Simeulue Regency ( id, Kabupaten Simeulue) is a

regency A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

in the

Aceh Aceh ( ), officially the Aceh Province ( ace, Nanggroë Acèh; id, Provinsi Aceh) is the westernmost province of Indonesia. It is located on the northernmost of Sumatra island, with Banda Aceh being its capital and largest city. Granted a s ...

special region of

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. It occupies the whole island of Simeulue (Pulau Simeulue), 150 km off the west coast of

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

, with an area of . It had a population of 80,674 at the 2010 census and 92,865 at the 2020 census; the official estimate as at mid 2021 was 93,762. With its isolated geographic location and its linguistic difference from mainland Aceh, Simeulue has not been affected by the turmoil of conflicts in mainland Aceh between the Indonesian government and the

Free Aceh Movement The Free Aceh Movement ( id, Gerakan Aceh Merdeka, GAM; ace, Geurakan Acèh Meurdèka / Gěrakan Aceh Měrdeka) was a separatist group seeking independence for the Aceh region of Sumatra, Indonesia. GAM fought against Indonesian government f ...

(GAM). There has been no major GAM activity on the island.

Administration

Simeulue was once a part of

West Aceh Regency West Aceh Regency ( id, Kabupaten Aceh Barat) is a Regencies of Indonesia, regency in the Aceh special region of Indonesia. It is located on the island of Sumatra. The regency currently covers an area of 2,927.95 square kilometres and had a populat ...

but was split off in 1999 with the hope that the region's development would improve. The seat of the regency is

Sinabang Sinabang is a town on the east coast of Simeulue Island, which lies off the western coast of Sumatra in Indonesia. Sinabang is the administrative seat (capital) of the Simeulue Regency, in Aceh Province of Indonesia and has a population of approxim ...

. The regency was divided at 2010 into eight

districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

(''kecamatan''), but two additional districts were created in 2012. All are listed below with their areas and their populations at the 2010 census and 2020 census, together withy the official estimates as at mid 2021. The table also includes the locations of the district administrative centres, the number of villages (rural ''desa'' and urban ''kelurahan'') and the number of offshore islands (of which just two are inhabited) in each district, and its post code. Notes: (a) of which the island of Pulau Siumat is inhabited. (b) of which the island of Pulau Teupah is inhabited.
(c) The 2010 population of the Teupah Tengah District is included in the figure for the Simeulue Timur District, from which it was cut out in 2012.
(d) The 2010 population of the Simeulue Cut District is included in the figure for the Simeulue Tengah District, from which it was cut out in 2012.

Villages

Administrative villages (''desa'') listed for each district:

Demographics

The people of Simeulue are similar to the people in the neighboring

Nias Nias ( id, Pulau Nias, Nias language: ''Tanö Niha'') (sometimes called Little Sumatra in English) is an island located off the western coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. Nias is also the name of the archipelago () of which the island is the centre, ...

Island, speaking 3 languages ( Devayan, Sigulai and Leukon) which are distinctly different from the languages spoken in mainland Aceh. The vast majority (99.7% in 2020) of the people of Simeulue are

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

Earthquakes

Simeulue was close to the epicenter of the 9.3

magnitude Magnitude may refer to: Mathematics *Euclidean vector, a quantity defined by both its magnitude and its direction *Magnitude (mathematics), the relative size of an object *Norm (mathematics), a term for the size or length of a vector *Order of ...

26 December 2004 earthquake, but loss of life was surprisingly low, mainly because the people are familiar with

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...

s and

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explo ...

s in this seismically active region and so knew to leave the coast after the earthquake. A major earthquake and tsunami hit Simeulue in 1907, killing many of its inhabitants. Many died when they rushed to the beach after seeing the water recede, exposing the coral and fish. They went to collect the fish, not realizing that the water would come back. Those who survived told the story of the 1907 ''semong'', the local word for tsunami, to their children. It is largely because of this

oral history Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people wh ...

that many in Simeulue say that they knew what to do when the 26 December 2004 earthquake and tsunami struck. In the fishing village of Kariya Vhapi on the NW shore of Simuelue, the 26 December 2004 tsunami was approximately 2 m high when it went through the village completely destroying all buildings. On 28 March 2005 an 8.7

stuck with its epicenter just off the south end of Simeulue Island. During the earthquake, Simeulue rose at least six feet on the western coast; this left the flat top of its

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. Co ...

s above

high tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables can ...

level leaving it dry and dead. On the east coast, the land was submerged, seawater flooding fields and settlements. At the village of Kariya Vhapi the 28 March 2005 tsunami was smaller than the one the previous December and did not damage the village; however it did overtop a 3.2 m high beach

berm A berm is a level space, shelf, or raised barrier (usually made of compacted soil) separating areas in a vertical way, especially partway up a long slope. It can serve as a terrace road, track, path, a fortification line, a border/ separation ...

. In Sinabang the 28 March 2005 earthquake and subsequent fire destroyed 50 to 60 percent of the downtown area and significantly damaged the port facility. At Sinabang the uplift was less than further north being ''only'' 40 cm. On 20 February 2008 at 03:08 PM local time, Simeulue suffered a 7.4

earthquake. On 11 April 2012 at 04:38 PM local time, Simeulue suffered an 8.6 magnitude earthquake.

References

{{Authority control Regencies of Aceh