Six months on, still hoping for change<\/p>\n
Nani Afrida
\nThe Jakarta Post
\nBanda Aceh<\/p>\n
Six months after the tsunami swept the region, many frustrated
\nsurvivors of the disaster are still living in tents and
\nstruggling to survive, with the reconstruction efforts to date
\nproceeding at a snail's pace.<\/p>\n
A journalist from Volkskrant in the Netherlands, Michel Maas,
\narrived in Aceh with many other foreign journalists hoping to see
\nsignificant changes in the devastated region after the disaster
\nthat took thousands of lives.<\/p>\n
But he was disappointed when he went to the coastal
\nresidential area of Ulee Lheue in Meuraxa district to take some
\nphotos. \"I canceled my plan, I saw no changes between Ulee Lheue
\nnow and several months ago,\" he told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Ulee Lheue is not the only place that seems to have been
\nforgotten -- almost all villages in Meuraxa district, Banda Aceh,
\nshare a similar fate.<\/p>\n
When the massive earthquake sent walls of water as high as 10
\nmeters rushing inland, no place suffered more than Aceh with as
\nmany as 1,000 villages and towns either being damaged or wiped
\noff the face of the earth.<\/p>\n
In Aceh, where 168,000 people are dead or missing, bodies are
\nstill being found. The disaster totally destroyed some 127,000
\nhouses and damaged many more, leaving some 500,000 people
\nhomeless.<\/p>\n
The Dec. 26 disaster also completely destroyed two hospitals
\nand damaged five others, as well as 26 community health centers.
\nIt also destroyed 1,488 schools and damaged 239 kilometers of
\nroad, nine harbors and 11,000 hectares of plantations.<\/p>\n
And six months later, at least 400 people in Lampaseh village
\nare still living in battered, worn-out tents.<\/p>\n
\"The government has started to forget us. Never mind houses,
\nwe don't even have barracks,\" said Lampaseh village head Syahrul.<\/p>\n
Syahrul and other people in Lampaseh share the same dream --
\nhaving a simple house where they can keep cool on hot days and
\nwarm on cold nights.<\/p>\n
In the poverty-stricken village, whose boundaries encompass an
\narea of 375 hectares, 75 percent of which is given over to fish
\nponds, the disaster not only flattened the houses, but also
\ncovered the ponds with thick mud, thereby robbing the residents
\nof their livelihoods. Now, local people survive by selling small
\nshrimps and crabs collected from their former ponds as well as
\nparticipating in a cash-for-work program, which involves cleaning
\nthe debris from their village for Rp 35,000 (US$3.8) a day.<\/p>\n
\"Then what? We're afraid we'll end up hungry,\" said another
\nresident, Nurmalasari.<\/p>\n
She said that survivors were supposed to receive Rp 90,000 in
\nliving expenses per person each month. But six months on, they
\nhad only received one payment. \"We're are all wondering what
\nhappened to the rest of our money,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Aceh and Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency
\ndirector Kuntoro Mangkusubroto said on Saturday that US$2.8
\nbillion is ready to be disbursed for reconstruction work. He also
\nsaid he had signed the documents for 172 projects that were ready
\nto start right away.<\/p>\n
But given the massive scale of the calamity, it might take
\nmore than six months to bring about significant change as the
\ndisaster left a trail of destruction all over the region. The
\nUnited Nations said recently it will take as long as 10 years to
\nrebuild what was destroyed.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, in the other countries most affected -- Sri Lanka,
\nIndia and Thailand -- ceremonies were held to mourn those lost
\nwhile the survivors struggled to pick up the pieces.<\/p>\n
Reports said that in Sri Lanka, where a deal with Tamil Tigers
\nto distribute tsunami aid in rebel-held areas has only been
\nsigned this week, the scale of the tragedy continues to haunt
\nsurvivors, many of whom have yet to rebuild their homes and
\nlives.<\/p>\n
In the rebel-controlled Vakarai hamlet, about 60 kilometers
\nnortheast from the eastern Batticaloa town, volunteers collected
\nanything and everything from the rubble for an exhibition marking
\nthe tsunami anniversary, the Associated Press reported.<\/p>\n
In southern Thailand, where many foreigners were among the
\n5,395 people who died, small wreath-laying ceremonies were held
\non Sunday at a memorial on the tourist-island of Phuket.<\/p>\n
Gabor Szigeti, a 32-year-old Swedish survivor, returned to
\nKhao Lak, a stretch of white beaches north of Phuket, where he
\nsaw so many others lose loved ones that day.<\/p>\n
Szigeti and his wife survived when the monster waves smashed
\ninto his holiday bungalow. The couple returned to thank local
\nThais who helped them survive the ordeal, he said.<\/p>\n
\"This helped us to get closure, I'd say. I feel a lot calmer,\"
\nhe told Reuters.<\/p>\n
More stories on Pages 2,4,10<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/six-months-on-still-hoping-for-change-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }