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Homeless Wait It Out
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BANDA ACEH, INDONESIA
At age 55, Nurmina is mothering full-time again—but in a crowded tent far from home. Her granddaughter, Deliana, aged 2, has been her full-time charge since her daughter, Deliana’s mother, was swept away in the tsunami.
"The problem is that 80% of displaced villagers say they want to go home. That land is the only asset left for most of them“
- Florian Steinberg
ADB Housing and Urban Development Specialist
“I was tending our chili patch on a mountain [when the tsunami struck] and my granddaughter was with me,” says Nurmina, who is from Lhoong district on the west coast of Aceh Province.
When they came down the hill, their family—Nurmina’s husband, son, and two daughters—and their home had disappeared, buried beneath black swampy debris.
A stunned Nurmina, carrying Deliana, stumbled through hellish terrain for more than 40 kilometers (km) to reach Banda Aceh around midnight, 16 hours later.
Since then, Nurmina and a few hundred Lhoong villagers have encamped on the front lawn of the Department of Water Resources in Banda Aceh.
Rocking her granddaughter in a hammock, Nurmina airs no complaint about the noise or lack of privacy in the tent, nor about the midday heat or nighttime insects. But she is concerned about the “waiting, waiting, waiting” for news as to when she and her fellow villagers might be able to return home and get on with their lives.
She may have to wait awhile.
Not only is the west coast road inaccessible 20 km beyond Banda Aceh—because of damaged roads and bridges—but also providing new housing for large numbers of people is no small task.
More than half a million people in Aceh Province are homeless, like Nurmina, as a result of the tsunami. Some have sought refuge with extended families and about 10,000 have moved into barracks, but many remain in tents.
Altogether, the giant wave flattened some 115,000 houses and severely damaged another 150,000. The cost for housing rehabilitation is estimated at $573 million. This breaks down into $147 million to repair damaged homes and $426 million to build new ones.
To help meet the enormous housing needs, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is preparing substantive grant financing proposals from its new Asian Tsunami Fund.
Finding the funds may be the easy part in a complicated process. The loss of records means that issues of titling need to be resolved. Also, the daunting task of clearing land of debris has to be addressed.
“The Government wants to grant a 36 square meter core house to all affected families, but there is debate about the type and cost of housing,” says Florian Steinberg, an ADB Housing and Urban Development Specialist.
One government agency is proposing units that cost rupiah (Rp)22.4 million ($2,460) each, but others think these units are expensive and of inadequate quality, and it is still unclear whether they are resistant to earthquakes or can be expanded and modified.
Housing also has to be considered along with water, sanitation, and power requirements and, at another level, transport services and health, education, and recreational facilities.
Demand is so huge that BAPPENAS, the Indonesian planning agency, will likely consider several housing delivery mechanisms, including community-based housing, private and public supply, self-help housing and nongovernment organization provided housing, says Mr. Steinberg.
For rural folk like Nurmina, there is another critical snag. BAPPENAS plans to introduce a 3-km “security belt” along the coastline, which would place mangrove swamps and fishponds between villages and the sea.
“The problem is that 80% of displaced villagers say they want to go home,” says Mr. Steinberg. “Frankly, how are you going to stop them? That land is the only asset left for most of them.”
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