Library of Curious Facts. When mom’s lullaby saves your life.

Kadek was 12 when the Smong came to his village. He was doing his school homework when the table started shaking and suddenly everything was moving. There was no one else in the house: his aunt went to buy some vegetables and his uncle was at work. Kadek, scared to death, ran downstairs with some unconscious instincts whispering to him to get out of the house. And suddenly, in the chaos of moving chairs and flying books he saw like it was real, his mom’s deep dark eyes looking at him from above the cradle and heard her soothing voice singing his favorite lullaby:

 Please listen to this story

one day in the past

a village was sinking

that what have been told

starting with earthquakes

following by giant wave

whole the country was sinking

immediately

if the strong earthquake

followed by the lowering of sea water

please find in hurry

a higher place

it is called “Smong”

a history of our ancestor

please always remember

the message and instruction…

Kadek saw other villagers running towards the hills behind the village and yelling ‘Smong! Smong is coming! The sea went away! Smong is coming!’ ‘Hurry to a higher place...’, - whispered mom’s voice. And little Kadek started running towards life-saving hills with all his might…

Smong is your bath

Earthquakes is your swing bed

thunderstorm is your music

thunderlight is your lamp

On 26 December 2004 an earthquake of 9.1 M caused tsunami in Indian Ocean that destroyed many places in Asian and African countries. Aceh Province of Indonesia was one of the most devastated areas with death toll reaching 200,000 people. However, an Simeulue Island in this province with the overall population of around 78,000 people had only 7 victims. As soon as the earthquake hit the island and local villagers noticed that the sea level was falling, they all left their houses as they were and started running to the highest point of the island. They had only 15 minutes until the tsunami crushed on their shore but that was enough because everyone knew exactly what to do when Smong (means “tsunami in” Devayan Language) comes. After a deadly tsunami in 1907 that took away a lot of Simeulueans, a simple instruction ‘when the sea is going away and the ground shakes, don’t waste time - run uphill’ was passed from generation to generation in songs, short poems, lullabies and stories. To save Simeulueans in 2004.

Resources: https://medium.com/@jacopopasotti/the-smong-story-feaeb6a45e10 (English translation of the lullaby)

Syafwina, S. "Recognizing indigenous knowledge for disaster management: Smong, early warning system from Simeulue Island, Aceh." Procedia Environ Sci 20 (2014): 573-582. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1878029614000711)