The Artifice of Aceh's Anniversary

Bill Nicol,
Was senior adviser to the Indonesian government for Aceh's reconstruction and is the author of Tsunami Chronicles: Adventures in Disaster Management, the definitive analysis of the Aceh recovery program. He can be reached through his website, www.nicolnotes.com

ANNIVERSARIES can be strange. Deeply personal at one level, they can be coldly functional at another, set-piece events for pretenders keen to be seen.

I vividly remember the first anniversary of the 2004 tsunami.

It drew VIPs from around the world, overloading Banda Aceh's crinkled airport with private jet traffic.

December 23, 2014

Bill Nicol,
Was senior adviser to the Indonesian government for Aceh's reconstruction and is the author of Tsunami Chronicles: Adventures in Disaster Management, the definitive analysis of the Aceh recovery program. He can be reached through his website, www.nicolnotes.com

ANNIVERSARIES can be strange. Deeply personal at one level, they can be coldly functional at another, set-piece events for pretenders keen to be seen.

I vividly remember the first

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