Indonesia’s tsunami recovery comes with complications
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Photo by Chris Herlinger, Church World Service Mahmud
Itam, an Indonesian fisherman, moves equipment in front of a fleet of
fishing vessels provided to his village by Church World Service.
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Fisherman
Mahmud Itam, 42, a resident of Meue village in Aceh's Pidie district,
moves equipment in front of a fleet of fishing vessels provided to the
Indonesian village by Church World Service. A UMNS photo by Chris
Herlinger, Church World Service. Photo #05-887. Accompanies UMNS story
#704. 12/19/05 |
Dec. 19, 2005
A UMNS Report
By Linda Bloom*
A year after the
tsunami wiped out whole parts of the Aceh Province of Indonesia, the
United Methodist Committee on Relief is helping people rebuild their
homes, their communities and their livelihoods.
But the relief and recovery work has been complicated, according to the Rev. Paul Dirdak, UMCOR’s chief executive.
“The disaster destroyed
a very thin strip of property in a rural province where people lived on
the beach but a very wide path in one coastal city,” he said.
In the rural area, it
has not been so hard to determine property ownership for rebuilding
purposes, Dirdak explained. But in a city such as Banda Aceh, where
“such a wide range of pieces of property were destroyed,” along with
property records, the task has been formidable.
“All the NGOS
(nongovernmental organizations) are having a very hard time proving
their beneficiaries’ right to build a house in a particular place,” he
said.
Other complicating
factors include a strain on resources for building materials, such as
lumber; the large number of outside organizations helping with recovery,
slowing down the permit process; and the ongoing political conflict,
which has been assisted by a peace accord in August.
In a Dec. 14 press release, Oxfam
International said that providing shelter for those displaced by the
tsunami has been its biggest challenge. Oxfam received $278 million in
donations for its tsunami aid effort and will have spent around $127
million by the end of the year.
Oxfam’s progress in Aceh, for example,
has been hampered by the fact that some land is still under water; by
the government’s slowness to allocate land for rebuilding and to clarify
coastal buffer zones; and by limited access to devastated areas due to
lack of infrastructure. The uneven progress means some people already
live in permanent houses while others remain in tents.
On the northeastern coast of Sumatra, 200
kilometers south of Banda Aceh, UMCOR Indonesia has a program called
Integrated Rehabilitation for Tsunami Affected Communities. The project
location is the Bireuen district, and UMCOR is coordinating its work
with the local government and other NGOs in the area.
The goal of the project, currently
estimated at a cost of just more than $5 million, “is to revitalize
tsunami-affected communities in Bireuen by empowering community members
to re-establish their homes and livelihoods,” according to UMCOR.
Objectives include providing long-term
shelter solutions for up to 521 families in Bireuen through
reconstruction of destroyed homes or repair of damaged homes;
facilitating access to basic public services through four small-scale
infrastructure projects; and helping generate a sustainable income for a
minimum of 250 entrepreneurs in Bireuen who lost their livelihoods
because of the tsunami.
Building homes
One livelihood project consists of a
two-week training of up to 100 workers in the basics of construction.
The training includes the construction of public toilets in villages
where UMCOR Indonesia is working. After the training, the workers
receive toolkits and will be placed with construction companies to
further enhance their skills.
In total, 432 shelters or homes will be
built and 89 homes repaired in the villages of Kuala Raja, Cot Batee,
Matang Teungoh, Pineung Siri Bee and Tanjong Baro. Ten demonstration
homes were finished this fall, providing models to help the communities
select what best fits their needs.
One of those demonstration homes is
occupied by Yusuf, a 55-year-old fisherman, his wife, and their three
children, ages 22, 19 and 12. After losing their home in the tsunami,
the family had been living in government-constructed barracks.
According to the November progress report
from UMCOR-Indonesia, the construction process has been slowed as they
wait for government officials responsible for land registration to sign
off on letters that would certify beneficiary families as legal owners
of the plot of land where the house would be built.
However, the report said, 50 houses are under construction and work is expected to begin in December on another 372 structures.
Optimism in Banda Aceh
For Banda Aceh itself, UMCOR is
developing a number of projects for approval by its directors at their
April board meeting, according to Dirdak.
Architects also are drawing up plans for a
new church building and attached apartment block for the Methodist
Church in Banda Aceh. Although no cost estimate has been presented yet,
Dirdak said, the United Methodist Church’s Indiana Area already has
raised money for construction.
The Rev. Henry Leono, who grew up in
Banda Aceh but now serves as pastor of a New Jersey church, reported to
United Methodist News Service that the school run by the Banda Aceh
Methodist Church has been renovated and classes are in session.
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Photo by Chris Herlinger/Church World Service Graphic scenes of the tsunami devastation remain along this harbor in Banda Aceh.
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Graphic
scenes of the tsunami devastation remain along this harbor in Banda
Aceh. The Indonesian province was hard hit by the tsunami, which struck
Dec. 26, 2004. A UMNS photo by Chris Herlinger/Church World Service.
Photo #05-888. Accompanies UMNS story #704. 12/19/05 |
Attendance at the church’s Sunday worship
has doubled to about 200, and nightly prayer meetings, begun six or
seven months ago, are continuing, said Leono, who spoke Dec. 13 with his
sister Ida, in Banda Aceh.
His sister’s jewelry store is doing well,
he said, because jewelry is considered to be a good investment by
Indonesians. But other businesses are doing well too, especially
construction-related enterprises and restaurants.
“My sense from her is that people are more optimistic about their future,” he said.
The Rev. David Wu, an executive with the
Board of Global Ministries and native of Indonesia, said many people who
had been displaced by the tsunami are returning to Banda Aceh “because
there’s so much work to do there.”
He believes the people of Sumatra “are quite resilient. They just move on.”
*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.
News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org
Gody Why?
Teaching from the Tsunamis: A two session DVD/CD study
Audio Interview with the Rev. Paul Dirdak
“No one knows who has title to what.”
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