We just got our monthly Warta Andreas and I read through some of the articles. There's activity done by my former high school Saint Ursula. During my time then, we did some social awareness activities, i.e., Exhibition with Consumerism as a theme and Living In (a regular program that made us spending couple weeks to stay with communities in rural areas, especially ones that were far away from big cities). I'm proud to be an Ursula's alumni, as always. *smile* So, proudly I quoted their social awareness activity below...
CONSARETY
SMA St. Ursula, Acara Lingkungan Hidup
Sabtu, 12 Januari 2008
Sebagai tindak lanjut dari acara Road to A Better Living, 26 Agustus 2007 lalu, BP (Badan Pembina) OSIS SMA Santa Ursula Jakarta kembali mengadakan acara dengan tema lingkungan hidup. Acara unggulan ini berlangsung di SMA Santa Ursula pada tanggal 12 Januari 2008, dari pukul 12.00-20.30 WIB.
Satu minggu sebelum acara ini diadakan, atas bantuan Bapak Miki, selaku perwakilan dari Dinas Pertamanan DKI Jakarta, BP OSIS Santa Ursula juga telah melakukan sebuah gerakan politisasi di daerah Pasar Baru, yakni sebuah gerakan yang bertujuan membentuk kawasan hijau dengan cara menanami tanaman-tanaman dalam pot, sebagai bentuk antisipasi atas ketersediaan lahan di Jakarta yang dewasa ini semakin menipis dan kurang memadai.
Acara CONSARETY (Conserving Environment through Science and Art for Humanity) ini sekaligus merupakan bukti kepedulian siswi-siswi SMA Santa Ursula akan pentingnya lingkungan hidup. Hal ini terlihat pada tema dan kegiatan-kegiatan yang tergabung di dalamnya, seperti stand-stand lingkungan hidup, pemutaran jingle dengan tema "Smile to the Earth", FoodFest yang hanya menyajikan makanan-makanan anti MSG dan tidak menggunakan styrofoam, sampai sebuah theater performance berjudul "Inspektur Jendral" yang dimainkan oleh Teater Putri Santa Ursula (TPSU), yang lagi-lagi bertemakan lingkungan hidup.
Disamping itu, acara ini juga bertujuan untuk menggalang dana bagi korban bencana alam, khusunya korban lumpur Lapindo Brantas, dengan mengalokasikan dana sebesar Rp. 5.000 untuk setiap tiket yang terjual, serta dengan melakukan penjualan kartu-kartu peduli korban bencana alam yang dibuat oleh siswi-siswi SMA Santa Ursula. Adapun acara CONSARETY sendiri dihadiri pula oleh Bapak Sutan Batuegana, Wakil Ketua Komisi VII DPR-RI.
"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." (Nelson Mandela)
Showing posts with label Environment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Environment. Show all posts
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Sunday, February 04, 2007
2007 Flood in Jakarta
On February 2nd I got an SMS from a dear friend that told me about this flood disaster happened again throughout greater Jakarta. At first, I thought it’s flood as usual – well, Jakarta always experiences annual flood during the rainy season. However, a number of SMS coming in continuously afterwards has made me realized that it’s bad, really bad. The media in Singapore and Malaysia covers this flood news too. I called my parent’s and texted my team in Jakarta and was relieved when I knew that they’re OK.
When I asked the lady at Garuda’s check-in counter in Changi International Airport about the condition on the flight to Jakarta, she said that the flight would be on time. (I heard that yesterday Garuda had to re-schedule some of its flights to and from Jakarta due to the flood – their crews and passengers couldn’t reach the airport. Also, the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport was closed for couple of hours.) Yeah, the flight was on time and I landed around 4:05PM in Jakarta. The airport seemed less crowded than usual. My adventure was just to begin…. I’d like to share what I experienced during my “unique” trip from the airport to my house today.
All the cars, buses, trucks and motorcycles were slowing down when they reached the first toll gates outside the airport. The radio kept repeating to avoid toll road in front of Tarumanegara University. So, I took Tanjung Priok – Cawang – Kebon Jeruk route instead of Grogol – Kebon Jeruk route. As expected, long lines already congested the toll road in Tanjung Priok – Cawang – Kebon Jeruk direction. The grey cloud covered the city and it looked threatening. Would a heavy rain coming down tonight? I could see some young guys standing on the flooded toll road asking for money (bahasa Indonesia-nya malakin).
The traffic moved at about 20 to 30 km/hour. On the other side of the toll road I saw motorcycles ran in the toll road (prohibited during normal condition) and the one way toll road became two way traffics.
By the time I was tired of sitting in the car and wondered when I could reach home I saw many cars (even the Beemer) parked on the side of the toll road and their passengers were looking down and around the flooded area. Despite this grave situation, Jakartans could still have fun – by being tourists to flooded areas. Hmm, yes, I was in Kelapa Gading and Sunter areas – some areas worst hit by the flood. I also saw some street vendors offered bottled water, cigarette, etc. to these situational tourists *smile*. Well, I also witnessed the open pick-ups with volunteers ready to distribute aids.
Then the majestic six, or probably eight, apartment and business towers belong to either Summarecon Agung or Agung Podomoro Group came into sight and boasted their concrete and steel structures on the flooded Kelapa Gading area. Sad… it’s so sad to see the impact of greed and ignorance to the living environment. I checked my watch… an hour already passed.
I texted all my friends that I thought reside in the affected areas to check on their condition. Wenda who lives in Bekasi are still staying at home because the water already flooded her house. She said it could reach adult chest. Eltje's residence experienced blackout since January 31. My aunt had to take refuge to her son's house in Bogor because of this flood. I called my mom but couldn’t go through… It seemed the line was not working well *sigh*.
I got home around seven at night. Yes, it took me about two and half hours to reach home from the airport – a trip that only lasts about 30 to 45 minutes in ordinary days.
I’m praying for those who are still in the flooded areas. I do hope the water could recede soon and condition returns to normal earlier than expected.
I bet you already watched a much wider coverage about this big flood on TV, newspapers, and radio. I don’t think I have to re-broadcast it. Follow this link if you have to: Floods hit some 75% of Jakarta, 25 killed.
News from Urban Poor Consortium
Jakarta is Paralyzed: the Failure of Jakarta's Government on Overcome the Flood
Jakarta is flooded. Due to the heavy rain since Thursday, February 1st 2007, Jakarta now is paralyzed. Almost all infrastructures in Jakarta are flooded and it blocked most activities of Jakarta's citizen. Up to February 4th 2007, 33 districts (spread in Jakarta's areas) are flooded with high of water reached to 2 metres and forced 53,354 people to refuge into temporary shelters i.e., local district offices, mosques, schools, public cemeteries, etc. They are now in terrible condition and suffered from diseases like cold, fever, cough, and skin diseases. The worst hit area that also forced many people to refuge is in East Jakarta where 5,000 people are now refuge to Santa Maria's school.
It is noted that 1,499 schools were closed, 15 of train station are flooded, and electricity, phone and internet line in some areas are disconnected. Flood has also taken victims where 12 people are dead due to the stream of flood and for being shock by the electricity.
Up to now, Jakarta's government has not, maximally, conduct actions to overcome the situation caused by flood. There are so many areas and people who were not, yet, being evacuated and have not received any of aids.
What happen now in Jakarta is contrary with previous statement stated by Jakarta's Governor, Sutiyoso. In his statement, Sutiyoso claimed that his government has already prepared on dealing and overcome the flood, which is a five years cycle of flood after big flood occurred in 2002. He stated that the government are equipped with flood emergency equipment that allocated from Jakarta's Local budget amount of IDR 255 billion and a back up fund amount of IDR 500 billion.
Even with that fund, Jakarta's Government are proved to be failed on anticipating the flood. The five years cycle of flood should have been anticipated since Jakarta experienced a pervious big flood in 2002. Compared with the flood in 2002, today's flood is even worse where water not only flooded area that considered near the river but spread, averagely, throughout all areas.
Toward the disaster, UPC and UPLINK, together with kampong's people are collaborating on giving the first aid. Together we formulate a team who start the activities by identifying all affected areas, especially on urban poor communities that have not received assistances, i.e., East Jakarta (Cipinang Besar Selatan, Prumpung and Pulogadung's riverbank), North Jakarta ( Semper, Kolong Tol Warakas, Kolong Tol Sungai Bambu, Pademangan, Teluk Gong), and West Jakarta (Blok Asin, Pekojan, Rawa Buaya).
Up to now, we have identified nine kampongs which spread in all areas: Cipinang Besar Selatan, Pulogadung, Bojong Pulo, Kebun Bayam, Kampung Sawah, Semper, Sungai Bambu, Warakas, and Rawa Buaya. Their basic and urgent necessities are ranging from logistic (medicine, blanket, clothes, sanitary napkins, baby diapers, instant food, and milk) to temporary shelters (tent, light, generator set, and mattress). Aside distributing those logistic aids, the team also will build a public kitchen in some areas to supply refugee's necessities.
In the next few days, basic necessities fulfillment is a priority but we will move on advocating the issue especially on city planning policy and allocation of local budget as main factors for causing the flood.
A Paper titled Flooding in Jakarta presented during the 1st International Conference on Urban History (August 23-25, 2004).
Conclusion (from the above paper)
From its beginnings Jakarta has been prone to flooding due to its unfavourably low location on the coast of the Java Sea. It is situated within the river basin of several rivers transporting large amounts of water during the rainy season. Although technically speaking solutions for the banjir problem may be envisaged, these will require enormous, unrealistic amounts of funding, while the technical specialists in this field are more and more inclined to think in remaining chances and probabilities of flooding instead of complete cures.
The engineers agree that the key to flood prevention lays in a risk management approach taking into account both probabilities and consequences, and that the focus in Jakarta should initially be on the rehabilitation of the existing infrastructure. The problem is aggravated by the rapid urbanization along with severe water extraction leading to steady sinking of the ground level. To raise the level by means of addition of sand leads to the reduction of part of the benefit from the heavy load causing further sinking. That is why measures on spatial planning and the directions of urbanization should be tied in with the rehabilitation envisaged.
Future policies to reduce the risk of banjir in Jakarta should be based on comprehensive water catchment area policy and inclusive urbanization planning. As the past colonial and post colonial anti-flooding measures were often strongly lacking behind the rapid growth of the city – parts of them being implemented when the city population and built area were extended already two to three times – comprehensive water and urbanization planning should be aimed for.
Perhaps the main solution has to be found in an elaborate system of polders. Such polders already exist in Jakarta and in the colonial period additional proposals for polder extension were launched. A sinking city probably should be turned into a polder city. It is expected that Jakarta will count over twenty million people in 2015. Without doubt this future development will require large flood control and flood risk management investments.
As history shows that government agencies are often too late in implementing flood control measures, it is clear that the cultural aspect can not be considered a strong incentive for improvement. During the centuries the inhabitants and government officials of Jakarta have become acquainted with the inconveniences, which are likely been forgotten all too soon with the beginning of the dry season.
Moreover, they do not affect all parts of the city to the same extent, although in the more severe cases of banjir also richer areas are not able to escape, particularly when the city comes to a virtual standstill as we have seen earlier for the year 2002. Notwithstanding the fact that at this very moment many small and large water infrastructure improvements are in the course of being implemented in Jakarta, the overall aim should be to tackle the problem on the basis of one comprehensive cultural, water catchment area and urbanization plan. But even then the specialists will point out that what can be aimed at is just risk reduction.
We heard a lot about the above conclusion to solve banjir in Jakarta – and yet years went by and no strategic and directive measures are taken to address this chronic issue. The Indonesian's way of coping with disasters is very unique – a lot of brouhaha when any disaster happens (critiques, recommendation, task forces, volunteers) but then the people could easily forget... And yet when these things happen again we’re all back to square one – blaming, critiquing, etc…. over and over again. Isn’t it called stupidity?
When I asked the lady at Garuda’s check-in counter in Changi International Airport about the condition on the flight to Jakarta, she said that the flight would be on time. (I heard that yesterday Garuda had to re-schedule some of its flights to and from Jakarta due to the flood – their crews and passengers couldn’t reach the airport. Also, the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport was closed for couple of hours.) Yeah, the flight was on time and I landed around 4:05PM in Jakarta. The airport seemed less crowded than usual. My adventure was just to begin…. I’d like to share what I experienced during my “unique” trip from the airport to my house today.
All the cars, buses, trucks and motorcycles were slowing down when they reached the first toll gates outside the airport. The radio kept repeating to avoid toll road in front of Tarumanegara University. So, I took Tanjung Priok – Cawang – Kebon Jeruk route instead of Grogol – Kebon Jeruk route. As expected, long lines already congested the toll road in Tanjung Priok – Cawang – Kebon Jeruk direction. The grey cloud covered the city and it looked threatening. Would a heavy rain coming down tonight? I could see some young guys standing on the flooded toll road asking for money (bahasa Indonesia-nya malakin).
The traffic moved at about 20 to 30 km/hour. On the other side of the toll road I saw motorcycles ran in the toll road (prohibited during normal condition) and the one way toll road became two way traffics.
By the time I was tired of sitting in the car and wondered when I could reach home I saw many cars (even the Beemer) parked on the side of the toll road and their passengers were looking down and around the flooded area. Despite this grave situation, Jakartans could still have fun – by being tourists to flooded areas. Hmm, yes, I was in Kelapa Gading and Sunter areas – some areas worst hit by the flood. I also saw some street vendors offered bottled water, cigarette, etc. to these situational tourists *smile*. Well, I also witnessed the open pick-ups with volunteers ready to distribute aids.
Then the majestic six, or probably eight, apartment and business towers belong to either Summarecon Agung or Agung Podomoro Group came into sight and boasted their concrete and steel structures on the flooded Kelapa Gading area. Sad… it’s so sad to see the impact of greed and ignorance to the living environment. I checked my watch… an hour already passed.
I texted all my friends that I thought reside in the affected areas to check on their condition. Wenda who lives in Bekasi are still staying at home because the water already flooded her house. She said it could reach adult chest. Eltje's residence experienced blackout since January 31. My aunt had to take refuge to her son's house in Bogor because of this flood. I called my mom but couldn’t go through… It seemed the line was not working well *sigh*.
I got home around seven at night. Yes, it took me about two and half hours to reach home from the airport – a trip that only lasts about 30 to 45 minutes in ordinary days.
I’m praying for those who are still in the flooded areas. I do hope the water could recede soon and condition returns to normal earlier than expected.
I bet you already watched a much wider coverage about this big flood on TV, newspapers, and radio. I don’t think I have to re-broadcast it. Follow this link if you have to: Floods hit some 75% of Jakarta, 25 killed.
News from Urban Poor Consortium
Jakarta is Paralyzed: the Failure of Jakarta's Government on Overcome the Flood
Jakarta is flooded. Due to the heavy rain since Thursday, February 1st 2007, Jakarta now is paralyzed. Almost all infrastructures in Jakarta are flooded and it blocked most activities of Jakarta's citizen. Up to February 4th 2007, 33 districts (spread in Jakarta's areas) are flooded with high of water reached to 2 metres and forced 53,354 people to refuge into temporary shelters i.e., local district offices, mosques, schools, public cemeteries, etc. They are now in terrible condition and suffered from diseases like cold, fever, cough, and skin diseases. The worst hit area that also forced many people to refuge is in East Jakarta where 5,000 people are now refuge to Santa Maria's school.
It is noted that 1,499 schools were closed, 15 of train station are flooded, and electricity, phone and internet line in some areas are disconnected. Flood has also taken victims where 12 people are dead due to the stream of flood and for being shock by the electricity.
Up to now, Jakarta's government has not, maximally, conduct actions to overcome the situation caused by flood. There are so many areas and people who were not, yet, being evacuated and have not received any of aids.
What happen now in Jakarta is contrary with previous statement stated by Jakarta's Governor, Sutiyoso. In his statement, Sutiyoso claimed that his government has already prepared on dealing and overcome the flood, which is a five years cycle of flood after big flood occurred in 2002. He stated that the government are equipped with flood emergency equipment that allocated from Jakarta's Local budget amount of IDR 255 billion and a back up fund amount of IDR 500 billion.
Even with that fund, Jakarta's Government are proved to be failed on anticipating the flood. The five years cycle of flood should have been anticipated since Jakarta experienced a pervious big flood in 2002. Compared with the flood in 2002, today's flood is even worse where water not only flooded area that considered near the river but spread, averagely, throughout all areas.
Toward the disaster, UPC and UPLINK, together with kampong's people are collaborating on giving the first aid. Together we formulate a team who start the activities by identifying all affected areas, especially on urban poor communities that have not received assistances, i.e., East Jakarta (Cipinang Besar Selatan, Prumpung and Pulogadung's riverbank), North Jakarta ( Semper, Kolong Tol Warakas, Kolong Tol Sungai Bambu, Pademangan, Teluk Gong), and West Jakarta (Blok Asin, Pekojan, Rawa Buaya).
Up to now, we have identified nine kampongs which spread in all areas: Cipinang Besar Selatan, Pulogadung, Bojong Pulo, Kebun Bayam, Kampung Sawah, Semper, Sungai Bambu, Warakas, and Rawa Buaya. Their basic and urgent necessities are ranging from logistic (medicine, blanket, clothes, sanitary napkins, baby diapers, instant food, and milk) to temporary shelters (tent, light, generator set, and mattress). Aside distributing those logistic aids, the team also will build a public kitchen in some areas to supply refugee's necessities.
In the next few days, basic necessities fulfillment is a priority but we will move on advocating the issue especially on city planning policy and allocation of local budget as main factors for causing the flood.
A Paper titled Flooding in Jakarta presented during the 1st International Conference on Urban History (August 23-25, 2004).
Conclusion (from the above paper)
From its beginnings Jakarta has been prone to flooding due to its unfavourably low location on the coast of the Java Sea. It is situated within the river basin of several rivers transporting large amounts of water during the rainy season. Although technically speaking solutions for the banjir problem may be envisaged, these will require enormous, unrealistic amounts of funding, while the technical specialists in this field are more and more inclined to think in remaining chances and probabilities of flooding instead of complete cures.
The engineers agree that the key to flood prevention lays in a risk management approach taking into account both probabilities and consequences, and that the focus in Jakarta should initially be on the rehabilitation of the existing infrastructure. The problem is aggravated by the rapid urbanization along with severe water extraction leading to steady sinking of the ground level. To raise the level by means of addition of sand leads to the reduction of part of the benefit from the heavy load causing further sinking. That is why measures on spatial planning and the directions of urbanization should be tied in with the rehabilitation envisaged.
Future policies to reduce the risk of banjir in Jakarta should be based on comprehensive water catchment area policy and inclusive urbanization planning. As the past colonial and post colonial anti-flooding measures were often strongly lacking behind the rapid growth of the city – parts of them being implemented when the city population and built area were extended already two to three times – comprehensive water and urbanization planning should be aimed for.
Perhaps the main solution has to be found in an elaborate system of polders. Such polders already exist in Jakarta and in the colonial period additional proposals for polder extension were launched. A sinking city probably should be turned into a polder city. It is expected that Jakarta will count over twenty million people in 2015. Without doubt this future development will require large flood control and flood risk management investments.
As history shows that government agencies are often too late in implementing flood control measures, it is clear that the cultural aspect can not be considered a strong incentive for improvement. During the centuries the inhabitants and government officials of Jakarta have become acquainted with the inconveniences, which are likely been forgotten all too soon with the beginning of the dry season.
Moreover, they do not affect all parts of the city to the same extent, although in the more severe cases of banjir also richer areas are not able to escape, particularly when the city comes to a virtual standstill as we have seen earlier for the year 2002. Notwithstanding the fact that at this very moment many small and large water infrastructure improvements are in the course of being implemented in Jakarta, the overall aim should be to tackle the problem on the basis of one comprehensive cultural, water catchment area and urbanization plan. But even then the specialists will point out that what can be aimed at is just risk reduction.
We heard a lot about the above conclusion to solve banjir in Jakarta – and yet years went by and no strategic and directive measures are taken to address this chronic issue. The Indonesian's way of coping with disasters is very unique – a lot of brouhaha when any disaster happens (critiques, recommendation, task forces, volunteers) but then the people could easily forget... And yet when these things happen again we’re all back to square one – blaming, critiquing, etc…. over and over again. Isn’t it called stupidity?
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Magnitude 8.2 Earthquake Struck Sumatera (3 of 3)
Source: The Jakarta Post
Date: March 30, 2005
World offers condolences, relief after new Indonesian quake
Washington (Agencies): The United Nations and other countries around the world offered condolences and relief Tuesday after more than a thousand people were feared to have died when a huge earthquake rocked an island off northwest Indonesia.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan was "deeply distressed" by news of the earthquake, a UN spokesman said.
"He pledges the United Nations' support for the people of Indonesia at this difficult hour, as well as its readiness to help with reconstruction efforts at the appropriate time," the spokesman pointed out as reported by AFP.
Singapore sent military helicopters and a team of medical and rescue workers to the island of Nias, which bore the brunt of the 8.7-magnitude quake that triggered tsunami warnings and caused panic across the Indian Ocean.
China's government said it would donate US$500,000 in cash to Indonesia, while its Red Cross pledged $300,000.
The European Union's executive commission said it had sent an assessment team to the affected area and would offer financial aid if needed.
"The news of this tragic event again hitting your country leaves me deeply hurt," said Italian Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini, offering the sympathies of the Italian people in a message to his counterpart in Indonesia, Hassan Wirayuda.
Relief agencies in Britain reacted swiftly to the killer earthquake.
Oxfam International, active in the region following the December quake, said it had sent an assessment team to Nias island by helicopter from the regional Indonesian capital Banda Aceh to size up the scale of the disaster.
Germany also extended an offer of assistance, if it is needed.
"Your country suffered immeasurably from the tsunami in December and for Indonesia to suffer a large number of dead and injured again so soon afterwards is particularly tragic," Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said in a letter of condolence to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
South Africa offered emergency relief to Indonesia "within the limited resources at its disposal" as President Thabo Mbeki expressed his condolences.
Ottawa is prepared to give aid to earthquake victims in Indonesia, Canada's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
"On behalf of all Canadians, I would like to express my deepest sympathies for the loss of life and the destruction caused by this earthquake," Foreign Minister Pierre Pettigrew said, adding that the Canadian Embassy in Jakarta was "closely monitoring" the situation.
A New Zealand aid group is sending boats with medical teams to the Indonesian island of Nias to help those injured in the devastating earthquake, a New Zealand aid agency said on Wednesday.
New Zealand private aid group SurfAid would also fly doctors to Nias in a helicopter as soon as they find one to hire, said government funding agency NZAid spokeswoman Catrina McDiarmid.
"As soon as they have one they'll take it up," McDiarmid said as quoted by AP, adding the group had "arranged four boats and they're staffing those with local doctors and nurses which will go to Nias."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Source: The Jakarta Post
Date: March 30, 2005
Nias quake kills hundreds
Hundreds of islanders in North Sumatra and Aceh who escaped the terrible waves of three months ago were killed early Tuesday in a strong earthquake.
Residents started to search through smoldering rubble for survivors on Nias Island on Tuesday and relatives wept over the bodies of the dead after a huge undersea earthquake struck the region, triggering tsunami warnings and causing massive panic around the Indian Ocean rim.
Estimates of the number dead ranged from 330 to 2,000, apart from some 100 in Simeulue island in the province of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam.
The epicenter of Monday's quake, which measured 8.7 on the Richter scale, was just 320 kilometers away from that of the Dec. 26 quake, which sent giant waves crashing into 12 nations, killing over 273,000 people, mostly in Aceh. Nias was also affected by the tsunami but only some 130 were reported dead.
Unlike residents on Sumatra's mainland, locals on Nias and Simeulue said they had escaped to higher ground following the earthquake after seeing the ocean recede, which they knew meant a tsunami was on the way. They cited their elders' stories of similar disasters, which, among other things, had led to the stranding of whales.
Budi Atmaji Adiputro, a spokesman for the Coordinating Agency for National Disaster Relief, said rescuers found 330 bodies in the rubble on Tuesday. The toll was expected to rise as more bodies were believed to be trapped in collapsed buildings, he said.
From the air, it appeared that about 30 percent of the buildings in Gunung Sitoli, the island's biggest city, were destroyed, and there was significant damage to the island's second biggest town, Teluk Dalam, Associated Press reported.
But Antara said that some 80 percent of the buildings in Gunung Sitoli had been destroyed. It added that many bridges were down, while telecommunications and electricity were still out. Most people in Gunung Sitoli had fled to the hills amid fears of a tsunami.
The head of the health office in Aceh province, Mulya Hasjmy, told Agence France Presse that a disaster task force on Simeulue island had counted 100 dead.
But Vice President Jusuf Kalla told the British Broadcasting Corporation that reports from Nias indicated that between 1,000 and 2,000 people had died. Nias Island, which is popular with surfers, has a population of some 700,000 people.
The undersea quake struck about 200 kilometers off the west coast of Sumatra and prompted Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Thailand, among other nations, to issue imminent tsunami warnings.
Alerts went out on television and radio, while police and local residents tried to shepherd people away from the coast towards higher ground.
But the giant tsunamis never materialized and three hours after the quake Indonesia and Thailand gave the all-clear. Sri Lanka and India followed several hours later, AFP reported.
Survivors -- frail, weeping and swathed in bloody bandages -- described how they were trapped by falling rubble when the giant tremor struck.
Some 20 people, mostly suffering from broken bones, deep cuts and bruises, were flown from Nias aboard two UN helicopters to the Sumatra island city of Sibolga, where they were transferred to hospital.
"I was fast asleep when the earthquake occurred but I woke up just in time to escape from the crumbling roof of my dormitory," 20-year-old student Serasi Hulu, who suffered a broken arm and fingers, told AFP.
Pale, bruised and visibly weak from his ordeal, Hulu said he had tried to dash from his room but was pinned down by falling masonry.
"Before I managed to get out of the house, part of the roof fell on me and I was trapped for several hours along with two of my high school mates," he said. "I believe they may have died."
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who decided to delay official trips to Australia, New Zealand and East Timor, held an emergency Cabinet meeting on Tuesday to coordinate the relief operation for Nias.
"We had just ended the emergency relief operation in Aceh and Nias when we were taken by surprise again by the earthquake in Nias and Simeulue," said Susilo, who is also planning to visit the islands.
He also welcomed the immediate response of the international community and the offers to help Indonesia.
Singapore said it had dispatched military helicopters and a team of medical and rescue workers to Nias, while Japan offered to send relief goods, paramedics and troops.
Australia promised US$1 million, while China announced it would donate $300,000.
Meanwhile, aid flights began reaching Nias Island on Tuesday. Bad weather, a damaged airport and heavy cloud cover kept many flights from landing, but in the afternoon there were reports of at least three planes touching down on the island.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Source: The Jakarta Post
Date: March 30, 2005
Susilo delays trips in honor of quake victims
By Muninggar Sri Saraswati and Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta
As a token of sympathy to the victims of the 8.7-magnitude earthquake affecting Nias and Simeuleu islands, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono delayed his visit to Australia, New Zealand and East Timor scheduled to start on Wednesday.
Instead, Susilo will pay a visit to the quake-affected areas, which were also affected by the Dec. 26 9.0-magnitude temblor along the same the fault line.
"I decided to postpone the visit until we are sure that we can handle the calamities there," the president told the public at the State Palace on Tuesday. "I was scheduled to visit the three countries for six days. The trip was supposed to be a follow-up cooperation on post-tsunami disaster in Aceh."
However, Susilo did not say if there was a new schedule for the visit, saying "it will be done sometime in the future".
Susilo is slated to visit the quake-affected islands on Wednesday or Thursday to directly assess the damages and coordinate the emergency relief efforts.
"I will visit Nias and Simeuleu. But the most important thing is that the aid, medical workers and doctors arrive first," he said.
Susilo was originally scheduled to fly to Australia on Wednesday to sign several bilateral cooperation agreements in the defense, economic and science sectors, as well as meeting Prime Minister John Howard, who attended Susilo's inauguration last year.
Susilo, who planned to visit Canberra and Sydney, was also slated to meet Australian opposition leader Kim Beazley and Governor General Michael Jeffrey.
On April 3, Susilo was scheduled to arrive in New Zealand to meet Prime Minister Helen Clark and local opposition leaders.
The president had planned to wrap up his six-day trip by visiting East Timor on April 4 to meet President Xanana Gusmao and Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda said the countries had been informed by his ministry on the postponement, with a possible rescheduling for the visit until next week.
"We have informed them of the delay and we are seeking the best time for the visit. I think the delay will be no more than a week," he said, adding that the three countries understood and accepted the reason for the delay.
Magnitude 8.2 Earthquake Struck Sumatera (2 of 3)
Source: Kompas Daily Newspaper
Date: March 29, 2005
8.2 quake strikes off Sumatra
Jakarta, Kompas - A quake measuring 8.2 on the Richter scale struck Monday night at 23.09 on the sea between Pulau Nias (North Sumatera ) and Pulau Simeulue, Aceh. It resulted in much panic in Medan and Banda Aceh. Many people left their homes while electricity and phone lines were cut off.
Tremors were also felt as far afield as Padang, Jambi, Pekanbaru and Riau.
A Kompas journalist in Medan reported that the tremors were stronger and lasted longer than on 26 December.
The Kompas reporter was only able to send out news using SMS and a satellite phone.
According to a member of Parliament who was in a hotel in Medan, the tremor lasted for three minutes. 'All guests in the hotel left by emergency stairways, and there was widespread panic.
Tremors were also felt in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
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Source: The Jakarta Post
Date: March 30, 2005
Opinion and Editorial
Struck again
They say that lightning never strikes twice. But earthquakes apparently do. Just a few days over three months since a 9-magnitude temblor sent the ocean crashing over littoral areas around the region leaving 288,000 people dead or missing, another killer quake measuring 8.7 on the open-ended Richter scale jolted roughly the same area around the Indian Ocean near midnight on Monday.
Given the remoteness of many of the areas that were affected, precise information of the devastation which this latest calamity has wrought is as yet difficult to obtain. But even at this early stage, officials are reporting that hundreds, and probably thousands, of people have been killed, many of them by their collapsing houses while they lay fast asleep as the midnight hour approached. The first temblor struck the northern parts of Sumatra at 11:15 p.m. local time.
In urban centers, such as Banda Aceh, Lhok Seumawe and Medan, thousands fled their homes for higher ground in cars, on motorbike or on foot, mindful of the near-total devastation that the Dec. 26 earthquake-triggered tsunami wrought some three months earlier. Calm returned only after it became clear that no new tsunami was about to materialize and that in terms of both magnitude and destructive effect, Monday's temblor was far less than the Dec. 26 killer quake.
Even so, it is clear that the devastation is considerable. In the early hours after the tremor, for example, officials in Gunung Sitoli, capital of the remote island of Nias off the West Sumatra coast, reported that about 70 percent of the buildings in and around the local market had been destroyed and hundreds of people had been killed. Appalling as it may be, that report may paint an overoptimistic picture of the situation. And while Gunung Sitoli was without doubt hard hit, the devastation is believed to be probably even greater at Teluk Dalam, the island's remote port, near the popular surfing beach of Lagundri.
Whatever the case, these are tentative observations and the precise extent of the damage will only become clear after methodical tallies have been made. In one estimate, given by Vice President Jusuf Kalla in Jakarta on Tuesday morning and based merely on the number of buildings destroyed, the death toll could be anywhere from 1,000 to 2,000 on the island of Nias alone. As of Tuesday noon, rescue workers were reported to be still pulling bodies from out of the wreckage of buildings on Nias Island, but poor communications have so far hampered rescue operations elsewhere.
It is heartening to learn that offers of help have already come in from countries as far apart as the United States, Australia and Japan. All have said they would be ready to send assistance as soon as they receive a request from the Indonesian government. And given the sort of spirit of international cooperation in times of adversity that was demonstrated in the wake of the Dec. 26 tsunami, there is little doubt that more countries will follow suit. The Indonesian Red Cross, for its part, has already rushed a team and medical supplies to the island to help the victims.
Amid all this, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's gesture of sympathy to those affected by this most recent calamity certainly deserves to be commended. We have no doubt that the Australian authorities will fully understand and accept the president's decision to delay his planned visit to Canberra, given the circumstances.
We are more than thankful for all the help that has been extended to the victims of the Dec. 26 tsunami in Aceh and North Sumatra. We only hope that the same assistance can be made available, and without too much delay, to the people of Nias and the nearby islands and regions who have been made to suffer at the hands of nature.
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Source: The Jakarta Post
Date: March 30, 2005
Authorities say up to 1,000 dead in latest Indonesian earthquake
Gunung Sitoli, Nias (AP): About 1,000 people were killed in this week's 8.7-magnitude quake that struck remote Nias Island, the regional governor said on Wednesday.
North Sumatra Gov. Rizal Nurdin estimated that 1,000 people died in the latest disaster, but officials feared the number could climb to 2,000.
Residents swarmed over collapsed buildings in the island's main town of Gunung Sitoli early Wednesday searching frantically for survivors. A pair of legs could be seen sticking out of the wreckage of one house.
The town's hospital was barely functioning: It lacked power or water, and fuel for generators and vehicles was running low.
"We know there are many people critically injured," said Dr. Norman Peeler, a medical coordinator from World Health Organization. "It is essential they get treatment, infections spread easily in open wounds."
At a makeshift triage center on a soccer field next to the town's palm-fringed Indian Ocean beach 13 patients spent the night under a corrugated iron roof hoping to get on helicopter flights to a hospital on Indonesia's nearest main island of Sumatra.
But rain and cloudy weather grounded many planned flights, officials said.
"I have three critical patients with internal bleeding and serious fractures, but there is no space on the choppers," Indonesian Red Cross worker Ahmad Haris said.
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Source: The Jakarta Post
Date: March 30, 2005
Earthquake brings back bad memories
By Apriadi Gunawan and Sjofiardi Bachyul, Medan/Padang
With her four-year-old daughter sobbing in her arms, Elly rushed from her house in Belawan area after a very strong earthquake measuring 8.7 on the Richter scale jolted Medan city late on Monday.
Fearing another tsunami, Elly was desperate to get as far away from the coast as possible, fleeing with her neighbors to higher ground on Belmerah toll road.
She kept on running, even when enveloped in darkness after the power failed due to the earthquake, the second biggest after the 9.0-magnitude quake and ensuing tsunamis that swept Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam and North Sumatra on Dec. 26 last year.
The 29-year-old woman, and her neighbors, finally stopped running when they reached the toll road. There, thousands of other Belawan residents had taken shelter.
The Belawan residents stayed on the toll road for six hours, bringing traffic to a halt. They eventually returned home after government officials convinced them there was no tsunami risk.
Elly said she had heard rumors that the earthquake would cause giant waves.
"I was so scared I decided to run to safety," she told The Jakarta Post on the toll road at dawn on Tuesday.
She had been asleep at the time of the quake but had woken up due to the violent rattling of her bed.
"If the quake was not so strong, I would not have woken up," recalled the woman, whose husband was out of town for business.
The strong quake also shocked other Medan residents.
Iskandar, who was staying in the Grand Angkasa Hotel in Medan, said when the quake hit he headed outside as fast as he could.
"I was watching television when all the things in my room began to shake. I quickly left the hotel room and ran downstairs without so much as turning off the TV," he said.
According to Iskandar, the earthquake was much more powerful than the one on Dec. 26.
"The latest quake was much stronger and lasted longer," said Iskandar.
Other Medan residents abandoned their homes and took shelter in safer places, including several mosques. Some, like Padang Bulan residents, chose to flee to the higher Pancur Batu area.
A staff member of the North Sumatra coordination unit, Pandia, said that no causalities had been reported in Medan so far.
Padangpanjang Meteorological and Geophysics Agency (BMG) in West Sumatra said that Monday's earthquake reached IV Modified Mercalli Intensity (MMI) in Padang, far above the scale of Dec. 26's earthquake of II MMI.
The MMI, otherwise called Ground Shaking Intensity, is a subjective measure of the strength of an earthquake.
Monday's earthquake was also felt for longer in Padang than the one on Dec. 26 -- 15 minutes as compared to five minutes.
Just like in Medan, the earthquake forced almost all residents in Padang to flee to safer places.
People living by the beach fixed their eyes on the sea. But there were no telltale signs of a tsunami, the tide did not recede and the people were finally convinced of their safety.
"I was watching television when all the things in my room began to shake. I quickly left the hotel room and ran downstairs without so much as turning off the TV."
-- Iskandar in Medan
Magnitude 8.2 Earthquake Struck Sumatera (1 of 3)
Monday, March 28, 2005 at 11:09:36 PM. The earthquake's mighty strike unleashed its 8.2 power on Richter scale again. This time the undersea quake is located about 320 kilometers south of the Dec. 26 earth tremor. Nias Island, one of surfers' paradise in Indonesia, has yet recovered from Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami, but now has to bear the second big hit in 3 months. *sigh*
My parents were in Padang when this earth tremor happened. There was disorderly mess--people went down the hotel's stairways for safety. However, there was no coordination either from the hotel or the nearest local authority. I don't know how many bad experiences needed to shake us up and make us paying more attention to the adoption of Early Warning System and evacuation program in our day-to-day life. *sigh* However, I applaud the President's decision to postpone his trips to Australia, New Zealand, and East Timor in the wake of this calamity.
For facts follow this link: U.S. Geological Survey.
Following are some coverage on this earthquake. In chronological order and the highlights are mine.
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Source: ICTP (International Council of Tourism Partners)
Date: March 28, 2005
Tsunami fears after 8.2 earthquake
Observers are advising that the possibility of a tidal wave has receded.
Another earthquake has struck the coastal region of Sumatra in Indonesia, three months after the disaster of 26 December. The latest earthquake is serious and measured 8.2 on the Richter scale, compared with over 9 in December.
Tsunami warnings have gone out in the countries around the Indian Ocean.
The US Geological Survey says the latest earthquake was under the sea about 125 miles (205 km) north-west of Sibolga, Sumatra, close to where the quake of 26 December struck. USGS gave a time of 4:09PM GMT, 11:09PM local time.
After two hours from the earthquake incident, there has been no sign of a tidal wave hitting the Indonesian coast. Observers are advising that the possibility of a tidal wave has receded.
A spokeswoman for the US Geological Survey said not all earthquakes generate a tsunami. It would have to be over 7 in magnitude, which this one was, but in a relatively shallow part of the ocean. The latest quake was 30km (18.6 miles) below the surface.
