Real-time evaluation Indonesia: earthquakes and tsunami (Lombok, Sulawesi) 2018

Indonesia was struck by a series of disasters in the latter half of 2018, causing significant damage and loss of life: several strong earthquakes hit Lombok Island in July and August, and then in late September a major earthquake struck the island of Sulawesi triggering a tsunami and liquefaction. In total, more than 2,700 people were killed, 156,000 houses destroyed or damaged, and about 930,000 people affected in in Lombok and Sulawesi.

The Government of Indonesia’s (GoI) decision to declare both Lombok and Sulawesi ‘provincial disasters’ did not come as a surprise to those who had been following the trajectory the GoI had been on since the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami to build a disaster management structure and capacity at national, provincial and district levels.

While international assistance was not requested, the GoI welcomed assistance to a limited extent through defined channels (focused on Sulawesi), preferencing Association of Southeast Asian (ASEAN) Member States in line with ASEAN disaster management commitments and efforts. This led to some confusion amongst international actors about how the GoI had classified the disaster, with some people incorrectly thinking the disasters had different classifications by virtue of the GoI’s less restrictive approach go Sulawesi. The GoI’s strong stance for a national-led response caught many in the international community (donors, humanitarian organisations, and media) off guard; learned behaviours of decades of humanitarian action - the muscle memory - kicking in with scant regard to the actual reality on the ground. Push back from donors, international humanitarian organisations and some Participating National Societies reflected the disconnect between commitments made at the global level and the operational reality on the ground.

The RTE’s focus was on lessons learnt and recommendations from the Indonesia Earthquakes and Tsunami response. It covered the period from the onset of the first Lombok earthquake until the end of the evaluation data collection and analysis phase (29 July to 20 December 2018).