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