A tsunami is likely if the earthquake involves vertical movement of sections of the earth's crust but is less likely if the thrust is horizontal or sideways sliding.
There is more immediate concern about damage to buildings on land as a result of ground shaking. Buildings have also been damaged on islands off the coast closer to the epicenter of the quake. People are reported to have been trapped in wrecked buildings on the island of Nias.
Some damage has been reported from Medan on Sumatra Island, a town of 2.5 million people and the largest population centre on Sumatra. A relief worker for TearFund who had just returned to Medan from a visit to Banda Aceh said the streets shook like being on a ship at sea and the town has been plunged into a power cut.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center says the earthquake may have directed waves to the south west and has alerted the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean to the possibility of a tsunami.
In the Maldives, the government has issued an advisory message warning people to be alert. Ibrahim Ahmed, speaking on Sky News, said everyone was being vigilant, watching TV and listening to the radio. Residents in Colombo, Sri Lanka, have been told to evacuate their homes. On the coast, a mass evacuation is under way but there a few houses left since the December disaster. Word of a possible new tsunami is reported to spread "like wild fire" along the Sri Lanka coastline, even in areas where there is no electronic media.
Sky News reported that the tremor was felt over one thousand miles away.
Don Blackman, a spokesman for the US Geological Survey, said tsunami activity would not be as widespread as in December, and the effects are likely to be localised. "Certainly evacuations should be occurring. I hope they are," he said.
In Thailand, tsunami warnings have been issued and people in coastal areas have been advised to go to higher ground.
The Japanese meteorological service said the quake was as great as 8.5 on the Richter scale.
Tirana Hassan, a worker with Save The Children in Banda Aceh, said the initial earthquake was followed by numerous after-shocks. She said local people moved away from the coast.
Earthquake Indonesia
Speaking by phone from Indonesia, marine tourism official, and special advisor to the International Council of Tourism Partners Faisol Hashim told eTurboNews that the earthquake was felt for at least three minutes in Banda Aceh, Meulaboh and Calang. It hit late at night local time and warnings were announced on loudspeakers in Banda Aceh, and people fled to high ground.
In Meulaboh, one of the worst hit places in the December disaster, people left their beds and made their way to high ground. Also in Calang, where no houses have been yet been rebuilt after the previous disaster, the tremor was felt strongly and people moved to safer ground on a hill just a quarter mile out of town.
The earthquake struck just a day after scientists had completed a survey of the area from Bali north to the Andaman and Nicobar islands, and gave a warning that the stress built up by the December quake was so great that another earthquake was inevitable.
Tsunami warnings have been issued for places within 600 miles of the epicenter of the quake. The Indonesian resort of Bali is thought to be in no danger as it is shielded by the land mass from waves that may be generated.
Warnings have gone out in Thailand and in India, but there was no sign of a tsunami in the first hour after the earthquake was registered.
The latest earthquake off Sumatra occurred just a day after government ministers and officials from 56 countries were meeting in Seoul, South Korea, and heard fresh calls for an Asia-wide Tsunami warning system.
They were attending a UN-sponsored conference where Klaus Toepfer, director of the UN Environment Program said there was no doubt that an early warning system was needed. "But we also have to do it for all kinds of natural hazards" he said. Toepfer said that any warning system must use local knowledge to provide an information chain on how to make people aware and trained to react very, very clearly. In the event, people in the areas most affected responded quickly to news of the earthquake and fled from the coast. There have been no reports of a tidal wave of the severity of a tsunami in three hours, and the danger is believed to have passed.
But on the island of Nias, off Sumatra, dozens of casualties are reported in conventional surface damage resulting from the earthquake. Buildings have been wrecked and it's feared that hundreds of people have been trapped in rubble.
Scientists from the Indonesian geophysics agency in Jakarta have said this earthquake does not appear to have triggered a tsunami, and that its effects were localised. The tremor was strong enough to have been felt as far away as Singapore.
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Source: ICTP
Date: 28 March 2005
ICTP Responds to Tsunami Threat
Honolulu, March 28 -- The International Council of Tourism Partners (ICTP) expresses its deepest concern for the recent tsunami threat that is affecting Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Japan. A major earthquake struck off the west coast of Indonesia's Sumatra Island late Monday, and officials issued a tsunami warning for as far away as Sri Lanka. Residents of Banda Aceh fled their homes in panic.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the temblor, which occurred at 11:09 p.m. local time (11:09 a.m. EST), measured a magnitude of 8.2. It was described by one of the agency's geologists as an aftershock of the devastating Dec. 26 quake. On March 22, 2005, eTurboNews (eTN) reported that a team from the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland says the earthquake off the coast of Sumatra that provoked the Indian Ocean tsunami on December 26 makes another disaster more likely, not less. Sadly, the scientists have been accurate in their assessment.
ICTP chairman Thomas Steinmetz has been in constant contact with several government officials from the threatened areas. He said ICTP will set-up an online communication portal in the event that it is warranted.
About ICTP
The International Council of Tourism Partners (ICTP) is a force for socially responsible and sustainable travel. ICTP supports the UN Millennium Development Goals, the World Tourism Organization’s Global Code of Ethics and a range of programs that underpin them. Members in 120 countries across the globe are from public sector, private sector & civil society – organizations and individuals. Its Advisory Board is drawn from industry and government policymakers. ICTP provides a web-based platform for the industry to showcase socially responsible tourism strategy and a constant connection to decision makers at the highest level. It seeks to be complimentary and inclusionary around its mission while retaining its own particular focus and drive.
For more information on ICTP go to http://www.tourismpartners.org/.
Monday, March 28, 2005
Three Months After The Catastrophic Earthquake & Tsunami (6 of 13)
Rebuilding Aceh with the Acehnese
March 14, 2005 - acehkita.com
At a recent discussion (January 6th) on the reconstruction of Aceh organised by Radio 68H, the formation of the Special Authority Body (Badan Otoritas Khusus) with the agreement of the government and the DPR (Lower House) was raised by the author. The current government's forthcoming five year term will cover the key aspects of the reconstruction of Aceh. The complexity of the reconstruction - not least due to the sheer volume of funds needed - will require comprehensive and unified support; multi-sector coordination; and the involvement of a range of parties from all levels (local, national and international).
There are questions to be asked about the efficiency of the Natural Disaster Response unit at Bakornas given that this body will only be handling the immediate emergency response. This is of particular concern as this role is not consistent with the need to have a unified body to handle the reconstruction process in its entirety. But it seems that there are concerns about Bakornas, led by VP Yusuf Kalla, adding momentum to that doubt, and turning the issue into a political hot potato.
Special Authority Body for Aceh
The key is to articulate clearly the structure and design of this body. In any organisational structure or form there will be risks that may challenge the achievement of stated aims. But even if the organisational structure is complex this is not in itself a reason to fail. Risk can be averted with good institutional design and close supervision at every level of responsibility. The government will be consolidating BOK over the coming two to three months.
Over this period every aspect must be closely watched in order to prevent a structure developing that allows corruption to flourish. It's better to keep working to find a way to avoid potential problems.
I imagine the new body can become an institution that will lift the Acehnese to the same levels of well-being as the rest of the nation, not simply as a body that merely accommodates the people of Aceh. If there is a credible governor, he will be able to lead the institution in collaboration with other Acehnese leaders. As the ex-officio head of this development body he will be endowed with the same level of authority as a minister. The body can incorporate anyone whose support is needed. Given that the current Governor of NAD, Abdullah Puteh, has been recently convicted of misuse of public funds and fraud, the Acehnese need a leader with credibility and support, at the same time as ensuring discussions include a wide range of parties and stakeholders.
With BOK being portrayed as 'owned' by the Acehnese, its credibility - as well as its impact - has to be maximised by working closely with the Acehnese. This is critical in both design and day to day implementation. There is a perception that the engagement of the Acehnese people has been weakened by the disaster, and that therefore everything has to be organised by outsiders first, to get things up and running. This was the original thought when the question of Acehnese ownership of and involvement in the process came up, but this line of reasoning must not be manipulated in order to postpone or diminish their involvement.
The aim of developing is not just to see the objectives as ends in themselves, but also to develop feelings of ownership with the beneficiaries, and to strengthen their socio-cultural capital. The population's role working with the institution will be a very positive one if the body is able to manage itself well, and prevent corruption and other abuses. These needs require that a general system of cooperation and the specific steps this requires must be clearly marked out from the outset.
We can see the true scope of the initiative and energy shown by people far outside Aceh that wish to help. When we talk about the role of the people its potential must be estimated. BOK Aceh has a duty to form a transparent way of working that can be tracked, achieved, made accessible by a variety of initiatives and approaches, and ultimately achieving fair distribution.
The Body is also expected to provide and promote services that can operate in synergy with cooperative initiatives and approaches. There is a duty to construct a social market to put Aceh in touch with the outside world, to unite them with the obvious initiatives and needs of Aceh.
Developing people, not just homes
The government is planning to construct barracks in 24 different locations for some 30,000 refugees. There are a number of parties wishing to assist with the building of free housing for disaster victims in new locations. But buildings valued at hundreds of billions of rupiah are a huge waste of money, and they uproot the Acehnese people from their lands and home communities. A short term approach such as this will only generate longer term problems and fresh victims.
It also looks disturbingly like the opportunity has already passed to include facilitating the economic and psychological rehabilitation of the tsunami victims into the recovery process. The chance for people to build their own homes, for example, is already receding. The provision of housing has also opened up a new pathway for corruption by increasing the use of contractors that - with excuses about the emergency nature of the situation - have received contracts without submitting to a tender process.
The movement of victims from their home lands and communities to barracks will undoubtedly increase complications arising from issues of land rights and ownership, particularly given the likelihood of illegal occupations since victims fled and abandoned their homes. The eradication of visual land markers, as well as the loss of title deeds and other documentation will make disputes with land squatters very difficult to resolve. Illegal land occupations may involve the government, where private parties have bribed officials. Additionally, the movement of people from their own communities to barracks that do not necessarily correspond to their personal and geographical origins may further exacerbate inefficiency in the wake of the tsunami.
The latest report said that only a few of the 24 designated locations were ready. I don't hold information about the specifics of these new receiving centres. Maybe this sort of information isn't deemed to be important as the strategy is seen as a stop-gap. But it is very doubtful that the initial timeframe projected for completion will be met. Prefabricated housing isn't as fast to put up as people imagine, because the factory or contractor that is newly involved will make the required components after the order is clarified. Transport costs were not calculated in initial projections. And there are, furthermore, questions around mark-ups by contractors.
How long will the refugees have to wait for the barracks to be constructed, all the while being mere passive observers? Why isn't there support for the Acehnese to build their own houses on the sites of their old, destroyed homes?
If the government were to support the self-build, participative approach they would have to prepare building materials and trade tools, as well as wages that would be paid in instalments. But building materials damaged in the disaster can - and should be - recycled. Strategies such as these have been proved to speed up reconstruction and ensure less waste because what is built has guaranteed occupancy and permanence. There will also be greater diversity in accordance with the needs of people in any given location, with attendant sensitivity to location-specific conditions. At the same time, there are efficiency benefits where people feel ownership over their home, community and city.
This was the experience of Kutch in the state of Gujurat, India after the mammoth earthquake of January 2001 that claimed almost 20,000 lives, and destroyed 338,000 homes. Sandeep Virmani from Kutch Nav Nirman Abhiyan discussed the experience with the Emergency Humanitarian Commission for Aceh and North Sumatra's Reconstruction Team on January 16th.
The Kutch experience shaped the strategy on the East coast of India in the wake of the tsunami. By the second half of January there were already some 2000 families building houses in line with the self-help model. By choosing a model that had been shown to be appropriate to people's needs it was implemented swiftly, precluding time-wasting on debate or around competing interests. No developers or contractors exist that can match this timeliness. Because there are tens of thousands - or, in the case of Aceh, hundreds of thousands - of victims that are able to build their own houses, they should be helped with the provision of materials, tools and other forms of support.
There are a number of benefits in using this self-help approach. Firstly, as the houses are built on sites chosen by the victims there is a greater likelihood that it will be a permanent dwelling. There is also a smaller chance that there will be wastage of materials, or that impermanent dwellings will come to form slums. Additionally, with resettlement on their own land there will be reduced incidence of land ownership disputes.
Gujurat also showed us that building activities allow people to feel they have a useful role in the recovery process. Many of the Acehnese tsunami victims have made it clear that they do not want to be organised by others. Rebuilding their own homes facilitates their desire to redevelop their social capital. The expertise and skills required would be enriched by this process and would be a source of future self-sufficiency. Those that build others' houses can also receive a suitable payment for doing so.
We now know that some 600,000 Acehnese have lost their homes. If even one quarter of that figure are adults then there are 150,000 people that can actively contribute to building their own homes. The issue is whether this can be rolled out, and whether momentum on this course can be sustained until the finish.
The first step is to organise people into building groups. Local leaders and institutions - whether grassroots or elite - must engage with the project. At the moment the government, together with donors and NGOs must coordinate the distribution of aid, whatever the development approach taken. But with the self-help model, there is a different kind of aid distribution.
