Library damage resulting from the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake has been reported in six Asian countries. On December 26, the massive 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake struck off the northwest coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The resulting tsunamis killed more than 180,000 people. In addition to the loss of human lives, cultural institutions were destroyed in several Asian nations. Libraries on the Eastern coast of Sri Lanka and the northern province of Aceh on Sumatra were most severely affected by the disaster.
India
Damage to libraries in India has not been well documented. Water damage was reported at Madras University Library in Chennai. The Asian Development Bank reports extensive damage to schools in the Indian states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. A government assessment found that 252 schools in Tamil Nadu need complete reconstruction, 19 need major repairs and 49 need minor repairs.
In the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, 78 teachers are listed as killed or missing. Further, 25 percent of primary schools, 33 percent of upper primary schools, and 31 percent of senior secondary schools were seriously damaged, indicating that school libraries in the region also suffered damage.
Indonesia
The Sumatran province of Aceh was severely damaged by the earthquake and resulting tsunami. An estimated 167,736 Indonesians were killed and 25% of Achenese lost their source of livelihood. Banda Aceh, Aceh's capital, was the closest major city to the earthquake's epicenter, and many of its major libraries suffered extensive damage.
The Aceh Provincial Library (BPD) was inundated with three meters of water. Twenty three staff members were killed, including the library's director, Bachtiar Azis, who is listed as missing along with his family. In addition to loss of life, the BPD suffered physical damage and a near total loss of its collection. Concrete and steel fences surrounding the two-story building were mostly destroyed, however, the building itself remained standing. All library materials housed on the first floor were swept away by the waves and the floor was covered in 30 cm-thick mud. These lost materials comprise most of its children's, young adult and adult collections. The water did not reach the second floor, but looting resulted in the loss of most materials and equipment. A collection of books received under legal deposit and housed on the second floor was left undisturbed and survived the disaster and looting intact. Despite these losses, the BPD reopened to the public in May 2005. As of August 2005, repairs were still being made to the building, the library lacked computers for its warintek (information technology section), and most areas of the library needed furnishing and collection replacement.
Of Aceh's eight public libraries, two were destroyed. These libraries were located in the hard-hit cities of Meulaboh and Sigli.
Mobile library units, or perpustakaan keliling, are used to serve rural areas of Aceh. Days before the earthquake and tsunami, the BPD had received two newly built mobile library units from the National Library of Indonesia. Both of these were destroyed along with the rest of the mobile libraries parked on the BPD's carport. In July 2005, the National Library donated two replacement mobile units, however the new BPD director noted that further units were needed to adequately serve outlying regions of the province.
The Aceh Documentation and Information Center, known for its collection of rare books and manuscripts chronicling the heritage of Aceh, was destroyed. Only half of the building remained standing, and the entire collection was swept away. A team from the National Library of Indonesia visiting in January 2005 was able to salvage only three books and one sheet of the genealogy of the Muslim kings of Aceh. These were taken to Jakarta for restoration.
The Provincial Archives Agency lost 80 percent of the photographs in its collection. The Secretariat Office of the Aceh Province lost 160 boxes of records.
The Aceh branch of the National Land Register Agency was inundated with water. Roughly 629 boxes of materials certifying individual land ownership in the province were damaged. Due to the efforts of a team of conservators from Japan and archivists from the National Archives in Jakarta, many of these land register documents were preserved.