Tsunami Drama

The role play is performed in the Acehnese language - live and in the open (such as under the shade of a tree) - with a big banner strung up behind the actors that reads: "Indonesia is prone to disaster: let's be prepared!" While BRC has assisted communities with money and organisational skills, the ideas for the play come mainly from the local people themselves. In Paloh, the action team hooked up with the Paloh youth group to develop a drama that shares information and also models how behaviour that involves working hand-in-hand (working together as a community) can have powerful results.

Specifically, the role play begins by providing a light-hearted taste of life before the tsunami. Then the tsunami comes; many people are killed, and a mother weeps over the body of her dead son. After the disaster, a group of villagers get together for a meeting and start thinking about how they can prevent the same thing from happening again. Along comes a foreign aid worker (named "David" and played by a lad in white sunglasses and a long brown wig) who asks what his organisation can do to help. He is told that the village team needs support to put their ideas into practice. Next time a tsunami comes, there's a warning, and the villagers head to safer ground, helping pregnant women, the elderly, and disabled people to evacuate along with them. Only a few people are injured by the wave, and they are given first aid by the community.

Risk Management.

One person in attendance noted that "[f]rom the raucous laughter, it's clear the spectators enjoy the comic bits, and afterwards they suggest it would be good to show it on local TV."

Khaliddin, who plays "David", the aid worker in the drama, consulted with other cast members to explain what outsiders like his character might have learned by watching the play; he said: "working hand-in-hand, working together as a community to achieve objectives, ethics, politeness and local customs."