In this model there is a greater need for building materials and tools than for cash or prefabricated housing. The level of coordination needed is undoubtedly high but it is a worthwhile exercise in the longer run, as the abilities and capital developed will be an asset to draw on should another disaster come.
In villages or kampungs people generally have the know-how to build their own houses. Conversely, in cities this knowledge has often been lost so support would be needed. Training centres, as well as depots holding and distributing building materials, can be rapidly established to fill these gaps. Deploying people skilled in these areas can ensure that technical and quality advice is given without interfering with people's autonomy. Voluntary delivery can achieved with good, clear management.
The nature of the approach to rebuilding taken will determine the size of costs incurred. The costs of involving the people in rebuilding their homes will have different outcomes to those requiring contracted builders with the people merely acting as passive observers.
There remains a further mystery for me as someone endeavouring to calculate the precise costs of reconstruction. There are a number of predictions that have to be made, that are inherently difficult, and that don't seem to have been addressed yet. For example, how can we estimate the cost of cement in four months time if we don't even know yet how sufficient quantities will be transported to hard to reach locations? Moreover, these estimates will have to be projected over the five to ten year period that the reconstruction period is estimated to require.
But these questions all build upon a further, more basic yet question as to what is included in our understanding of 'reconstruction'? Is it only rebuilding the physical aspects that were destroyed by the quake and tsunami? Where does social, cultural and economic reconstruction - including that of institutions - fit into the process? Have calculations about the restoration of the arts and cultural fora of Aceh been made or even considered? Additionally, have these estimates included planning processes and stages to ensure that actions are timely and robust?
There are two key elements to physical construction within the reconstruction process if we look at what choosing self-help rebuilding programs has to offer. Firstly, the strategy would encourage collective effort and inter-territorial cooperation of incalculable value. This could even include small scale infrastructure contributions such as rebuilding small roads at the community level.
The second benefit derives from the knowledge that, whether doing it themselves or in groups, people have their own strategies for reducing the cost of building themselves a home. The question of cost thus becomes increasingly relative as they have the advantage of being able to use their own labour. This has not been taken into account in the overall estimates and calculations of disaster recovery.
If the government really means to take a reconstruction route that seriously involves people, the dynamics of all arrangements must have breadth. This option requires huge flexibility, with clear recognition that this be maximised and sustained as far as possible. We can see, in the example of schools, how this can work. School buildings are generally built by the government, but they have also been cooperatively built by the people with funding supplied by the government.
But even with self-help rebuilding programs, there are already questions around whether the government has included operational and longer-term costs in the reconstruction figures. Have they, for example, included running costs such as staff wages, compiling libraries and other critical resources into their budgets for 'rebuilding' schools - or are the numbers simply about the physical needs?
Again, I don't know what the answer is. Largely because since the disaster the media has repeatedly chosen to focus on the projected costs of the reconstruction, without analysing those costs and alternatives such as bottom-up reconstruction by the people. There has been little said about what could be done by the people themselves to make the 'plan' into a comprehensive, participative redevelopment process. [cc]
March 14, 2005 - acehkita.com
At a recent discussion (January 6th) on the reconstruction of Aceh organised by Radio 68H, the formation of the Special Authority Body (Badan Otoritas Khusus) with the agreement of the government and the DPR (Lower House) was raised by the author. The current government's forthcoming five year term will cover the key aspects of the reconstruction of Aceh. The complexity of the reconstruction - not least due to the sheer volume of funds needed - will require comprehensive and unified support; multi-sector coordination; and the involvement of a range of parties from all levels (local, national and international).
There are questions to be asked about the efficiency of the Natural Disaster Response unit at Bakornas given that this body will only be handling the immediate emergency response. This is of particular concern as this role is not consistent with the need to have a unified body to handle the reconstruction process in its entirety. But it seems that there are concerns about Bakornas, led by VP Yusuf Kalla, adding momentum to that doubt, and turning the issue into a political hot potato.
Special Authority Body for Aceh
The key is to articulate clearly the structure and design of this body. In any organisational structure or form there will be risks that may challenge the achievement of stated aims. But even if the organisational structure is complex this is not in itself a reason to fail. Risk can be averted with good institutional design and close supervision at every level of responsibility. The government will be consolidating BOK over the coming two to three months.
Over this period every aspect must be closely watched in order to prevent a structure developing that allows corruption to flourish. It's better to keep working to find a way to avoid potential problems.
I imagine the new body can become an institution that will lift the Acehnese to the same levels of well-being as the rest of the nation, not simply as a body that merely accommodates the people of Aceh. If there is a credible governor, he will be able to lead the institution in collaboration with other Acehnese leaders. As the ex-officio head of this development body he will be endowed with the same level of authority as a minister. The body can incorporate anyone whose support is needed. Given that the current Governor of NAD, Abdullah Puteh, has been recently convicted of misuse of public funds and fraud, the Acehnese need a leader with credibility and support, at the same time as ensuring discussions include a wide range of parties and stakeholders.
With BOK being portrayed as 'owned' by the Acehnese, its credibility - as well as its impact - has to be maximised by working closely with the Acehnese. This is critical in both design and day to day implementation. There is a perception that the engagement of the Acehnese people has been weakened by the disaster, and that therefore everything has to be organised by outsiders first, to get things up and running. This was the original thought when the question of Acehnese ownership of and involvement in the process came up, but this line of reasoning must not be manipulated in order to postpone or diminish their involvement.
The aim of developing is not just to see the objectives as ends in themselves, but also to develop feelings of ownership with the beneficiaries, and to strengthen their socio-cultural capital. The population's role working with the institution will be a very positive one if the body is able to manage itself well, and prevent corruption and other abuses. These needs require that a general system of cooperation and the specific steps this requires must be clearly marked out from the outset.
We can see the true scope of the initiative and energy shown by people far outside Aceh that wish to help. When we talk about the role of the people its potential must be estimated. BOK Aceh has a duty to form a transparent way of working that can be tracked, achieved, made accessible by a variety of initiatives and approaches, and ultimately achieving fair distribution.
The Body is also expected to provide and promote services that can operate in synergy with cooperative initiatives and approaches. There is a duty to construct a social market to put Aceh in touch with the outside world, to unite them with the obvious initiatives and needs of Aceh.
Developing people, not just homes
The government is planning to construct barracks in 24 different locations for some 30,000 refugees. There are a number of parties wishing to assist with the building of free housing for disaster victims in new locations. But buildings valued at hundreds of billions of rupiah are a huge waste of money, and they uproot the Acehnese people from their lands and home communities. A short term approach such as this will only generate longer term problems and fresh victims.
It also looks disturbingly like the opportunity has already passed to include facilitating the economic and psychological rehabilitation of the tsunami victims into the recovery process. The chance for people to build their own homes, for example, is already receding. The provision of housing has also opened up a new pathway for corruption by increasing the use of contractors that - with excuses about the emergency nature of the situation - have received contracts without submitting to a tender process.
The movement of victims from their home lands and communities to barracks will undoubtedly increase complications arising from issues of land rights and ownership, particularly given the likelihood of illegal occupations since victims fled and abandoned their homes. The eradication of visual land markers, as well as the loss of title deeds and other documentation will make disputes with land squatters very difficult to resolve. Illegal land occupations may involve the government, where private parties have bribed officials. Additionally, the movement of people from their own communities to barracks that do not necessarily correspond to their personal and geographical origins may further exacerbate inefficiency in the wake of the tsunami.
The latest report said that only a few of the 24 designated locations were ready. I don't hold information about the specifics of these new receiving centres. Maybe this sort of information isn't deemed to be important as the strategy is seen as a stop-gap. But it is very doubtful that the initial timeframe projected for completion will be met. Prefabricated housing isn't as fast to put up as people imagine, because the factory or contractor that is newly involved will make the required components after the order is clarified. Transport costs were not calculated in initial projections. And there are, furthermore, questions around mark-ups by contractors.
How long will the refugees have to wait for the barracks to be constructed, all the while being mere passive observers? Why isn't there support for the Acehnese to build their own houses on the sites of their old, destroyed homes?
If the government were to support the self-build, participative approach they would have to prepare building materials and trade tools, as well as wages that would be paid in instalments. But building materials damaged in the disaster can - and should be - recycled. Strategies such as these have been proved to speed up reconstruction and ensure less waste because what is built has guaranteed occupancy and permanence. There will also be greater diversity in accordance with the needs of people in any given location, with attendant sensitivity to location-specific conditions. At the same time, there are efficiency benefits where people feel ownership over their home, community and city.
This was the experience of Kutch in the state of Gujurat, India after the mammoth earthquake of January 2001 that claimed almost 20,000 lives, and destroyed 338,000 homes. Sandeep Virmani from Kutch Nav Nirman Abhiyan discussed the experience with the Emergency Humanitarian Commission for Aceh and North Sumatra's Reconstruction Team on January 16th.
The Kutch experience shaped the strategy on the East coast of India in the wake of the tsunami. By the second half of January there were already some 2000 families building houses in line with the self-help model. By choosing a model that had been shown to be appropriate to people's needs it was implemented swiftly, precluding time-wasting on debate or around competing interests. No developers or contractors exist that can match this timeliness. Because there are tens of thousands - or, in the case of Aceh, hundreds of thousands - of victims that are able to build their own houses, they should be helped with the provision of materials, tools and other forms of support.
There are a number of benefits in using this self-help approach. Firstly, as the houses are built on sites chosen by the victims there is a greater likelihood that it will be a permanent dwelling. There is also a smaller chance that there will be wastage of materials, or that impermanent dwellings will come to form slums. Additionally, with resettlement on their own land there will be reduced incidence of land ownership disputes.
Gujurat also showed us that building activities allow people to feel they have a useful role in the recovery process. Many of the Acehnese tsunami victims have made it clear that they do not want to be organised by others. Rebuilding their own homes facilitates their desire to redevelop their social capital. The expertise and skills required would be enriched by this process and would be a source of future self-sufficiency. Those that build others' houses can also receive a suitable payment for doing so.
We now know that some 600,000 Acehnese have lost their homes. If even one quarter of that figure are adults then there are 150,000 people that can actively contribute to building their own homes. The issue is whether this can be rolled out, and whether momentum on this course can be sustained until the finish.
The first step is to organise people into building groups. Local leaders and institutions - whether grassroots or elite - must engage with the project. At the moment the government, together with donors and NGOs must coordinate the distribution of aid, whatever the development approach taken. But with the self-help model, there is a different kind of aid distribution.
In this model there is a greater need for building materials and tools than for cash or prefabricated housing. The level of coordination needed is undoubtedly high but it is a worthwhile exercise in the longer run, as the abilities and capital developed will be an asset to draw on should another disaster come.
In villages or kampungs people generally have the know-how to build their own houses. Conversely, in cities this knowledge has often been lost so support would be needed. Training centres, as well as depots holding and distributing building materials, can be rapidly established to fill these gaps. Deploying people skilled in these areas can ensure that technical and quality advice is given without interfering with people's autonomy. Voluntary delivery can achieved with good, clear management.
The nature of the approach to rebuilding taken will determine the size of costs incurred. The costs of involving the people in rebuilding their homes will have different outcomes to those requiring contracted builders with the people merely acting as passive observers.
There remains a further mystery for me as someone endeavouring to calculate the precise costs of reconstruction. There are a number of predictions that have to be made, that are inherently difficult, and that don't seem to have been addressed yet. For example, how can we estimate the cost of cement in four months time if we don't even know yet how sufficient quantities will be transported to hard to reach locations? Moreover, these estimates will have to be projected over the five to ten year period that the reconstruction period is estimated to require.
But these questions all build upon a further, more basic yet question as to what is included in our understanding of 'reconstruction'? Is it only rebuilding the physical aspects that were destroyed by the quake and tsunami? Where does social, cultural and economic reconstruction - including that of institutions - fit into the process? Have calculations about the restoration of the arts and cultural fora of Aceh been made or even considered? Additionally, have these estimates included planning processes and stages to ensure that actions are timely and robust?
There are two key elements to physical construction within the reconstruction process if we look at what choosing self-help rebuilding programs has to offer. Firstly, the strategy would encourage collective effort and inter-territorial cooperation of incalculable value. This could even include small scale infrastructure contributions such as rebuilding small roads at the community level.
The second benefit derives from the knowledge that, whether doing it themselves or in groups, people have their own strategies for reducing the cost of building themselves a home. The question of cost thus becomes increasingly relative as they have the advantage of being able to use their own labour. This has not been taken into account in the overall estimates and calculations of disaster recovery.
If the government really means to take a reconstruction route that seriously involves people, the dynamics of all arrangements must have breadth. This option requires huge flexibility, with clear recognition that this be maximised and sustained as far as possible. We can see, in the example of schools, how this can work. School buildings are generally built by the government, but they have also been cooperatively built by the people with funding supplied by the government.
