Failures and Successes in Relief Effort
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia _ Laila proudly displayed the two-bedroom house that international aid groups built to replace the home her family lost in the tsunami two years ago.
But when I visited this remote Indonesian province earlier this year, Laila’s family of four hadn’t moved into the brand-new, lime-green house because it had no running water or sewage system.
While traveling in this region that suffered the greatest losses in the Dec. 26, 2004, disaster, I saw many notable failures and some real success stories in one of the largest humanitarian efforts ever.
The tsunami destroyed about 120,000 homes on the northern tip of Sumatra. Two years later, the Indonesian government reports completion of less than half the houses needed.
It also reports that about 10,000 of those built so far weren’t ready for residents. Like Laila’s house, most had no running water or sewer service.
About 38,500 families still live in barracks and other temporary quarters because lumber shortages, rampant inflation and a lack of workers have slowed construction.
Many families also lost paperwork proving ownership of their property, and the land beneath the homes of approximately 12,000 families was washed away or is permanently flooded.
I helped clean out the debris and salt water in Laila’s well so she would have a source of water. But she would have to wait on the local government to restore her sewage line.
I also saw the work of other aid groups that had rebuilt whole communities and were helping Indonesians replace the livelihoods they lost two years ago.
At a camp created for women whose husbands died in the tsunami, the Jakarta International Association for Volunteer Effort has built 50 small bungalows, a community center, a library and a building for residents to study the Quran.
The association’s staff was helping the women earn money by selling handmade fabrics, purses and other crafts.
The group that hosted me, Indonesia Bangkit Bersana, was helping restore the livelihood of one small rural community by removing the debris and saltwater-soaked soil from its rice fields.
The Christian mission also donated goats to families there so they could start a goat-breeding operation. In other communities, it created new water supplies, a kindergarten, homes and community centers.
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