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Lucy Tran

Mr. Ben

Science 7.4

5 June 2025

2004 Indian Ocean tsunami in Sumatra, Indonesia

On Boxing Day, 2004, Sumatra, an island in Indonesia, encountered a 9.3 magnitude

earthquake, triggering a fatal tsunami, taking many lives and destroying homes. The vicious tsunamis

caused infrastructure to collapse, leaving many to start their lives from the beginning, and the whole

island to rebuild and rehabilitate infrastructure and services from the start. However, scientific proposals

and solutions developed by researchers have given the tsunami victims hope to reduce the severity of the

outcome of the natural disaster. Some solutions help prepareness and some increase protection; the

dynamic Self-Powered Movable seawall (SMS) prevents the inland from large and destructive waves.

Let us evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of this solution from an economic perspective.

Nevertheless, before digging deep into the positives and negatives, the process of tsunamis occurring

should be understood. Tsunamis are large waves from the ocean caused by earthquakes under the ocean.

Convergent plate boundaries are when tectonic plates move towards each other; and subduction is a

type of convergent plate boundary. Subduction zones are created when the oceanic plate subducts under

the adjacent, denser plate called the continental plate. Earthquakes tend to occur at subduction zones

because when the plates move, they often get stuck, and it when it finally releases, there is a release of

energy from the slip of a “strike-slip” and from the rupture, causing seismic waves to travel through the

crust and an earthquake to occur (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). Connecting to

tsunamis, seismic events caused by seismic waves, cause the lithosphere to move and vibrate, displacing

a large volume of water above. The displacement causes a vertical movement of the water, creating

potential energy. Then, it transfers to kinetic energy when the water propagates due to gravity and its
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attempt to regain balance, generating enormous waves that travel violently in many different directions

across the ocean. These natural disasters regularly occur 78% in the Pacific Ocean, specifically the Ring

of Fire (NOAA, “Tsunami Locations”). The scientific explanation for why tsunami tends to occur in this

area is that the Ring of Fire includes many subduction zones, increasing the movement of tectonic plates

at fault lines, plate boundaries, and trenches. The movement of tectonic plates causes strike-slip

occurrences, causing earthquakes that trigger tsunamis. Therefore, since Indonesia lies on the Ring of

Fire, this country encounters tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanoes more often than other countries that

are not in this region.

The effects of tsunamis on humans and the environment are loss of life, destruction of property

and infrastructure, economic disruption, pollution, habitat destruction, water contamination… The high,

forceful, and fast waves are overwhelming and can easily drown people, and the collapsed debris carried

by the tsunami waves and rubble has extreme force and pressure, leading to physical trauma from

fractures to open wounds and even casualties. Homes of innocent people, buildings, bridges, ports, and

other vital infrastructure in Indonesia’s environment and economy were damaged, creating displacement

and economic hardships for the citizens and government. Debris from waves destroys sewage systems and

filters, contaminating clean freshwater and creating health risks. Key economic aspects such as

agriculture, fishery businesses, and tourism will face challenges like contamination and habitat

destruction, restraining financial income. Therefore, scientists and researchers have developed solutions

to minimize the impact of natural disasters in Sumatra. The dynamic SMS seawall proposal has

minimized impacts by securing the ports and infrastructure at the coast, which means the seawall is

engineered and designed to resist substantial hydrodynamic forces (motion and forces of fluids)

generated by tsunamis. The seawall has gates that use microtidal energy to develop their power to raise

the gates from the seafloor. It forms a barrier from tsunami waves that have buoyant forces and

structural robustness (the ability to tolerate heavy damage) help withdraw the violent impact of waves
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and water pressure that destroy homes, take lives, and collapse critical infrastructure (Takagi,

“Self-Powered Movable Seawall for Tsunami Protection and Emergency Power Generation”). Overall, the

SMS barrier offers a sustainable and strong tsunami prevention solution with a high potential for adopting

this worthwhile solution/technology worldwide. Still, regarding ideas, solutions, and proposals, there

must be advantages and disadvantages that will be further extended in the following paragraphs.