But even with self-help rebuilding programs, there are already questions around whether the government has included operational and longer-term costs in the reconstruction figures. Have they, for example, included running costs such as staff wages, compiling libraries and other critical resources into their budgets for 'rebuilding' schools - or are the numbers simply about the physical needs?
Again, I don't know what the answer is. Largely because since the disaster the media has repeatedly chosen to focus on the projected costs of the reconstruction, without analysing those costs and alternatives such as bottom-up reconstruction by the people. There has been little said about what could be done by the people themselves to make the 'plan' into a comprehensive, participative redevelopment process. [cc]
Three Months After The Catastrophic Earthquake & Tsunami (5 of 13)
Acehnese Putting Together Own Blueprint
By Dedy Ardiansyah - Medan, 2005-03-12 12:44:40
A recent meeting of Acehnese civil society, coordinated by the Aceh Recovery Forum (ARF), has put forward a blueprint for a special rehabilitation and reconstruction body in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam. The ARF's proposed special body is markedly different from that recently instituted by the government.
The head of the ARF working group, Ahmad Humam Hamid, a lecturer at the Syah Kuala University in Banda Aceh, met with journalists at the Hotel Polonia, Medan, on Wednesday 9th to outline their proposals.
The meeting lasted three days and produced 10 recommendations to feed into the concept of an overall rehabilitation and reconstruction blueprint that will be put to the National Planning and Development Board (BAPPENAS).
For elements of Acehnese civil society this wasn't their first endeavour to have some input into their homeland's future. Previously, Forum LSM (Acehnese NGO Forum) had tried to have a similar meeting, but it was forbidden by the Civil Emergency Authority.
The Civil Emergency Authority refused to grant the request for a meeting by various social groups at the Hotel Renggali, Takengon, Aceh Tengah. The planned meeting of local NGO activists, ulamas, students, and youth groups was scheduled for the 11th-13th of February.
In letter No B/03/II/2005/PDSD/As-I, dated February 9th the Authority said that they were not yet able to grant permission for the meeting. According to the letter this is because the security situation is 'not yet conducive'.
"When the situation and condition of the province are more conducive, these kinds of activities will be considered," the letter stated. It was signed by the head of the Civil Emergency Authority, Inspector General of Police, Bahrumsyah SH.
As a consequence of this refusal, civil society had to move the meeting to Medan.
Nonetheless, it was a very productive three days. The recommendation items finally put together were the output of ten working groups (WG): Institutions & Governance; Natural Resources & Environment; Law & Human Rights; Education; Security; Law and Order & Reconciliation; Spatial Planning; Infrastructure; and Funding.
The Special Body
Humam Hamid explained that the special body recommended by the Institutions & Governance working group was noticeably different from the Authority Body recently formed by the government to oversee the rehabilitation and reconstruction process in Aceh.
The differences located in the ordering of accountability that goes directly to the President. This special body also has to be on the same level as a minister/department/ministry because the choice of authority/competence for coordinating central government institutions while regional and DPRD and international donor institutions together over a period of three to five years. In addition to that, the special body must also be instituted by legal means.
"Our forum's special body is at the proposal stage only. The mechanisms of the Authority Body proposed by the government are not clearly delineated. This will have an impact on the implementation of its ideas in the field. We would like to counter this lack by setting up another special body that is clearly defined by a legal means such as a law, regulation, or presidential decree. The legal basis is needed to avoid overlaps in reconstruction and rehabilitation activities.
On that note, the body proposed would also include people with strong credibility. "This is particularly important as international donors don't believe that the government is well able to manage rehabilitation and reconstruction funds," said Humam.
Meanwhile, Mawardi Ismail, lecturer in law at Syah Kuala University, and head of the Institutions & Governance working group explained that their special body should be the foundation for Aceh's rehabilitation and reconstruction. It would open up space for Acehnese people and civil society to get directly involved in post-tsunami development.
"The form of the body is the key. Its authority could be held by the governor, but this would be unlikely to be reflected on the ground as the governor's authority is limited and would not likely involve sufficient coordination with ministers," said Mawardi.
Because the duties and authority of the special body are broad - because it has to be coordinated by central and regional institutions, as well as international donors - a legal authority must establish the body in order to give it legitimate foundation.
"This would, however, take a long time as it would have to get the agreement of the parliament. The most feasible outcome is a legal product that is on a level with a law, as for example an amendment or regulation, or Presidential Decree," he added.
Mawardi also explained that the legal foundation must determine the leadership of the body. There are two models that could feed into this: either taking a functional lead from the BPK (National Audit Body), or involving civil society, NGOs, popular leaders and members of parliament in the process.
Key Issues
Also involved is the issue of Indonesia's relationship with GAM. The NGO Forum meeting recommended a peace map be the single most important priority for both sides. Because of this imperative, policy has to focus on supporting the dialogue process happening in Helsinki in order to achieve a political solution.
In the area of economy and employment short and long term models were put forward. The short term focuses on relocation efforts in line with refugees' needs, rehabilitation and increasing employment prospects, and restoring markets and fish auctions in order to support the people's financial recovery.
In the long run, the format for Aceh's economic development has to be based on popular as formulated in the Duek Pakat Takengon Declaration in September 2003.
Meanwhile, education must concentrate on Islamic principles as well as developing local workforce skills, together with repairing educational infrastructure and staffing.
In the religious arena, ARF recommended that all actions taken in the rebuilding of the province incorporate foundations in line with Islamic principles, as well as Acehnese, Indonesian and universal values.
As a work focus in the field of religion, ARF integrated concepts compatible with a multicultural approach, curriculum development, the establishment of pesantren and the knowledge and thought of ulama that are involved with religious institutions, women's organisations, NGOs and the general population.
In the field of law and human rights policy there must be legal guarantees around distribution and gathering of evidence of ownership, possessions and documents. In addition basic rights for refugees must be enshrined in law, whether they are living in or outside of the camps.
The ARF recommendations for reconstruction and rehabilitation are all underpinned with an understanding of the Acehnese people's needs. For example, basic issues such as building houses for victims must incorporate discussions with the victims themselves.
Another critical area is that of spatial planning. The Forum agreed that there needs to be zoning in line with disaster risk management. As is known, the government - through BAPPENAS - has already established several zones, including zones forbidden to population settlements as far as two kilometres from the beach front. But this new spatial planning, according to the ARF, must include people and traditional and customary legal institutions' needs.
In the area of environment, policy will be directed to the recovery and ordering of livelihoods as well as sustainable resources.
Moving Forward
After the three day meeting the final recommendation issued by Acehnese civil society groups was on the question of funding. The Funding working group proposed the arrangement of an Aceh Summit, an international meeting on Aceh, together with the formation of a trust fund by donors for education and health. The funds would be organised through an institution set up by a consortium from donor countries, government and local community leaders.
According to Humam Hamid, the recommendations that came out of the meeting are based on the priorities of the Acehnese people, as well as the Islamic and traditional values that they espouse.
"This natural disaster must be the first step in building a new Aceh based on justice, peace and well-being," he stated. [cc]
By Dedy Ardiansyah - Medan, 2005-03-12 12:44:40
A recent meeting of Acehnese civil society, coordinated by the Aceh Recovery Forum (ARF), has put forward a blueprint for a special rehabilitation and reconstruction body in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam. The ARF's proposed special body is markedly different from that recently instituted by the government.
The head of the ARF working group, Ahmad Humam Hamid, a lecturer at the Syah Kuala University in Banda Aceh, met with journalists at the Hotel Polonia, Medan, on Wednesday 9th to outline their proposals.
The meeting lasted three days and produced 10 recommendations to feed into the concept of an overall rehabilitation and reconstruction blueprint that will be put to the National Planning and Development Board (BAPPENAS).
For elements of Acehnese civil society this wasn't their first endeavour to have some input into their homeland's future. Previously, Forum LSM (Acehnese NGO Forum) had tried to have a similar meeting, but it was forbidden by the Civil Emergency Authority.
The Civil Emergency Authority refused to grant the request for a meeting by various social groups at the Hotel Renggali, Takengon, Aceh Tengah. The planned meeting of local NGO activists, ulamas, students, and youth groups was scheduled for the 11th-13th of February.
In letter No B/03/II/2005/PDSD/As-I, dated February 9th the Authority said that they were not yet able to grant permission for the meeting. According to the letter this is because the security situation is 'not yet conducive'.
"When the situation and condition of the province are more conducive, these kinds of activities will be considered," the letter stated. It was signed by the head of the Civil Emergency Authority, Inspector General of Police, Bahrumsyah SH.
As a consequence of this refusal, civil society had to move the meeting to Medan.
Nonetheless, it was a very productive three days. The recommendation items finally put together were the output of ten working groups (WG): Institutions & Governance; Natural Resources & Environment; Law & Human Rights; Education; Security; Law and Order & Reconciliation; Spatial Planning; Infrastructure; and Funding.
The Special Body
Humam Hamid explained that the special body recommended by the Institutions & Governance working group was noticeably different from the Authority Body recently formed by the government to oversee the rehabilitation and reconstruction process in Aceh.
The differences located in the ordering of accountability that goes directly to the President. This special body also has to be on the same level as a minister/department/ministry because the choice of authority/competence for coordinating central government institutions while regional and DPRD and international donor institutions together over a period of three to five years. In addition to that, the special body must also be instituted by legal means.
"Our forum's special body is at the proposal stage only. The mechanisms of the Authority Body proposed by the government are not clearly delineated. This will have an impact on the implementation of its ideas in the field. We would like to counter this lack by setting up another special body that is clearly defined by a legal means such as a law, regulation, or presidential decree. The legal basis is needed to avoid overlaps in reconstruction and rehabilitation activities.
On that note, the body proposed would also include people with strong credibility. "This is particularly important as international donors don't believe that the government is well able to manage rehabilitation and reconstruction funds," said Humam.
Meanwhile, Mawardi Ismail, lecturer in law at Syah Kuala University, and head of the Institutions & Governance working group explained that their special body should be the foundation for Aceh's rehabilitation and reconstruction. It would open up space for Acehnese people and civil society to get directly involved in post-tsunami development.
"The form of the body is the key. Its authority could be held by the governor, but this would be unlikely to be reflected on the ground as the governor's authority is limited and would not likely involve sufficient coordination with ministers," said Mawardi.
Because the duties and authority of the special body are broad - because it has to be coordinated by central and regional institutions, as well as international donors - a legal authority must establish the body in order to give it legitimate foundation.
"This would, however, take a long time as it would have to get the agreement of the parliament. The most feasible outcome is a legal product that is on a level with a law, as for example an amendment or regulation, or Presidential Decree," he added.
Mawardi also explained that the legal foundation must determine the leadership of the body. There are two models that could feed into this: either taking a functional lead from the BPK (National Audit Body), or involving civil society, NGOs, popular leaders and members of parliament in the process.
Key Issues
Also involved is the issue of Indonesia's relationship with GAM. The NGO Forum meeting recommended a peace map be the single most important priority for both sides. Because of this imperative, policy has to focus on supporting the dialogue process happening in Helsinki in order to achieve a political solution.
In the area of economy and employment short and long term models were put forward. The short term focuses on relocation efforts in line with refugees' needs, rehabilitation and increasing employment prospects, and restoring markets and fish auctions in order to support the people's financial recovery.
In the long run, the format for Aceh's economic development has to be based on popular as formulated in the Duek Pakat Takengon Declaration in September 2003.
Meanwhile, education must concentrate on Islamic principles as well as developing local workforce skills, together with repairing educational infrastructure and staffing.
In the religious arena, ARF recommended that all actions taken in the rebuilding of the province incorporate foundations in line with Islamic principles, as well as Acehnese, Indonesian and universal values.
As a work focus in the field of religion, ARF integrated concepts compatible with a multicultural approach, curriculum development, the establishment of pesantren and the knowledge and thought of ulama that are involved with religious institutions, women's organisations, NGOs and the general population.
In the field of law and human rights policy there must be legal guarantees around distribution and gathering of evidence of ownership, possessions and documents. In addition basic rights for refugees must be enshrined in law, whether they are living in or outside of the camps.
The ARF recommendations for reconstruction and rehabilitation are all underpinned with an understanding of the Acehnese people's needs. For example, basic issues such as building houses for victims must incorporate discussions with the victims themselves.
Another critical area is that of spatial planning. The Forum agreed that there needs to be zoning in line with disaster risk management. As is known, the government - through BAPPENAS - has already established several zones, including zones forbidden to population settlements as far as two kilometres from the beach front. But this new spatial planning, according to the ARF, must include people and traditional and customary legal institutions' needs.
In the area of environment, policy will be directed to the recovery and ordering of livelihoods as well as sustainable resources.
Moving Forward
After the three day meeting the final recommendation issued by Acehnese civil society groups was on the question of funding. The Funding working group proposed the arrangement of an Aceh Summit, an international meeting on Aceh, together with the formation of a trust fund by donors for education and health. The funds would be organised through an institution set up by a consortium from donor countries, government and local community leaders.
