Charity foundation to build portable homes
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.