Survey of Geotechnical Engineering Aspects of the December 2004 Great Sumatra Earthquake and Indian Ocean Tsunami and the March 2005 Nias–Simeulue Earthquake

Reconnaissance surveys of building and infrastructure damage related to geotechnical engineering aspects were conducted four to six weeks after the 26 December 2004 earthquake and five weeks after the 28 March 2005 earthquake. These surveys identified many instances of building collapse and infrastructure damage that were probably caused by strong ground shaking and/or liquefaction-induced foundation or embankment failures. The survey results suggest the need for earthquake engineering research that identifies likely future earthquakes and their ground motion characteristics. Because of the observed variation in the level of damage, a seismic microzonation study should be performed to identify the spatial variability of strong ground shaking for the purpose of reconstruction and future planning of cities in Nangroe Aceh Darrusalam Province and Nias Island.