When evaluating the solution of SMS dynamic seawall from the economic perspective, the first

positive impact of using seawalls is that they have high resistance and mitigation to tsunami waves,

benefiting locals, infrastructure, and businesses by increasing protection. According to the Japan News,

the SMS seawall has undergone testing at locations like Japan’s Nankai Trough region, where the

tsunamis have violent hydrodynamic force and wave speeds of 700km per hour. The testing had

promising results and protection due to the robust and buoyant construction against the wave impact

forces (森). Based on the evidence, the tsunami in Sumatra in 2004 also had waves with speeds around

700 km per hour (Britannica). Therefore, the SMS seawall would likely withstand the forceful and

rigorous waves of the fast waves. This solution especially helps people in Sumatra because they had a

very short period to prepare and flee; therefore, this seawall is self-powered, it can sustain large and

powerful volumes of water, reduce the significant kinetic energy the waves carry, and block the waves

from entering the shore/ports. Specifically, the seawall deploys vertical gates that generate a hydraulic

barrier that resists the hydrodynamic pressures and intense forces. The gates are lowered only when the

waves propagate, so they protect coastal infrastructures and homes from destruction. With structural

protection, the government does not have to raise taxes on citizens to rebuild and rehabilitate the

infrastructure after severe damage, benefiting the citizens and the government. Therefore, the SMS

seawall benefits Indonesia’s economy by avoiding spending millions on rebuilding homes and structures

every five years, when a tsunami strikes the area.

Another positive impact of my solution is that the SMS seawall provides energy during energy
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outages due to tsunami impacts using turbines. According to the International Center for Urban Safety

Engineering Institute of Industrial Science, the University of Tokyo, it took Sumatra roughly two weeks to

get electricity and energy running and repaired, significantly slowing down the recovery and causing

anxiety for survivors attempting to contact relatives or emergency aid (Meguro). Sumatra suffers from the

loss of power due to communication limitations, logistics, and lack of emergency responses; however,

with the implementation of the SMS seawall, electricity from microtidal energy will allow citizens to

have electricity to use while the government and services have more time to fix the destroyed energy

sources and electricity systems thoroughly. Scientifically, when the gates rise, the movement utilizes the

difference in water levels between the outside and inside of the gates to create movement and flow in the

water that drives turbines. The movement of the turbines is kinetic energy, and it can be

transferred/converted to electricity. With this source of energy, financial losses can be reduced by

generating surplus energy that is stored and used as emergency power during outages, maintaining

operations with emergency services and the government can avoid costly emergency repairs. This benefits

Indonesia’s financial status because the microtidal energy can be a sustainable alternative for the energy

source used before the destruction of the tsunami. It will help the developing country’s government

manage more critical circumstances, like saving lives instead of worrying about repairing. Plus, repairing

an energy source this large that runs through the city in a short time is extremely costly; therefore,

integrating the SMS seawall also provides renewable energy that minimizes the repair expenses for

immediate service. Overall, the SMS barrier offers a sustainable and strong tsunami prevention solution,

with other advantages when these disasters occur, creating the potential for this worthwhile

solution/technology to be adopted.

When evaluating a scientific solution, we also have to think about the negative consequences.

One negative economic consequence of using SMS seawalls from tsunamis is that it is difficult for a

developing country like Indonesia to afford to develop and construct. Based on statistics from Science
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Direct, building one seawall alone costs $10,000 to $100,000, depending on the size, material, and design,

without considering labor and other expenses (Takagi et al.). Thousands of dollars is a large amount of

money, especially for a developing country to spend. Since Japan is a highly developed country with an

excellent and secure economy and GDP, this nation can afford to build these seawalls. On the other hand,

Indonesia is still a developing country and does not have a steady economic and financial status;

therefore, the money to pay for the construction and planning of this proposal will take a significant

proportion of the country’s GDP. In addition, Indonesia is the sixth country with the most islands in the

world, with 17,508 islands (“Indonesian Islands”). Since Indonesia lies on the Ring of Fire, this country is

more prone to earthquakes, and all islands will be affected by these tsunamis, regardless of their location

near the epicenter. It is tough for a developing country with countless islands to build many seawalls

because it would take a large proportion of its economy. Building small, average-quality seawalls for

every island would cost at least 175 million dollars, which is a large amount of money for even a

developed country. Therefore, this solution is complex for the developing country Indonesia to bring to

life and utilize since it is costly to test a new idea/solution requiring lots of research and construction.

