Hundreds of thousands of lives were lost in this incident. Losses of infrastructure, property and the loss of the lives of loved ones certainly leave a sadness that is difficult to forget. The Aceh earthquake and tsunami incident was a valuable lesson that opened the world’s eyes to the importance of carrying out adaptation and mitigation efforts to minimise disaster risks.

To commemorate the tsunami that occurred in 2004, almost every December 26, the entire Aceh government, both provincial and district/city levels, and all Acehnese people carry out tsunami warning activities every year. This is an effort by the regional government to educate the nation’s future generations to always be prepared and resilient to disasters.

The tsunami warning is, of course, not limited only to community preparedness in facing disasters, especially tsunamis, but more than that; this warning is also used as momentum to evaluate the extent to which disaster management activities can run well. Apart from that, the population is increasing every year, as well as the number of facilities and infrastructure; of course, this will impact the need for updates on knowledge of better disaster management that continues to need to be improved.

Universitas Syiah Kuala (USK) is an educational institution that focuses on developing higher education and always encourages efforts and innovations in disaster education among society and the nation’s next generation through various disaster activities. USK’s annual mega tsunami warning activity is an effort to provide information and education to the community and various other disaster education activities. Through this activity, it is hoped that it can increase public awareness about disaster risks and develop community attitudes and skills in managing the phases before, during and after a disaster occurs.

The mega-tsunami warning, which will be held on December 26, 2024, is a special warning activity because it is the 20th tsunami warning activity after the devastating tsunami hit Aceh Province. Of course, many things need to be evaluated, planned and improved again after this great event strikes. The international world, which has learned much about this event, will continue to evaluate the tsunami disaster that hit Asia on December 26. In carrying out these activities, TDMRC USK will also collaborate with various parties, both at the national and international levels.

Based on the above, therefore, to commemorate the twenty (20) anniversary of the mega-tsunami that occurred in December 2024, USK, in this case, the Disaster Mitigation Center/TDMRC-USK, will again hold various series of activities that can provide information. And education to the community, especially the people of Aceh and throughout Indonesia, as well as the world. The series of activities commemorating the two (2) decades of the tsunami will be carried out in stages from April to December 2024.