Visiting the Floating Diesel Power Plant Museum, a Silent Witness to the Devastation of the 2004 Tsunami in Aceh.

Hello #Hive friends, wherever you are...
How are you today? I hope you're all healthy and able to resume your activities as usual.

Some time ago, I took a relatively short trip around Banda Aceh by car. I stopped at several places to see and experience them firsthand.

One of my destinations was the PLTD Kapal Apung Museum, a floating power plant that witnessed the devastating tsunami that struck Aceh in 2004.

This ship was previously located on Ulee Lheue Beach, several kilometers from its current location, in the middle of a residential area. The thousand-ton ship was swept by the tsunami waves into the middle of a residential area, and now serves as a museum open to tourists from within and outside the city.

To enter the museum, you must purchase an entrance ticket at the ticket counter near the gate. Other visitors were also seen queuing to purchase entrance tickets, some of whom I heard using a Malaysian accent. They likely came from neighboring countries to see the attractions in Banda Aceh.

I purchased a ticket for Rp 3,000 per person. I then entered through the designated door and handed the ticket to the officer on duty at the entrance.

Upon entering the site, we were immediately greeted by a specially constructed monument with an inscription listing the names of those who died during the tsunami. This is a collection of the names of victims from the village. These names are listed and grouped according to their respective hamlets within the village.

During the 2004 disaster, I was also in the affected area. However, a friend picked me up and stayed at my friend's house, about 5 kilometers from where I live. The tsunami didn't reach Geuceu because it was quite far from the coast. Several people from my family also died during the incident.

Okay, friends, that's a bit of a story from the beginning, and it remains a very frightening memory to this day.

After seeing the victims' monument, I continued exploring the museum. Before entering the ship, I explored the surrounding area on foot. From there, I could clearly see the floating power plant, a large, tall vessel with several stories high. I began photographing the ship from various angles as I continued exploring the area.

To make it easier to navigate, a path has been built from metal plates. Large trees shade part of the path with their dense leaves, preventing the sun from getting too hot.

Here, I also saw a ruined house, a building destroyed by the tsunami. This building only had a portion of its concrete wall remaining. The roof was gone, having been carried away by the tsunami, and some of the concrete had also been damaged by the force of the tsunami.

After seeing the ruined house, I continued to board the floating ship, climbing the ladder. The sun was already quite hot, and there was no shelter from the sun's rays. I climbed the ship's floors one by one until I reached the top floor.

From here, the ship's vastness and height became clearer. I could see in all directions from the top. The wind had picked up now that there were no more buildings blocking it, but I enjoyed it. At least the breeze had eased the heat of the sun a little. I had climbed several floors to get here.

Some other visitors have already reached the top floor, they also brought their children to climb here but of course always under the supervision of their parents, besides that, on the side of the ship there is also a safety fence so that it can be used as a handrail for people who want to look down.

For a more panoramic view from above, there are also several binoculars available for tourists to use. These are positioned at the corners of the ship, allowing for a clearer and more detailed view.

Then I went down to the lower floor to enter the inside of the ship, beside the ship there is an entrance and visitors are free to enter to look around the inside of the ship.

The cabin of the ship felt cool thanks to the large air conditioners installed in various corners. Documents and fragments of items from the earthquake and tsunami were also on display. However, I was intrigued by the several TV screens that were turned on, and they were playing videos repeatedly about the countries that cared and provided various assistance during the tsunami. Nearly every monitor displayed this information.

I felt it was important to remind us that people around the world care when disaster strikes, anywhere in the world.
(The lighting in the cabin is not bright enough, which affects the image quality.)

Well, friends, that's a brief story I can share this time. Thank you for visiting, and see you in the next post.

By @dzaky12