Simeulue

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Simeulue is an island in the Indian Ocean, 150 km off the west coast of Sumatra. Administratively, it is a regency (kabupaten) of Aceh, Indonesia.

With its isolated geographic location, it is not affected by the turmoil of conflicts in mainland Aceh between the Indonesian government and Free Aceh Movement (GAM). There is no activity of the GAM on these islands.

1 Administration
2 Demographics
3 Flora and fauna
4 Earthquake

[edit] Administration

Simeulue was once a part of West Aceh regency but broke away in 2000 with the hope that the region's development would improve. The seat of the regency is Sinabang.

The regency is divided into 8 subdistricts (kecamatan).

[edit] Demographics

Its people are similar to the people in the neighboring Nias Island, with a language that differs from mainland Aceh. Most of people of Simeulue are Muslim.

[edit] Flora and fauna

The regency is known for its cloves. One of its signature mainstays is the Simeulue buffalo, a small animal whose meat is sweeter than the mainland buffalo. The buffalo is often sold outside Simeulue Island and has a high price for its prime quality. In the island's center, much of the original prime rainforest has been felled to give way to palm oil plantations.

Image:Earthquake 20041226 epicentre.gif

[edit] Earthquake

It was close to the epicenter of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, but loss of life was surprisingly low, mainly as the people are familiar with earthquakes and tsunamis in this seismically active region and so knew to leave the coast after the earthquake. Simeulue rose at least 6 feet during the earthquake on the eastern coast, leaving the flat top of its coral reefs above high tide level and dry and dead. On the west coast, the land was submerged, seawater flooding fields and settlements.

Regencies and cities of Aceh
Regencies: Aceh Besar \| Aceh Jaya \| Aceh Singkil \| Aceh Tamiang \| Bener Meriah \| Bireuen \| Central Aceh \| East Aceh \| Gayo Lues \| Nagan Raya \| North Aceh \| Pidie \| Simeulue \| South Aceh \| Southeast Aceh \| Southwest Aceh \| West Aceh
Cities: Banda Aceh \| Langsa \| Lhokseumawe \| Sabang