TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A narrative claiming the 2004 Aceh earthquake and tsunami were part of a nuclear test operation by the United States military circulated on Threads [archive], Facebook, and TikTok in early January 2026.
The narrative claimed the information was contained in declassified CIA FOIA documents F-2013-00698 and F-2017-00427 concerning a secret operation called Operation Tidal Wave. This operation allegedly revealed the underwater nuclear test series in the Indian Ocean from 2004-2005.
To convince readers, the content presented evidence in the form of the presence of the United States aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln at the disaster site. They also linked oil and gas exploitation activities by the American company Exxonmobil in Aceh after the disaster as a pretext for the economic interests behind the tragedy.
However, was it true that the 2004 earthquake and tsunami in Aceh were caused by a US nuclear test?
FACT CHECK
Tempo verified the content by comparing its narrative with confirmed information from credible sources. The results showed that the claims in the content were false.
Claim 1: The 2004 Aceh earthquake and tsunami were not natural events
Various studies and geological evidence have shown that the 2004 tsunami was caused by a 9.2 magnitude earthquake centered in the Indian Ocean, approximately 250 km from the west coast of Aceh. The earthquake triggered 30-meter-high waves that devastated the coasts of Aceh, North Sumatra, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, and even the east coast of Africa. The global death toll is estimated at 227,000, with Indonesia contributing the majority of the death toll.
The earthquake occurred due to the shifting of two tectonic plates in the Indian Ocean, which caused a thrust fault. The fault is 500 kilometers long, or roughly the distance from Jakarta to Yogyakarta, and approximately 150 kilometers wide. Plate displacement along this fault reached more than 20 meters, generating tremendous energy that triggered tsunami waves as high as 35 meters, equivalent to the height of a 10-story building.
The Chairperson of the Indonesian Association of Disaster Experts (IABI), Prof. Harkunti P. Rahayu, stated that the 2004 Aceh earthquake and tsunami were a natural disaster. One example is the seabed rupture that formed in the earthquake's source, stretching 1,600 kilometers. The earthquake also widened the geographic area where the waves were observed, reaching as far as Mexico, Chile, and the Arctic.
"The rupture was visible from satellites and direct observations at sea," Harkunti told Tempo on Sunday, January 11, 2026.
Before the 2004 tsunami, researchers found traces of coral reef uplift on Simeulue Island, Aceh, which caused ancient tsunamis in 1394 and 1450 AD. This location is directly above the southern part of the 2004 earthquake fault zone, about one hundred kilometers off the coast of northern Sumatra.
The research proved that plate tectonic shifts in the region caused the 2004 tsunami, including two ancient tsunamis.
Claim 2: Documents on the 2004-2005 Indian Ocean Underwater Nuclear Test
Tempo did not find any declassified documents coded F-2013-00698 and F-2017-00427 related to Operation Tidal Wave or the 2004-2005 Indian Ocean underwater nuclear test series on the CIA, National Archives, or Library of Congress Research websites.
A declassified document means a secret archive whose confidentiality status has been removed or reduced. When a document is declassified, the public can access it through a number of United States government websites.
The code "F" followed by the year and five numbers is the format for submitting information requests to various public agencies in the United States. Therefore, F-2013-00698 and F-2017-00427 are not the codes for an archive, but rather the codes for information requests or requests for copies of documents.
However, in the CIA's information request log published by the non-governmental websites Government Attic and The Black Vault, there are no requests numbered F-2013-00698 and F-2017-00427 for "Operation Tidal Wave" or the "underwater nuclear test series Indian Ocean 2004–2005."
Operation Tidal Wave was not a nuclear test operation in the Indian Ocean. That term is the name of a United States Air Force operation targeting oil fields in Ploesti, Romania, in 1943, according to the United States Air Force Museum website.
This narrative first circulated in 2021, after a conspiracy website linked the 2004 tsunami to being triggered by a nuclear explosion.
Claim 3: The United States aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln was anchored in Aceh and ExxonMobil operated after the tsunami
Finally, the narrative circulating that the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln was near Aceh at the time of the incident, and ExxonMobil entered Aceh after the tsunami, is also a false claim.
As reported by Antara, the US Navy's Nimitz-class aircraft carrier was anchored in Hong Kong when the tsunami struck. Kanal Aceh reported that a member of the USS Abraham Lincoln crew, Brigadier General Carla River, said they were in Japanese waters at the time of the incident.
The aircraft carrier's crew received a request to conduct a humanitarian operation in Aceh, a 36-hour journey. They also treated some of the survivors on board.
Meanwhile, Exxon has actually been operating in Aceh since 1999 after purchasing Mobil Oil Indonesia. Mobil Oil Indonesia had previously operated in Aceh since 1970 after discovering natural gas reserves near the city of Lhoksukon.
CONCLUSION
Tempo's verification concluded that the narrative alleging the 2004 Aceh earthquake and tsunami was a false claim. The points of the claim have been refuted by confirmed information from credible sources.
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