Charity foundation to build portable homes

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

To help meet the pressing need for decent housing for tsunami survivors, a local charity organization in collaboration with Gadjah Mada University has announced plans to build portable homes in Aceh.

Charity foundation Dompet Dhuafa, which has been set up by the Republika daily, said on Wednesday that during the initial phase of the project it would send 100 portable homes to Banda Aceh, which would be allocated mostly to the families of teachers and lecturers who survived the Dec. 26 calamity.

"In the first phase, we will set up these homes in an open field in the Long Raya stadium at Harapan Jaya in Banda Aceh," Jamil Azzaini of Dompet Dhuafa said during a ceremony marking the launch of the program.

He added that the program would be funded by giant oil company Exxon Mobile.

UGM vice rector Marwan Asri said that the homes would be allocated to teachers and lecturers as they would play an indispensable role in boosting the morale of traumatized survivors.

"The allocation of houses to teachers does not mean that they are been given special privileges. It is because we desperately need them to revive the education system in the tsunami-hit areas," he said.

The portable homes, to be constructed from light materials such as plywood, plastic and bamboo, were cheap and easy to build.

"The cost of materials for a single structure is Rp 6.7 million (US$744) and the entire house can be assembled in only six hours," said Hari Wibisiono, who leads the UGM team of architects who designed the homes.

The houses would be set up in clusters, with each consisting of between 10 and 15 homes. This would allow social interaction among the survivors to be maintained.

Each home measuring three square meters could accommodate a family of three members.

"Besides keeping families together, one of the advantages that these portable homes have is the fact that each family will have its own privacy, something they won't have if they live in a public camp or shelter," Hari said.

The military authorities in Aceh have repeatedly stated that they preferred the construction of public shelters that could accommodate up to 60 families under one roof.

Hari said that the new neighborhood would be built at a sufficient distance from the destruction left by the tsunami.

"To prevent and heal trauma among the survivors, the new location will be sufficiently far removed from the areas devastated by the tsunami. However, it has to be accessible by non-motorized vehicles from areas untouched by the disaster," he said.

Officials who initiated the program said the homes would continue to be occupied by the survivors for one or two years until such time as a government-sponsored housing project was completed. "After the survivors get decent housing, the portable structures can be used as shops," Hari said.