1.5m still living in tents, barracks<\/p>\n
Nearly 1.5 million people made homeless by last year's tsunami
\nare still living in tents, barrack blocks and other temporary
\nshelters, a British aid organization said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
In Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India -- the countries hardest hit
\nby the killer waves -- land rights issues, a shortage of
\nconstruction materials and government indecision initially slowed
\nefforts to get survivors out of emergency shelters.<\/p>\n
Roads and ports were also swept away by the Dec. 26 tsunami,
\nmaking it hard to get to some of the most devastated areas, Oxfam
\nInternational said in a year-end report on recovery efforts.<\/p>\n
As result, only 20 percent of the 1.8 million people displaced
\nby the waves are in permanent housing, it said. While most of the
\nothers are staying with host families, tens of thousands still
\nlive in tent camps.<\/p>\n
"The emergency response was rightly commended for helping to
\nsave and improve thousands of lives," Jeremy Hobbs, director of
\nOxfam International, said in the report. "But the rebuilding of
\ncommunities will take much longer."<\/p>\n
The tsunami that swept across the Indian Ocean left at least
\n216,000 people dead or missing in 12 countries -- the majority in
\nIndonesia's Aceh province.<\/p>\n
Foreign governments and private donors pledged more than US$7
\nbillion for reconstruction and rehabilitation, and thousands of
\ninternational aid workers poured into the region to help.<\/p>\n
While they succeeded in setting up emergency shelters quickly,
\nsaving thousands of lives, many did not have the experience or
\nexpertise to carry out mass projects to construct homes, Oxfam
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Some of the things that stalled efforts to get people out of
\ntents, barracks and the homes of family and friends were
\nunavoidable, Oxfam said, noting that land in Aceh that once
\nhoused 120,000 people was permanently submerged under the water.<\/p>\n
Communities also needed to provide input about the types of
\nhouses they wanted.<\/p>\n
But other delays should have been avoided, the group said in
\nits report, noting that governments were slow to allocate new and
\nappropriate land for rebuilding and there was often little
\nclarity over coastal buffer zones.<\/p>\n
And survivors should have been told early on how long it would
\ntake to get them into permanent homes, Oxfam said.<\/p>\n
The agency said that by the year's end, 18,149 of the minimum
\n80,000 permanent shelters needed in Indonesia will be completed.
\n-- AP<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/15m-still-living-in-tents-barracks-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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