Acehnese relocated to semi-permanent shelters

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh

Abdul Djalil expressed relief after the government moved him and his family from a tent into a temporary shelter in Banda Aceh on Tuesday.

"Unlike the tents, we have our own room in the shelter where we can lay our heads down on mats on the floor. We can occupy the barracks for months while the government builds new housing for us," said Djalil, who moved into the temporary housing with his wife and two children.

The temporary housing offers other benefits over the tents. The new housing has better sanitation facilities, which should help cut down on health problems such as influenza, skin diseases and diarrhea.

"These barracks will improve the dignity of all of you," Aceh Besar district chief Rusli Muhammad said. "Living in these barracks, your situation will improve compared to living in refugee camps," he said as quoted by AFP.

Djalil was among the thousands of Acehnese who were moved into the new shelters in Banda Aceh on Tuesday.

A total of 3,281 families, or more than 11,500 people, were moved into more than 300 temporary barracks in Banda Aceh, Aceh Besar, Sigli, North Aceh, Aceh Jaya and West Aceh.

In Banda Aceh and Aceh Besar, thousands of tsunami survivors were transported by buses and trucks to the barracks, which were constructed on the outskirts of the city.

Aceh Deputy Governor Azwar Abubakar, who greeted tsunami survivors at one of the temporary shelters in Lambaro, Banda Aceh, told people to accept the barracks as temporary shelters, promising that they eventually would be resettled into permanent housing.

The Ministry of Public Housing has declined to disclose the budget for the construction of the barracks. So far, about 300 of 803 planned barracks have been constructed.

Banda Aceh Mayor Mawardy Nurdin said the cost of constructing one barracks was between Rp 200 million (US$22,222) and Rp 250 million. Each barrack consists of between 12 and 20 rooms.

Officials have said 803 barracks would be built by the government by March 15, which would be able to accommodate 9,730 families.

The camps have been built according to internationally accepted guidelines for sanitation, communal kitchens, places of worship and other essentials, and will be managed by the tsunami survivors themselves, officials have said as quoted by Reuter news agency.

While the tsunami survivors expressed joy over the new barracks, international rights groups are concerned over the military's role in the shelters. In a joint statement, New York- based Human Rights Watch and Human Rights First expressed fear last week that the new barracks could be manipulated by the military to control the population for military purposes.

The military's prominent role in transporting the Acehnese to the new sites, in camp management and in aid distribution will invariably create fear among the displaced population, they said as quoted by AFP.

But Banda Aceh Mayor Mawardy Nurdin said the government and the military would not forcibly relocate tsunami survivors.

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