Meulaboh (Jawoë: ملابوه; or Moulabouh) is the capital of West Aceh Regency, Indonesia.

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Meulaboh
Town
Other transcription(s)
• Jawoë	ملابوه
The great mosque of Meulaboh after the 2004 tsunami.
Meulaboh
Coordinates: 4°8′N 96°7′E
Country	Indonesia
Province	Aceh
Area
• Total	44.91 km2 (17.34 sq mi)
Population  (2020 Census)
• Total	64,646
	[1]
Time zone	UTC+7 (WIB)

Geography

Meulaboh is about 245 km southeast of Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh province. Meulaboh is located in the western part of Sumatra island.

2004 Indian Ocean earthquake event

"The casualty rates in Meulaboh defy imagination,"^{[quote citation needed]} said Aitor Lacomba, Indonesian director of aid group International Rescue Committee. "Tens of thousands need immediate assistance there."^{[quote citation needed]}

A damaged airstrip was cleared, enabling International Red Cross medical teams from Japan, Spain and Singapore to begin treating survivors. Red Cross engineer Sara Escudero said "There is a strong smell of putrefaction and, whilst body retrieval has commenced, it can be assumed that there are still hundreds, possibly thousands of bodies remaining underneath the debris".^{[quote citation needed]}

The Red Cross said it would use Meulaboh as an aid staging post for the Sumatran west coast. The government of Singapore deployed two helicopter landing ships there.

The town was largely devastated, with around 80 percent of buildings destroyed and at least 10,000 dead out of the town's population of 50-60 thousand.[2][3] Only 23,000 people could be accounted for a week after the tsunami, although many were not accounted for as they were not in refugee camps, but resided in deserted houses.[4]

Climate

Meulaboh has a tropical rainforest climate (Af) with heavy to very heavy rainfall year-round.

See also

• Calang
• Gleebruk
• Leupung
• Tapaktuan
• Teunom

References

External links

• DigitalGlobe analysis of Meulaboh tsunami images. (For reference only. PDF 1.08 MB)

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