Acehnese bemoan slow reconstruction

Acehnese bemoan slow reconstruction

Harry Bhaskara, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh

Translated into numbers, the staggering scale of destruction left
by the Dec. 26 tsunami in Aceh and Nias is plain. A total of 800
kilometers of coastal areas with an average width of two
kilometers was ground into wasteland by the waves, triggered by
the mammoth 9.8-scale earthquake.

Estimates of human life losses range from a conservative but
still massive 120,000 to larger assessments of between 200,000
and 300,000 souls including those still missing; a huge toll from
the province's population of four million.

With more than 450,000 still homeless, 90,000 living in either
tents or refugee camps, the single thing that connects the people
in the province is a sense of loss. Most extended families have
lost at least one member, many children are orphaned, countless
husbands and wives are widowed and in some cases a handful of
survivors are the sole inheritors of villages that had
populations in the thousands.

In Banda Aceh alone, an estimated 80,000 people, or more than
a quarter of its population of 300,000, perished.

For the Acehnese, a people already traumatized by years of
separatist conflict, the assistance from Indonesians and the
international community has been a godsend.

"I can't imagine what would have happened in Aceh without
foreign assistance," says Udin, a 35-year-old civil servant based
in Banda Aceh.

"They were prompt and able-bodied. They had the necessary
supporting equipment with them," says Mo Li, a shop owner in
Banda Aceh.

Any government handling the scale of this disaster would have
many headaches, including those in first-world countries. This is
especially true of a developing country like Indonesia, and
observers are not surprised that for many, post-tsunami life
remains difficult.

Nurbaiti, a high-school teacher lost her husband and two of
her three children to the waves, which also destroyed her home.
She made a plea to government and non-government organizations to
speed up their housing construction work.

"Living in the barracks is not easy," says the 48-year-old
woman who is staying in a camp in Lamkruet, near Banda Aceh.

There were usually 60 people crammed into a single barracks
with about three families living in one room, Nurbaiti said

Lamkruet village head Sulaiman says more than half of the
1,800 villagers in the coastal area perished in the tsunami.
While people tried to stay positive, six months of living in
displaced persons centers was taking its toll on villagers'
morale, he said.

"You have children and pregnant women around. They need a
better place to live."

Lamkruet used to be a successful vegetable-producing village
but most of its land was now unusable, Sulaiman said.

"People need to find another source of income and starting
capital is what they need most."

Rachmayadi used to own public buses in Lampuuk, Lhok Nga,
before he lost his wife, a child and his livelihood in the
disaster. A well-off man before the tsunami, he says he can't
begin again with nothing.

"There must be some kind of a start-up money to begin with,"
the 52-year-old said.

For those who survive, finding employment is hard. A long-time
resident in Aceh estimates that about 70 percent of business were
destroyed in the tsunami.

Enayet Madani, a United Nations government liaison officer
based in Banda Aceh, says the International Labor Organization
was working in Aceh to help try and solve unemployment.

"Many people have been absorbed by the international community
(aid agencies)," Madani added, acknowledging that most of these
were qualified people.

Muchtar Ali, a tailor from Baet village, on the outskirts of
Banda Aceh estimated he would need about Rp 1.4 million to buy a
new sewing machine and resume work.

While he is grateful for the handouts provided by the
government and NGOs -- food that is usually, rice, instant
noodles and canned sardines -- Muchtar says he would like to move
on.

"Hopefully, we will soon stop living on ration food. There is
not much nutrition in the food, it is not very invigorating."

Six months on, there is still a lot of suffering in Aceh. But
there have also been some positives. The fears of starvation and
an outbreak of disease that mounted soon after the tsunami have
proved to be unfounded.

"Cooperation with the government has been effective since the
tsunami," AUSAID foreign affairs representative Allison Sudradjat
said.

"There have been no obstructions caused by clashes between the
(Free Aceh Movement) rebels and the government troops," she said.

Electricity, telephones and running water have now returned to
much of Banda Aceh. The 400-bed Zainal Abidin Public Hospital was
also in service less than a week after the tsunami, an effective
emergency field hospital staffed by military medical teams from
around the world.

Dr. Tjut Maulina, the acting director of the hospital, credits
local and international emergency teams along with personalities
like Prof. Idrus from Sulawesi for keeping the hospital going.

"So many volunteers came here to help us without being asked.
They included military personnel from Australia and Germany. We
are very grateful. We wouldn't be running as smoothly as we are
today without their assistance," she said.

Currently the hospital is embarking on a US$40 million long-
term joint reconstruction program that will include assistance
from Germany and Australia, she said.

But while work in Banda Aceh is slowly progressing, much more
still needs to be done outside the city.

Observers say the government's move to appoint respected
former Cabinet minister Kuntoro Mangkusubroto to head Aceh's
reconstruction work is a good sign.

With at least US$7 billion in funds from foreign donors, $2
billion of which has already been received, Kantoro will have
plenty of work, probably for years to come.