IOM to build 11,000 houses

SIGLI, Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam: The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has signed an agreement with Banda Aceh city contractors to build 11,000 houses for tsunami victims.

"We'll try build the houses immediately because many tsunami victims need them," IOM representative Steve Cook said.

The construction of the houses, which would be mainly financed by the Japanese and German governments, would involve local workers and contractors.

The tsunami, which swept Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam and North Sumatra on Dec. 26, made some 500,000 Acehnese homeless.

IOM has also sent two doctors and a nurse to the island of Nias to help treat victims of the 8.7-magnitude quake that rocked western coastal area of Sumatra last Monday. The organization has also sent 34 trucks carrying 170 metric tones of relief aid to Nias.

"Around 19 of our trucks carrying relief aid are still in Sibolga because we gave priority to heavy equipment," IOM spokesperson Paul Dillon said. -- JP