Camps not the solution

Camps not the solution

We represent an international alliance to aid community
rebuilding in post-tsunami Sumatra.

We wish to expresses our alarm at the news that temporary
resettlement camps in barracks are being planned and prepared,
and that permanent solutions may also take place in camp-like
forms.

Were this to become a reality, it would be not only be
socially and culturally inappropriate, but also highly wasteful
from an aid allocation and investment point of view. It could be
tantamount to the creation of permanent slums. Such camps are
likely to deteriorate quickly, with their hapless, crowded
inhabitants at risk of becoming the forgotten people of
Aceh.

Instead, the energy, expense and expertise planned to be
expended on such temporary settlements should be directed at
long-term and secure settlements. In addition, the first priority
is to allow people to return to, or close to, their original
location.

To prepare permanent locations, land rights need to be
secured: Previous plots need to be mapped and either built upon
by survivors, or replaced in kind on secure sites nearby.
In a post-traumatic situation such as this, it is important that
resettlement take place in the form of community rebuilding, and
is seen as a communal learning and healing process -- and a
process of gaining economic viability.

New houses must not take the form of anonymous barracks shared
with a large number of strangers of both genders. New forms of
homes need to consider the definition of family. In Aceh, many
widowed wives or husbands now exist with only their remaining son
or daughter, or surviving grandparents with their orphaned
grandchild. Is it not appropriate to co-locate different families
in crowded, passive conditions.

Groups of barracks are inappropriate, unhealthy forms of
settlement. Instead of building barracks, single room units
should be built on secure sites as "starter units", using small
contractors, working to a variety of individual designs,
communally managed, with many community members also finding
employment and training opportunities in the construction
process.

These starter units would then provide the basis for the
households to build their lives -- make an investment for the
future. Public buildings such as mosques, churches, schools,
health centers and gathering halls should be designed and
provided to anchor social activities.

PETER DROEGE et alia, Newcastle, Australia