According to Humam Hamid, the recommendations that came out of the meeting are based on the priorities of the Acehnese people, as well as the Islamic and traditional values that they espouse.
"This natural disaster must be the first step in building a new Aceh based on justice, peace and well-being," he stated. [cc]
Three Months After The Catastrophic Earthquake & Tsunami (4 of 13)
Accountability in Aceh
Wednesday, March 09, 2005
There is a common joke among government officials that attempts to explain the supposedly assertive nature of the Acehnese people: "When 10 Acehnese gather to work out a consensus, they will come up with at least 11 different opinions." That yarn reflects the impatience, and sometimes the frustration, that central government officials and other outsiders often endure when trying to understand and accommodate the aspirations of the Acehnese.
On the other hand, however, as history has proved, such impatience has often become a major source of discontent among the Acehnese concerning the central government's attitude: In many cases, if not most, the central government prefers to take a top-down approach in its various development programs -- ignoring local demands. And in truth, the rebellious province is not alone. Many other provinces and regions have similar complaints.
Now, after more than two months of relief operations to help the Dec. 26 tsunami victims, the war-torn province is entering a new stage of development -- the long-term reconstruction of Aceh. The government has finished drafting a blueprint for the reconstruction of the province, and has started to invite some local people to present their input for the plan.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has decided to establish a special agency to handle the reconstruction efforts and it is quite natural that people in the province want their own men or women to lead it.
The government has received many complaints from the local people who feel that they have been left out of the decision-making process and that therefore the blueprint may not fit their expectations. The government's patience and wisdom will be tested once again and certainly no one hopes that the current administration will repeat the previous government's blunders in responding to those demands.
But it is a huge job that will need massive funding. Thanks to the strong support of the international community, the government has received large amounts of aid money to finance the planned projects. This means that the government must be fully accountable for how the budget is spent, and fully mindful that the money comes from those countries' taxpayers.
There have been reports about many non-Acehnese, who are currently busy lobbying government officials to win lucrative projects. The local people of Aceh, on the other hand, think they have the right to carry out the job, because it concerns the reconstruction of their territory. Moreover, although the projects may be very profitable for contractors, the reconstruction efforts also hold a strong social and humanitarian component.
Since most of the money comes from donations, it would be disgraceful if the social factor is put on the back burner, behind commercial considerations. The Acehnese must be treated as subjects, and not merely objects of the reconstruction efforts. For decades, the people of Aceh have suffered as Jakarta used violence and military methods to silence the outspoken Acehnese.
This is the right time to correct those past mistakes and show the people that, this time, they will be the real subjects of the development efforts. Again and again we need to remind ourselves that Indonesia has earned its international reputation as a notoriously corrupt country. With huge amounts of money now available for the province, it is very natural that those who have donated the funds worry about how their money is spent.
A senior government official who is intensively involved in the relief operations recently disclosed the government's plan to include foreign donors in a supervisory body, which will be established soon to monitor, from the earliest stage, the implementation of the reconstruction work. It seems indeed a good choice to involve the foreign donors in the job, to ensure accountability, even though many chauvinists may regard that an interference in Indonesia's domestic affairs.
However, when Indonesians do not even believe that the projects will be free from corruption, is it not much better to invite the donors to participate in the reconstruction work from the very beginning? However, the preparations need to be carried out immediately. The government has little time left to prove that the reconstruction of Aceh will be accountable, both to donors and to the people of Aceh, whose lives have been destroyed by the tsunami.
Wednesday, March 09, 2005
There is a common joke among government officials that attempts to explain the supposedly assertive nature of the Acehnese people: "When 10 Acehnese gather to work out a consensus, they will come up with at least 11 different opinions." That yarn reflects the impatience, and sometimes the frustration, that central government officials and other outsiders often endure when trying to understand and accommodate the aspirations of the Acehnese.
On the other hand, however, as history has proved, such impatience has often become a major source of discontent among the Acehnese concerning the central government's attitude: In many cases, if not most, the central government prefers to take a top-down approach in its various development programs -- ignoring local demands. And in truth, the rebellious province is not alone. Many other provinces and regions have similar complaints.
Now, after more than two months of relief operations to help the Dec. 26 tsunami victims, the war-torn province is entering a new stage of development -- the long-term reconstruction of Aceh. The government has finished drafting a blueprint for the reconstruction of the province, and has started to invite some local people to present their input for the plan.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has decided to establish a special agency to handle the reconstruction efforts and it is quite natural that people in the province want their own men or women to lead it.
The government has received many complaints from the local people who feel that they have been left out of the decision-making process and that therefore the blueprint may not fit their expectations. The government's patience and wisdom will be tested once again and certainly no one hopes that the current administration will repeat the previous government's blunders in responding to those demands.
But it is a huge job that will need massive funding. Thanks to the strong support of the international community, the government has received large amounts of aid money to finance the planned projects. This means that the government must be fully accountable for how the budget is spent, and fully mindful that the money comes from those countries' taxpayers.
There have been reports about many non-Acehnese, who are currently busy lobbying government officials to win lucrative projects. The local people of Aceh, on the other hand, think they have the right to carry out the job, because it concerns the reconstruction of their territory. Moreover, although the projects may be very profitable for contractors, the reconstruction efforts also hold a strong social and humanitarian component.
Since most of the money comes from donations, it would be disgraceful if the social factor is put on the back burner, behind commercial considerations. The Acehnese must be treated as subjects, and not merely objects of the reconstruction efforts. For decades, the people of Aceh have suffered as Jakarta used violence and military methods to silence the outspoken Acehnese.
This is the right time to correct those past mistakes and show the people that, this time, they will be the real subjects of the development efforts. Again and again we need to remind ourselves that Indonesia has earned its international reputation as a notoriously corrupt country. With huge amounts of money now available for the province, it is very natural that those who have donated the funds worry about how their money is spent.
A senior government official who is intensively involved in the relief operations recently disclosed the government's plan to include foreign donors in a supervisory body, which will be established soon to monitor, from the earliest stage, the implementation of the reconstruction work. It seems indeed a good choice to involve the foreign donors in the job, to ensure accountability, even though many chauvinists may regard that an interference in Indonesia's domestic affairs.
However, when Indonesians do not even believe that the projects will be free from corruption, is it not much better to invite the donors to participate in the reconstruction work from the very beginning? However, the preparations need to be carried out immediately. The government has little time left to prove that the reconstruction of Aceh will be accountable, both to donors and to the people of Aceh, whose lives have been destroyed by the tsunami.
Three Months After The Catastrophic Earthquake & Tsunami (3 of 13)
Aceh fishermen reject resettlement program
Wednesday, March 09, 2005
By Nani Afrida, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh
Hundreds of people from 14 villages in Aceh Besar regency and Banda Aceh municipality gathered in Lam Isiek village here on Tuesday to pledge to rebuild their homes, which were destroyed by the tsunami.
The villagers, who have formed a joint team (udeep beusare), said they would not live in government camps for internally displaced people but seek assistance from other parties.
"The team will collect aid and coordinate the reconstruction project," Addil, a representative of Kampung Pie hamlet said.
Wardah Hafidz of the Urban Poor Linkage (Uplink), which has offered survivors advice and support, said the villagers, who are mostly fishermen, cannot be relocated far from the sea.
"We will rebuild their houses, bridges and other infrastructure using funds from donors. They are determined to return to their villages as the government is not ready with its blueprint for the reconstruction of Banda Aceh and Aceh Besar. They cannot wait," she said.
The villages were inhabited by 30,000 people before the disaster, but only around 10 percent of their joint population survived.
A village head, Zulkifli, said rebuilding the villages was a better solution than staying in shelters.
"We are hard workers. We can't live in shelters. If the government wishes to help us, please give us boats," he said.
Earlier, acting Aceh governor Azwar Abubakar said that as many tsunami survivors preferred to rebuild their homes the construction of some shelters would be suspended until further notice.
"We made this decision after learning that many residents, particularly fishermen, wish to return to their villages," Azwar said.
The provincial government has been building 400 temporary shelters for around 56,000 people, only to find that few are willing to stay there. The construction of 200 more shelters will follow.
"Because many shelters remain uninhabited. we have no choice but to ask the public works agency to suspend the construction of some other shelters, otherwise it will be a waste of money," Azwar said.
The acting governor admitted that limited water supply, electricity and poor sanitary facilities, including lavatories, were other reasons why the displaced people were not keen to move into the shelters.
"We are not going to prevent them from returning to their villages. But they will not receive our assistance until we complete the construction project," he said.
A shelter has 12 bedrooms and costs Rp 200 million (US$21,500) to build. Five shelters are located within a block, which is equipped with 20 lavatories, five public kitchens and a multi-purpose hall.
The size of each shelter varies from between 36 square meters and 54 square meters. They are made of plywood with a zinc roof and are expected to last for two years.
The public works agency has denied allegations of corruption in the project.
"There was no mark up. The shelters are expensive to build as we have to bring in materials and workers from outside Aceh," Totok Pri, a public works ministry official, said.
Earlier, the Peaceful Aceh Sans Corruption (ADIK) corruption watch criticized the government for not revealing the source of funds for the shelters. It said the project was prone to corruption as the government could use foreign aid but claim the project was funded by the state budget.
ADIK activists have also reported cracks in the foundations of some shelters, which could mean that an insufficient proportion of cement was used.
Three Months After The Catastrophic Earthquake & Tsunami (2 of 13)
INDONESIA: Construction in Aceh Endangers National Forests
By By Richel Dursin, Asia Times Online
March 9, 2005
A government plan to cut down more trees in one of the largest national parks in Indonesia to help rebuild tsunami-ravaged Aceh has drawn opposition from environmentalists and officials in the country's Forestry Ministry, who claim that the plan could worsen illegal logging in the country.
"We don't want Gunung Leuser National Park to be cleared as the source of logs for Aceh," Henri Bastaman, senior adviser to the minister of environment, told Inter Press Service. "Targeting the park as the resource of logs for reconstructing the tsunami-devastated province would completely destroy the area."
Indonesia's Ministry of Forestry has estimated that about 8.5 million cubic meters of timber is needed to build 123,000 houses for Acehnese who survived the December 26 tsunami disaster. Of the total figure, 6 million cubic meters will be in the form of logs and the remaining 2.5 million cubic meters will be sawn.
The epicenter of the undersea earthquake was near Meulaboh in western Aceh. The tsunamis that resulted from the quake hit the coastlines of a dozen countries in South and Southeast Asia, killing more than 220,000 people. In Aceh, more than 70% of the inhabitants of some coastal villages are reported to have died.
The official death toll in Indonesia has exceeded 120,000, while more than 127,000 others remain missing. The exact number of victims probably will never be known.
According to the Ministry of Environment, the central government in Jakarta is targeting Gunung Leuser National Park, which has been declared a world heritage site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization because of its complete ecosystem, to be the "supplier" of the logs.
"The government's argument is that we have the Gunung Leuser in Aceh so we should use it. But we don't see it as the solution," Bastaman said.
Instead of clearing the protected forests in Gunung Leuser National Park, Bastaman suggested that the government either import wood or ask developed countries to provide timber to construct new homes, schools and fishing boats for tsunami victims.
Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar has rejected the plan to exploit Gunung Leuser, which comprises 850,000 hectares of tropical rainforest, and instead asked other countries and aid agencies to donate logs for the reconstruction of Aceh. So far Sweden has expressed its intention to supply logs for Aceh's reconstruction.
"The rehabilitation of Aceh must not damage our forests," Witoelar said. Cutting down trees in Gunung Leuser National Park would lead to other calamities such as floods and landslides, he added.
Gunung Leuser is one of the last places in Indonesia where endangered Sumatran tigers, orangutans, rhinoceros and elephants all exist. Yet even before the tsunami struck Aceh, the national park had been threatened.
The non-governmental Indonesian Forum for the Environment disclosed that one-fifth of the national park has been affected by illegal logging, and the destruction is increasing with the construction of a road network known as the Ladia Galaska project, which cuts through hundreds of kilometers of protected forests in Aceh to link the east and west coasts of the province.
The main section of the Ladia Galaska road will cut through 100 kilometers of protected forests as well as some forest-conservation areas, including the Leuser ecosystem.
The 2.6-million-hectare Leuser ecosystem, which encloses Gunung Leuser National Park, is known to biologists as the most complete natural laboratory in the world. It is made up of coastal beaches, lowland swamps, degraded lowland rainforest, extensive pristine mountain forest, and isolated alpine meadows and is rich in animal and plant species.
"The Ladia Galaska is a crazy project. Imagine building a road in a very steep and protected forest area," Longgena Ginting, executive director of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment, said in an interview. "The Ladia Galaska road project has opened up the Gunung Leuser National Park all the more to illegal loggers," Ginting stressed.
The Indonesian Forum for the Environment regards the road network project as "illegal" because no feasibility study was conducted before construction began. Moreover, Eko Soebowo, a geologist at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, argued that six of the nine planned roads would cross the Sumatra fault-line and would thus be prone to earthquakes and landslides.
