Summary: Around twenty years ago, on December 26, 2004, at 07:58 WIB, an 8.9 SR tectonic earthquake occurred in the Indian Ocean, 66 km west of Aceh, and was followed by a 12-meter-high tsunami with a speed of 500-900 km/h that hit the west coast of Aceh. The disaster caused physical and non-physical damage. Sardjito Hospital and the University of Gadjah Mada (UGM) were among the institutions that participated in the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the health sector after the tsunami, especially in the West Aceh District. In commemoration of 20 years since this event, the UGM Disaster Health Management Working Group attempted to document the impact of health capacity building in Aceh, encompassing the acute response phase, transition phase, recovery phase, development and preparation phase, and exit strategy phase, involving numerous institutions and resources. This field report was written using a qualitative observational approach. The authors were part of a UGM joint team that returned to Aceh Barat District in 2024 to document the lessons learnt from the nEMT UGM sent during the tsunami operations. Following the tsunami, many improvements were made in disaster curricula, health facility preparedness, and health system strengthening. At least five activities involving the UGM team were organized to commemorate the 20 years of the tsunami, such as the Aceh Barat Hospital Preparedness Document Review in October, Testimonial of stakeholders engaged in operations documentation, national seminar and talkshow in collaboration with the local Medical faculty of University Syah Kuala, and a ceremonial prayer together on the tsunami day in Meulaboh. All activities are stored in bencana-kesehatan.net.
Yogadhita et al. (Sun,) studied this question.