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Immediately after the December 2004 earthquake and subsequent tsunami hit Aceh province in northwestern Indonesia, Compassion's Asia Area Office went into action — even though we have no projects on the island of Sumatra. Our team of more than 30 professionals and volunteers, led by the area office staff, arrived in Banda Aceh, the provincial capital, on January 6, 2005 to offer relief and support to the survivors. The team worked out of an abandoned school that they cleaned up and converted into an emergency aid station. The group included 11 doctors, five paramedics, five counselors and several kindergarten teachers.
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December 26, 2004 started off as a fine day all over Indonesia's Sumatra Island. Yet when a 9.0 earthquake struck that morning off the coast of Banda Aceh — located on the northwestern tip of Indonesia — the ocean swelled upward and set off a series of tsunami waves. The waves traveled to surrounding coastal areas at more than 500 miles an hour. With little warning of what was about to happen, life on dry ground was swallowed up by the ocean. More than 165,000 people died and over 700,000 were left homeless or displaced in Indonesia alone. |
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