Tsunami 2004
In Banda Aceh librarians killed & all major libraries suffered extensive damage.
Banda Aceh is the capital and largest city in the province of Aceh, Indonesia. It is located on the island of Sumatra. The Tsunami on December 26, 2004 killed 167,000 people. It was the second largest instrumentally recorded earthquake in history generating a large tsunami, which caused extreme inundation and destruction along the northern and western coast of Sumatra as seen in the cities of Banda Aceh and Meulaboh.1 2
The State Library of Aceh (Badan Perpustakaan Daerah Propinsi Aceh) lost 23 of its staff including the Head of BPD (Mr. Bachtiar Azis), and all of its children's, youth, adult and reference collections. The Aceh Documentation and Information Center, known for its collection of rare books and manuscripts chronicling the heritage of Aceh, was completely destroyed.
Baiturrahman Grand Mosque Library in Banda Aceh lost its entire collection.
At least 2 of the 8 public libraries were wiped out.3
Three units of mobile library parked on the carport were crushed beyond repair by the force of the unanticipated wave; tires and transaxles looted. The brand-new mobile library that was just sent days earlier from Jakarta prior to the disaster was discovered at the Lampasek Kota area, flung away almost 200 meters from the main road and was covered with all sorts of debris and wastes.4
A 2005 report by the International Federation of Library Associations made many recommendations including: “Help is needed to trace old materials about Aceh especially rare books and manuscripts. With the total destruction of the Aceh Documentation and Information Centre (PDIA), which held the most important heritage collections on Aceh, the rebuilding of its cultural memory is urgently needed from libraries which have materials on Indonesia and Aceh.” 5
Jose C. Borrero. Field Survey northern Sumatra and Banda Aceh, Indonesia and after the Tsunami and Earthquake of 26 December 2004. Department of Civil Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA. Preliminary report prepared for: Earthquake Engineering Research Institute February 9, 2005.
The Great Sumatra-Andaman Earthquake of 26 December 2004. Science 20 May 2005:
Vol. 308, Issue 5725, pp. 1127-1133.
In Banda Aceh, Sumatra all of the major libraries suffered extensive damage. International Federation of Library Associations, IFLANET. 2005.
Report of Expedition to Various Types of Library in the Province of Aceh. January 27-30, 2005.
Once upon a time Google had a program to digitize all books. I do not know the status. This is an opportunity to revive the concept so that libraries housing rare works could find others housing the same books and share the cost of digitizing only the rarest ones. After that, a central information repository (inland, away from flood damage, not on fault lines in Canada, US or elsewhere.
Holland America Cruise Line, a subsidiary of Carnival, traditionally has used a 90% Indonesian crew and could have a publicity interest in supporting this.