The Tsunami, Solar Eclipse and our Love of Nature

It is not accidental that a solar eclipse (GMC) took place on Dec. 26 to coincide with the 15th anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami that hit Aceh.

KOMPAS/BAHANA PATRIA GUPTA

Children use special glasses to look at the partial solar eclipse on Thursday (12/26/2019) at Al Akbar Mosque in Surabaya, East Java. The mosque’s caretakers and the East Java branch of the Lajnah Falakiyah Nahdlatul Ulama (LFNU) provided 9 binoculars and many as 99 eclipse glasses for the activity, which aimed to introduce astronomy while providing a real-life learning experience during the year-end school holiday.

Both of these phenomenal natural events are remembered and recorded as a manifestation of our respect for nature, even more so for the Creator. The earthquake and tsunami in Aceh, which killed no fewer than 200,000 people, brought not only trauma but also an awareness among the Indonesian people that we live in the Ring of Fire region, with rows of volcanoes that could erupt any time, and at the intersection of large tectonic plates, which at any time could cause earthquakes.

The disasters experienced since the Aceh calamity, in the form of earthquake and tsunamis from Yogyakarta (2006) to Palu (2018), have strengthened public awareness on the need to become “learners” who are serious about understanding earthquakes and tsunamis to minimize their impacts and to save lives when disaster strikes.

Another blessing from the disasters is that they have made natural science, which includes geology, volcanology and seismology and was previously less well known and considered less important, an interesting subject and a matter of priority.

We need to give the same attention to astronomy, the study of celestial bodies. The occurrence of solar eclipses and lunar eclipses can already be predicted with accuracy because astronomers are diligently studying the mechanics of celestial bodies, which include observing closely the orbits and movements of celestial bodies such as the Sun and Moon.

KOMPAS/RONY ARIYANTO NUGROHO

The “ring of fire” is seen on Thursday (26/12/2019) in the sky above Bunsur Field of Sungai Apit district in Siak regency, Riau.

Long before the eclipse occurred, scientists already knew that the solar eclipse would cross seven provinces and 25 regencies/cities in Sumatra and Kalimantan. It is also known that the solar eclipse began in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula and ended in the western part of the Pacific Ocean.

As a nation that lives in a vast geographic area, Indonesia is fortunate to be frequently crossed by solar eclipses, including total solar eclipses that, if carefully examined, could be an important scientific contribution, following what Sir Arthur Eddington Expedition had done in the past century to verify Albert Einstein\'s theory of general relativity.

Studying geology and astronomy is indeed, on the one hand, a sincere call for those who love the study of nature and science. However, science can only flourish if there are also incentives as stimulants. Scholarships as well as laboratories and other infrastructure are such incentives.

Without a growing spirit and enthusiasm for nature and science, we will grow as a dry nation. This will make us develop into an irrational, superstitious and mystical nation. Besides, it means as a nation we wasted the natural blessings and gifts that should make us respected in the natural sciences.

Apart from geology and volcanology, we must not forget geophysics and meteorology, precisely when we are facing global warming that is becoming increasingly critical