process was carried out at that time which was not only carried out by humans. However, elephants were also involved in the evacuation at that time.

Inside the museum there is also an audio-visual room where visitors are brought to witness firsthand the situation when the big earthquake in the Indian Ocean took place until the tsunami hit at that time. The cries and prayers of the people at that time seemed to invite the audience to feel the panic of the people at that time. While in this room we are not allowed to take photos or videos.

There is one room that contains news stories about the events of the time, both domestic and foreign news.

Many other countries also helped at that time to the point that it was also remembered in this museum with the symbol of the peace bridge on which there were flags of countries that helped Aceh at that time.

The entrance price to this museum is also very affordable
For Children under 5 years old : Free
Children and Students: Rp. 3.000
Adult : Rp. 5.000
Foreign Tourist: Rp. 20.000

Not far from the museum is the Baiturrahman Mosque, which witnessed the tsunami. The mosque that survived the tsunami was not destroyed and still stands today has been built bigger and has become an icon of the city of Banda Aceh.

The Baiturrahman Grand Mosque is a symbol of religion, culture and the struggle of the Acehnese people.

Thank you for reading, hivers!