At 7:58 am on 26 December 2004, a devastating tsunami hit various places in the Indian Ocean. In Indonesia it took the lives of 250,000 people, and displaced a further 500,000. The earthquake that caused the tsunami measured 9.3 on the richta scale, but delivered only slight damage considering its velocity. However, the 34 metre wave that followed was not so kind.
Brigadier David Chalmers was with one of the first recovery teams on the scene under operation Sumatra Assist, arriving on 27 December with Taskforce 629. Speaking at the National General Assembly, he said his mission was simply ‘to do some good’.
“We helped people to find food, shelter and medical attention,” he said. “We were there to provide emergency relief, save lives and reduce threats to survivors. In doing so, we enhanced Australia’s relationship with Indonesia.”
Australia sent some 1,050 Defence Force personnel under a combined taskforce with New Zealand. “We played a very small role in a huge international effort,” Brigadier Chalmers said. “The first thing we sent was planes with food and medical supplies.”
While in Indonesia the Defence Force distributed 1,200 tonnes of supplies and carried 2,500 displaced people. The taskforce also established a field hospital with a nursing ward and the capability of performing eight operations per day.
“We restored the existing, damaged hospital so we could hand it back to the Indonesians when we left,” Brigadier Chalmers said.
David Chalmers said that ten engineers were also among the first group of people sent over to help. “They set up the Convent Water Point, which provided clean, fresh drinking water, which was critical for people to survive,” he said. “Troops also recovered fishing boats from out at sea. The level of land clearance performed over a six to eight week period was tremendously impressive. It was all done by hand and was extremely physically and psychologically demanding because numerous bodies were found amongst the rubble.”
Also speaking at the Assembly, Head of AusAid Indian Ocean Support Taskforce, Alan March, said that during the relief, AusAid donated $68 million. He said that the humanitarian response is now over and we are in the reconstruction phase, which will take an entire generation.
Alan March reminded delegates that the 2004 tsunami was felt here in Australia. “Oil production was closed, 12 people were washed off a sand bar in the west and water levels rose in several places,” he said.
He said the role of Local Government in emergency situations needs to be determined by each individual Council.
The Australian Government has invested $70 million into an early warning Tsunami system that will primarily detect signals between Australia and New Zealand and off the West Coast.
“It is great that we have this system,” Alan March said. “But we need to determine how this information will get from the alert office to the community and this is where Local Government comes in.
“If we ever think we are well prepared, we are wrong. You must always be over prepared, and expect things to happen even during relaxing periods such as Christmas.You can do 10,000 things well, but do two or three poorly, with a lack of thoroughness and you will lose that identity.