But Indonesia's Ministry of Settlement and Regional Infrastructure emphasized that the road construction, which started in 2002, would benefit the rural economy in the western part of the province.
Since the tsunami devastated Aceh, supporters of the Ladia Galaska network have been using the catastrophe to legitimize the road construction, which is still ongoing despite strong opposition by environmental groups.
"We're worried that the tsunami tragedy is being used to affirm the road construction in the province," Ginting said. "We have to stop the road-construction project and prevent Gunung Leuser National Park as the source of logs."
According to Forest Watch Indonesia, it would be very risky if all the logs needed for the reconstruction of Aceh would be sourced domestically because this would worsen illegal logging in the country.
Indonesia, home to 10% of the world's remaining tropical forests, has the world's highest rate of deforestation, with about 3 million hectares being lost every year. Indonesian police, military and government officials often turn a blind eye to illegal logging and this exacerbates the problem.
Environmental activists have pointed out that the high demand for timber in the growing national and international markets and limited supply cause illegal logging to thrive in the country and result in increasing pressure on Indonesia's forests.
Forest Watch Indonesia disclosed that only 20% of Indonesia's total demand can be met by the legitimate cutting of trees. Last year, demand from the local timber industry averaged between 63 million and 80 million cubic meters of logs. But of this amount, only 12 million cubic meters of logs were provided through legitimate cutting.
Togu Manurung, executive officer of Forest Watch Indonesia, pointed out that some of the logs being used to rebuild Aceh were illegally cut from protected forests.
"The government should declare publicly and transparently that some of the logs used for rebuilding Aceh come from illegal logging operations," Manurung said.
He pointed out that some Acehnese are aware that the logs they are using to rebuild their province were illegally cut, but said, "So far, there was no rejection on the part of the Acehnese because they have no choice."
"Providing illegally cut logs for the rebuilding of Aceh should not be tolerated as this would induce illegal loggers to continue their operations," Manurung said. "With the government allowing the use of illegal logs, it is giving incentives to illegal loggers."
Three Months After The Catastrophic Earthquake & Tsunami (1 of 13)
Three months after the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami hit Aceh...
Are we on the right track? The following articles have a wide perspective from human rights to humanity, from immediate relief to reconstruction, etc. There is a concern over a government plan to cut down more trees in Gunung Leuser National Park (in Aceh) to help rebuild tsunami-ravaged Aceh. In chronological order and the highlights are mine.
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Relief efforts in Aceh must proceed unhindered
A South China Morning Post editorial says the Indonesian government's journalism ban and relief effort restrictions put the interests of Aceh victims on the backburner.
South China Morning Post
Tuesday, March 8, 2005
By all accounts, post-tsunami reconstruction in the Indonesian province of Aceh has only just begun. It is therefore discouraging to see that the relief effort is being put under threat by government moves to restrict aid workers' access to the region.
The prospect is that by March 26, three months after the Boxing Day disaster, new controls will be introduced to severely limit the presence and operations of the 140 non-governmental organisations now there. Journalists face an outright ban.
Already, foreign aid workers have been required to register with authorities and travel with Indonesian military escorts when leaving Aceh's two biggest cities. About 800 have been issued visas that expire on March 26 - with no promise of extension.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, now involved in rebuilding villages, has been put on notice that it will no longer be welcome in the province.
The tightened rules hark back to Jakarta's pre-tsunami emergency rule in war-torn Aceh. Such measures paved the way for a rise in allegations of rights violations and corruption, and helped firm up the Indonesian military's hold on the region.
But the measures were hardly effective in achieving the ultimate aim of peace and they are not appropriate now, as the focus should remain on rebuilding the schools, homes and businesses that were lost in December.
The presence of foreign aid workers and soldiers in Aceh has always been difficult for Indonesia to accept. But after more than 120,000 Acehnese perished - and hundreds of thousands were left homeless - Jakarta had little choice but to accept outside help.
Foreign troops are mostly gone and all are set to meet the March 26 deadline for their departure. The aid workers, meanwhile, must stay, for several important reasons. The primary one is that their work is not yet done. Humanitarian concerns must take precedence above Jakarta's political priorities.
A fragile truce since the tsunami has paved the way for a permanent end to the Aceh rebellion, now that autonomous status has been offered and the rebels have indicated a willingness to discuss it. The presence of foreigners can help promote transparency, provide hope and encourage both sides to stick to their pledges.
Closing off the territory and limiting the movement of the agencies could set the stage for a rise in violence. It could also see the emergence of rampant graft that would severely hamper the rebuilding and threaten overseas donations.
Jakarta may well have an unspoken agenda, perhaps to use control over the flow of aid as a bargaining chip in talks with the rebels. Such cynical actions must be avoided. The interests and welfare of the Acehnese must come first. And those interests are best served by allowing the relief efforts to go on as planned.
Sunday, March 20, 2005
How the Sea Gypsies Escaped Tsunami
Did you know that the Moken (sea gypsies of the Andaman Sea—on the islands off the coast of Thailand and Burma) escaped the 2004 catastrophic tsunami because they knew it was coming?
Follow this link to read CBS's 60 Minutes coverage on Sea Gypsies See Signs In The Waves, or read on.
The tsunami may have lasted only a couple of hours, but it will not go away. New casualties are still being discovered: Thais, Swedes, Sri Lankans, and Indonesians. The death toll has topped 175,000. And there’s more than 125,000 still missing and presumed dead.
But there’s one group who live precisely where the tsunami hit hardest who suffered no casualties at all. They are the sea gypsies of the Andaman Sea, or as they call themselves, the Moken.
They’ve lived for hundreds of years on the islands off the coast of Thailand and Burma. They are, of all the peoples of the world, among the least touched by modern civilization.
And, as Correspondent Bob Simon reports, they miraculously survived the tsunami because they knew it was coming.
It’s their intimacy with the sea that saved the Moken. They’re born on the sea, live on the sea, die on the sea. They know its moods and motions better than any marine biologist. They’re nomads, constantly moving from island to island, living more than six months a year on their boats.
At low tide, they collect sea cucumbers, and catch eels. At high tide, they dive for shellfish. They’ve been living this way for so many generations that they’ve become virtually amphibious.
Kids learn to swim before they can walk. Underwater, they can see twice as clearly as the rest of us, and by lowering their heart rate, can stay underwater twice as long. They are truly sea urchins.
60 Minutes discovered a Moken village on an island two hours by speedboat from the coast of Thailand. It had become something of an exotic tourist Mecca before the tsunami.
A Bangkok movie star and amateur photographer named Aun was here on Dec. 26, 2004, taking pictures of Moken village life, when someone noticed the sea receding into the distance.
Aun's pictures showed the Moken on the beach crying. Did she have any idea why they were crying? "I feel like they know what bad will happen," says Aun.
Her pictures also show the Moken fleeing towards higher ground long before the first wave struck. Aun pointed out how high the water first came. And that was just the first wave. The worst was yet to come, and the Moken knew because of signs from the sea.
It wasn’t only the sea that was acting strangely. It was the animals, too. On the mainland, elephants started stampeding toward higher ground. Off Thailand’s coast, divers noticed dozens of dolphins swimming for deeper water. And on these islands, the cicadas, which are usually so loud, suddenly went silent.
Saleh Kalathalay, a skilled spear-fisherman who was on a different part of the island, also noticed the silence. He ran around warning everyone. Did they believe him?
"The young people called me a liar. I said, 'We’ve told the story of the wave since the old times,' but none of the kids believed me," says Kalathalay.
"I grabbed my daughter by the hand and said, 'Child, get out of here, or you’ll die!' She said, 'You’re a liar, father, you’re drunk.' I hadn’t had a drop to drink."
Kalathalay brought the skeptics to the water’s edge, where they, too, saw the signs. Eventually, everyone, the Moken and the tourists, climbed to higher ground and were saved. But there's nothing left in the village.
Why does Kalathalay think the tsunami happened? "The wave is created by the spirit of the sea," says Kalathalay. "The Big Wave had not eaten anyone for a long time, and it wanted to taste them again."
Do the Moken consider themselves unlucky because their village was destroyed, or lucky because they survived?
"I think they just take it as a matter of fact," says Dr. Narumon Hinshiranan, an anthropologist, and one of the very few experts who speak the Moken language.
How did the Moken know that the tsunami was coming? "The water receded very fast and one wave, one small wave, came so they recognized that this is not ordinary," says Hinshiranan. "And then they have this kind of legend that passed from generations to generations about seven waves."
It’s a legend recited around campfires, bearing an astonishing resemblance to what actually happened on Dec. 26, 2004.
They call it the Laboon, the "wave that eats people," and it’s brought on by the angry spirits of the ancestors. Before it comes, the sea recedes. Then the waters flood the earth, destroy it, and make it clean again.
"So basically, the tsunami myth is that the world is reborn after it is covered with water," says Simon. "So, we're back to the Biblical flood."
"Yes," says French anthropologist Jacques Ivanoff, the world’s foremost authority on the Moken. He's been living with them on and off for more than 20 years. 60 Minutes joined him on a voyage of discovery.
Ivanoff was going to the Moken islands off the coast of Burma, a military dictatorship closed to the outside world. There had been no news of what had happened to these Moken since the tsunami.
"We knew that the Moken survived the tsunami, the Moken in Thailand survived," says Simon. "We really don’t know for sure what happened in Burma, do we?"
"Nobody can know, because no information gets out of Burma," says Ivanoff. "Everybody has to say nothing happened. That means the tsunami stopped at the border – that’s it, finished, end of the story."
Ivanoff’s boat, a converted cargo ship called the Moken Queen could have sailed right off the pages of Joseph Conrad. The captain was called “Long Ear,” and the crew was Burmese. The deck was shrouded in nets to keep out malarial mosquitoes.
All sense of time of the 21st century seemed to evaporate into the tropical night air as the boat probed farther and farther into what often seemed to be the heart of darkness.
"You are outside of everywhere. You are nowhere, in fact," says Ivanoff.
At dawn, two Moken boats came out of nowhere. The Moken on the two boats hadn’t seen each other since the tsunami and started exchanging tales of survival. While the Moken off Thailand had been on dry ground, these Moken in Burmese waters had been in their boats, at sea.
"The water had such unbelievable strength," said one Moken man. "It was swirling like a whirlpool as if it was boiling and coming from the depths of the earth."
Like their Thai cousins, these Moken also knew what to do. Since they were at sea, they made for deeper water and were spared. Others, like some Burmese fishermen near them, were not.
"How come they knew something was wrong, and the Burmese fishermen did not," Simon asked the Moken man. "They weren’t Burmese businessmen; they were fishermen. They should know the sea, too."
"They were collecting squid, they were not looking at anything. They saw nothing, they looked at nothing. They don’t know how to look," says the Moken man. "Suddenly, everything rose up, their boats were thrown up in the air. The violence was unbelievable."
A family of Moken was living on a boat on the beach when the Moken Queen got to shore. But during the tsunami, they had also been at sea. Simon started by introducing himself.
Simon: My name is Bob.
Moken man: Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob.
We had come here to find out whether these people had survived the tsunami. We wound up captivated by their culture. We had never seen anything like it.
The Moken don't know how old they are. Ivanoff says this is because, "Time is not the same concept as we have. You can't say for instance, 'When.' It doesn't exist in Moken language."
And Ivanoff says "when" is not the only word missing from the Moken language. "Want" is another. "Yes, you use it very often," says Ivanoff. "Take that out of your language and you see how often you use it. 'I want this, I want that.'"
There is also no word for "take." "You take something," says Ivanoff. "You give or you take. You don't want."
The fact is, the Moken want very little. What they don’t want is to accumulate anything. Baggage is not good for a nomadic people. It ties you down. They have no notion and no desire for wealth.
Is there any other word missing from the Moken language? "No goodbye, no hello," says Ivanoff. "That's quite difficult. Imagine after one year, you live with them, and then you go. You go. That’s it. Finish."
And, there are no greetings. While 60 Minutes was on a Thai Moken island, a flotilla from Burma dropped by. They didn’t seem terribly excited by this. But visits from relatives, and they’re all relatives, happen all the time. And since there is no notion of time, it doesn’t matter if the last visit was a week ago or five years ago. There’s just a constant commingling. And, in the wake of the tsunami, they’re all busy now, rebuilding their boats and their lives.
"What I saw since the tsunami is yes, they take this opportunity to make the strong group stronger," says Ivanoff to Simon. "For instance, you are sitting on his boat."
"Is it OK with him," asks Simon.
"No problem," says Ivanoff. "He wanted to work a bit on the boat, but…"
"But he doesn't mind waiting," asks Simon.
"Of course not," says Ivanoff, who says this is not a problem.
But the Moken do have problems. The Burmese have turned some of their islands into military bases. And the Thais are having them make trinkets for tourists, a trend that could ultimately threaten their way of life far more than any number of tsunamis.
But the Moken don’t seem terribly worried by all this. Perhaps that’s because "worry" is just one more of those words that don’t exist in their language.
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