Simeulue Regency is a regency in the
AcehAceh is a special territory of Indonesia, located on the northern tip of the island of Sumatra. Its full name is Nanggröe Aceh Darussalam. Past spellings of its name include Acheh, Atjeh and Achin.It is thought to have been in Aceh where Islam was first established in Southeast Asia...
province of
IndonesiaThe Republic of Indonesia is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia comprises 17,508 islands. With an estimated population of around 237 million people, it is the world's fourth most populous country, with the world's largest population of Muslims.Indonesia is a republic, with an...
. It occupies a whole island of Simeulue (Pulau Simeulue), 150 km of the west coast off
SumatraSumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world .-Etymology:Sumatra was known in ancient times by the Sanskrit...
.
With its isolated geographic location, it is not affected by the turmoil of conflicts in mainland Aceh between the Indonesian government and
Free Aceh MovementThe Free Aceh Movement , also known as the Aceh Sumatra National Liberation Front , was a separatist group seeking independence for the Aceh region of Sumatra from Indonesia. GAM fought against Indonesian government forces in the Aceh Insurgency from 1976 to 2005, costing over 15,000 lives...
(GAM). There is no activity of the GAM on these islands.
Simeulue was once a part of West Aceh Regency but broke away in 2000 with the hope that the region's development would improve.
Simeulue Regency is a regency in the
AcehAceh is a special territory of Indonesia, located on the northern tip of the island of Sumatra. Its full name is Nanggröe Aceh Darussalam. Past spellings of its name include Acheh, Atjeh and Achin.It is thought to have been in Aceh where Islam was first established in Southeast Asia...
province of
IndonesiaThe Republic of Indonesia is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia comprises 17,508 islands. With an estimated population of around 237 million people, it is the world's fourth most populous country, with the world's largest population of Muslims.Indonesia is a republic, with an...
. It occupies a whole island of Simeulue (Pulau Simeulue), 150 km of the west coast off
SumatraSumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world .-Etymology:Sumatra was known in ancient times by the Sanskrit...
.
With its isolated geographic location, it is not affected by the turmoil of conflicts in mainland Aceh between the Indonesian government and
Free Aceh MovementThe Free Aceh Movement , also known as the Aceh Sumatra National Liberation Front , was a separatist group seeking independence for the Aceh region of Sumatra from Indonesia. GAM fought against Indonesian government forces in the Aceh Insurgency from 1976 to 2005, costing over 15,000 lives...
(GAM). There is no activity of the GAM on these islands.
Administration
Simeulue was once a part of West Aceh Regency but broke away in 2000 with the hope that the region's development would improve. The seat of the regency is
SinabangSinabang is a town on the east coast of Simeulue Island, which lies off the western coast of Sumatra. Sinabang is the administrative seat of the Simeulue Regency, Aceh Province, Indonesia.-Earthquakes:...
.
The regency is divided into 8
subdistrictsA subdistrict is a subdivision of a regency or city in Indonesia. A subdistrict is divided into administrative villages .-Lists of Kecamatan:*Subdistricts of Aceh*Subdistricts of Bali...
(
kecamatan).
- Alafan
- Salang
- Simuelue Barat
- Simeulue Tengah
|
Simeulue Timur, capital Sinabang Sinabang is a town on the east coast of Simeulue Island, which lies off the western coast of Sumatra. Sinabang is the administrative seat of the Simeulue Regency, Aceh Province, Indonesia.-Earthquakes:...
Teluk Dalam
Teupah Selatan
Teupah Barat |
Demographics
Its people are similar to the people in the neighboring
NiasNīas is an island off the western coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. Nias is also the name of the archipelago, containing the Hinako archipelago....
Island, with a language that differs from mainland Aceh. Most of people of Simeulue are
Muslim:A Muslim , , is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah . Literally, the word means "one who submits ". Muslim is the participle of the same verb of which Islam is the infinitive. Muslims believe that there is only one God, translated in Arabic as Allah...
.
Flora and fauna
The regency is known for its
cloveCloves are the aromatic dried flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae. Cloves are native to Indonesia and India and used as a spice in cuisine all over the world...
s. One of its signature mainstays is the Simeulue
buffaloBubalus is a genus of bovines, whose English name is buffalo. Species that belong to this genus are:* Subgenus Bubalus** Water Buffalo, Bubalus bubalis*** Carabao, Bubalus bubalis carabanesis...
, a small animal whose meat is sweeter than the mainland buffalo. The buffalo is often sold outside Simeulue Island and has a high price for its prime quality.
In the island's center, much of the original prime rainforest has been felled to give way to palm oil plantations.
Earthquakes
Simeulue was close to the epicenter of the 9.3
magnitudeThe moment magnitude scale is used by seismologists to measure the size of earthquakes in terms of the energy released...
26 December 2004 earthquakeThe 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was an undersea megathrust earthquake that occurred at 00:58:53 UTC on December 26, 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The quake itself is known by the scientific community as the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake...
, but loss of life was surprisingly low, mainly because the people are familiar with
earthquakeAn earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes are recorded with a seismometer, also known as a seismograph...
s and
tsunamiA is a series of water waves that is caused by the displacement of a large volume of a body of water, such as an ocean. The original Japanese term literally translates as "harbor wave." Tsunamis are a frequent occurrence in Japan; approximately 195 events have been recorded...
s in this seismically active region and so knew to leave the coast after the earthquake. Local folklore has it that a huge earthquake and tsunami hit Simeulue in 1907, killing many of its inhabitants. Many died when people rushed to the beach when they saw the water recede, exposing the coral and fish. They went to collect the fish not realizing that the water would come back with a vengeance. Those who survived told the story of the 1907
semong, the local word for tsunami, to their children. It is largely because of this oral history that many in Simeulue say that they instinctively knew what to do when the 26 December 2004 earthquake and tsunami struck. In the fishing village of Kariya Vhapi on the NW shore of Simuelue, the 26 December 2004 tsunami was approximately 2 m high when it went through the village completely destroying all buildings.
On 28 March 2005 a 8.7
magnitudeThe moment magnitude scale is used by seismologists to measure the size of earthquakes in terms of the energy released...
stuck with its epicenter just off the south end of Simeulue Island. During the earthquake, Simeulue rose at least six feet on the western coast; this left the flat top of its
coral reefCoral reefs are aragonite structures produced by living organisms, found in marine waters containing few nutrients. In most reefs, the predominant organisms are stony corals, colonial cnidarians that secrete an exoskeleton of calcium carbonate...
s above
high tideHigh Tide was a band formed in 1969 by Tony Hill , Simon House , Pete Pavli and Roger Hadden . The trademark of their first album Sea Shanties was the constant battle between the electric guitar of Tony Hill and the electric violin of Simon House...
level leaving it dry and dead. On the east coast, the land was submerged, seawater flooding fields and settlements. At the village of Kariya Vhapi the 28 March 2005 tsunami was smaller than the one the previous December and did not damage the village; however it did overtop a 3.2 m high beach
bermA berm is a level space, shelf, or raised barrier separating two areas. Berm is a loanword from Dutch.-History:In medieval military engineering, a berm was a level space between a parapet or defensive wall and an adjacent steep-walled ditch or moat. It was intended to reduce soil pressure on the...
. In Sinabang the 28 March 2005 earthquake and subsequent fire destroyed 50 to 60 percent of the downtown area and significantly damaged the port facility. At Sinabang the uplift was less than further north being
only 40 cm.
On 20 February 2008 at 03:08 PM local time, Simeulue suffered a 7.5
magnitudeThe moment magnitude scale is used by seismologists to measure the size of earthquakes in terms of the energy released...
earthquake.