Another negative economic impact of implementing SMS seawalls is that the construction and

implementation are not fully certified and definite for usage. According to Science Direct, 33 out of 56

ports in Japan were not feasible for the SMS seawall, 59% of the testing locations (Takagi et al.). Based

on the statistics, the ports were not feasible to the SMS seawall because they had too small tidal ranges or

a deficiency of microtidal energy that is required for electricity and for gates to rise and lower. Indonesia

has a mix of high and low tidal rates, making it difficult to determine the seawall's ability, increasing the

unfeasibility rate (Takagi et al.). Therefore, if the location is not feasible or the construction has some

failures, millions of dollars would go to waste. As a developing country, Indonesia does not have the

money and finances to test a solution that has a high chance of not succeeding. Scientists and researchers

are unsure of how long it will take to complete this barrier and what challenges will be encountered,
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limiting and delaying the process of planning and construction. Since this solution has not been tested, the

design may not be successful, and the money put into the project will be lost. This is not beneficial to

countries, especially developing countries like Indonesia, because to ensure there is enough money for the

project, the tax increases, creating more difficulties for local residents financially, especially the ones who

have low incomes. Overall, the implementation of the SMS seawall has uncertain results, creating risks to

Indonesia’s economy.

After rigorous evaluation of the Self-Powered Movable seawall, I believe the positive outweighs

the negative. This is because saving lives and homes always surpasses the importance of economic and

financial losses because they are irreplaceable and humans are the foundation of economic success.

Saving homes by implementing the seawall protection and providing electricity for communication with

emergency aid is more vital than economic losses because homes provide critical shelter, security, and

stability for individuals and families, which is fundamental to their well-being and recovery after

tsunamis. They need homes and essentials before they can contribute and help improve the economy. In

addition, implementing the SMS seawall removes the expenses for infrastructure repairs because the

seawall prevent the rigorous tsunamis from entering inland. Plus, preserving lives stablizes and maintains

workforce, societies, and community resilience critical for economic recovery and development. In

conclusion, eventhough integrating the Self-Powered Movable seawall may have negative aspects but

increasing the protection of infrastructure and lives during natural disasters strongly outweighs all the

negatives because they are the fundamentals of economic growth and development.
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Glossary

Tsunami: Violent ocean waves caused by earthquakes or volcanic eruptions.

Microtidal energy: Kinetic energy produced by the rise and fall of tides.

Earthquake: The movement in the crust of tectonic plates that can cause great damage.

Convergent plate boundary: Two tectonic plates colliding into each other, with the denser plate

forcefully going under the other (subduction), or they collide towards each other to create mountain

ranges.

Subduction: When the continental plate imbricates the oceanic plate due to higher density.

Strike-slip: Two tectonic plates get stuck, which can create friction and potential energy. When it

terminates and releases suddenly, the earth shifts and creates an earthquake suddenly.

Seismic waves: Waves of energy in the ground, causing areas to have high seismic activity such as,

earthquakes and volcano eruption.

Tectonic plates: They are apart of the the lithospshere, with both continental and oceanic crust.

Fault lines: A crack/break in the crust/Earth’s surface.

Magnitude: The measure of the size/strength of an earthquake.

Ring of Fire: A location in the Pacific Ocean with a high concentration of seismic activity due to its

many plate boundaries and subduction zones.

Trench: A V-shaped depression in the seafloor due to subduction of tectonic plates.

Infrastructure: The basic physical facilities and structures required in society.

Self-Powered Movable Seawall (SMS): A seawall system that can protect inland from tsunami waves
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with its own abilities to move and produce energy.

Seismic events: Earthquakes and vibrations caused by seismic waves.

Lithosphere: The rigid outer layer of the Earth, containing of the crust and upper mantle.

Potential energy: Stored energy.

Kinetic energy: Energy due to its motion.

Hydrodynamic forces: Forces generated by the motion of fluids.

Buoyant forces: The force by the fluid and weight of the object allowing the object to float.

Structural robustness: The ability to withstand severe destruction.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP): The total amount of value/money of trade goods and services produced

by a country.

Feasibility: The suitability to a certain thing.

Epicenter: The point of the crust, highlighting the starting point of the earthquake.
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Works Cited

Britannica. “Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004.” Encyclopædia Britannica, 19 Dec. 2018,

www.britannica.com/event/Indian-Ocean-tsunami-of-2004.

Cornell, Sean. “Case Study: Sumatra and Thailand and the 2004 Tsunami | Coastal Processes, Hazards,

and Society.” Www.e-Education.psu.edu, www.e-education.psu.edu/earth107/node/1657.

Friedman, Jed. “Resilience and Recovery Ten Years after the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami: A Summary of

Results from the STAR Project.” World Bank Blogs, 18 Dec. 2014,

blogs.worldbank.org/en/impactevaluations/resilience-and-recovery-ten-years-after-2004-indian-o

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Grant, Mitchell. “How Much Does It Cost to Build a Seawall? [2024 Data].” Angi, 19 Mar. 2024,

www.angi.com/articles/how-much-does-it-cost-to-build-seawall.htm.

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