UGM assists Aceh victims with rehabilitation programs

The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

In a bid to help rebuild Aceh following the devastating earthquake and tsunami, Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University (UGM) launched Aceh Bangkit program worth some Rp 500 billion (US$54.3 million) to Rp 600 billion.

According to UGM Rector Sofian Effendi, funds for the program, which was launched in Yogyakarta on Tuesday and its memorandum of understanding would be signed in Jakarta soon, came from various sources, including the Ministry of Public Housing.

Sofian said the program would cover four main fields -- health, housing rehabilitation, disaster management and educational rehabilitation.

The four main fields were designed to restore the condition of Acehnese people as well as providing emergency, short-term and long-term programs over four years.

Sofian said the short-term programs include construction of some 500 simple (knockdown) but secure houses for the tsunami survivors in Aceh, along with the needed public facilities. The plan would be conducted in four stages.

For this purpose, UGM has made a scale model of a housing complex that is not just convenient to live in, but is also designed to meet their cultural and social conditions.

"I think these (designs that meet local culture and social situations) are the most important consideration in the efforts to restore Aceh," said Sofian.

Sofian said that technically the houses would last for four years, but probably will last up 10 years.

"The houses along the Code riverbanks (in Yogyakarta) have almost the same construction and materials as the ones to be built in Aceh, are just examples," Sofian said.

The long-term programs include providing people with knowledge about disasters -- its signs and how to deal with it when it happens.

In the educational field, Sofian said UGM would assist in higher education level, such as supporting Aceh's Syiah Kuala University where many of its lecturers were reportedly missing in the tsunami.