ACknowledge

AC reports about dwellings and buildings that NGOs are funding and organising for construction:

Yogyakarta earthquake: Homes of 2.7m affected - plan reviewed 15 Aug 06
Although it hasn’t attracted the global donations response of tsunami-hit Aceh and Nias, the Yogyakarta earthquake directly affected an estimated 2.7 million people or 631,000 households needing transitional dwellings before the September-October rainy season.

Aceh and Nias dwellings and buildings:
30 Oct 06 - Emergency Architects helping in tsunami-hit  Aceh, Sri Lanka
NZ timber transitional houses are fine, say Aceh locals
Adverse press addressed in STC's new plan to import pre-cut treated timber - 11 Aug 06
Donor coordination to make disaster shelters at a fraction of the cost of transitional barracks
Banda Aceh builders achieve variety in HFH dwellings
Inspection team calls for advance preparation to rebuild faster after future disasters

Background research for prospective magazine editors initially, then "click to" further information for magazine readers upon publication.
RedR reports: Nias and Calang housing projects - Reports by UNHCR logistics officer Cameron Kiss (Nias) and Christine Vincent (Calang)
HFH projects going wider than houses, engaging other NGOs including microfinance
Changemakers competition to help HFH's new initiatives
First shipments in Sept for STC's Canadian pre-cut houses
Aceh imports only 3,000 cu m timber, but needs 204,000
Indonesian clay-built dwellings described
"Rebuilding fever discouraged"
Yogyakarta: Uni volunteers help PMI in a mapping approach
Australian Government-funded "high quality temporary housing"
Best rebuilding results come from NGO coordination and maximum local involvement
Houses built in a day
HFH presentation to UN-HABITAT World Urban Forum Vancouver
Provided by HFH Australia about shelter strategy
Govt reports tick HFH : Indon's BRR and Aust's ACFID
Dwellings promised for Aceh's remaining tent people
Simeulue Island 12 Jul 06: "Many Aceh tsunami survivors still living in tents"
IFRC pushes building ahead with Palang Merah

An Australian organisation of architects working in overseas aid/development situations is its infancy with members are already at work in Sri Lanka and Aceh.

Emergency Architects is accredited by the United Nations and the European Union but in Australia it is still working towards getting Federal Government approval for its operations and persuading the Tax Office of its fitness for tax-deductible donations.

In Aceh after the tsunami, Emergency Architects was on the ground within two days. The team surveyed the entire ravaged coastline and dealt with the traumatised communities.

Usually, the work involves a team of between five and 10 people, who may have to commit themselves to anything from three months to six. And it is not easy work.

"But this type of work is hard to find people for. We've got eight in Australia and typically they're either young and wanting to get field experience, or else older people, maybe in their 50s, who've worked for years and now just want to do some good in the world."

More (SMH link)

Aceh's tsunami survivors weren't all out of tents by BRR's July deadline, but Australian Red Cross and other institutions have now constructed some 8,300 transitional shelters using timber shipped in from New Zealand, also Northern Europe. Half the 26 expected ships of sawn logs have now unloaded at Belawan (Medan). The timber was either trucked overland into Aceh or on-shipped by WFPSS-chartered landing ships. The IFRC aims to build 32,000 transitional shelters across Aceh and Nias. Villagers now in some told the reporter how happy they were. The 27-square-meter steel-framed shelter has a front and back porch.

Source (13 Aug 06): Jakarta Post
Headline: Aceh tsunami victims at home in transitional shelters
Nani Afrida, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh

Lusi was all smiles as she showed her guests around the timber house in Lhong Raya, Banda Aceh, where she has been living for the past 18 months.

The transitional housing was provided by the International Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC) and the Australian Red Cross, so tsunami survivors had somewhere secure and comfortable to stay while waiting for the construction of permanent homes.

"This shelter is nothing like a tent, it's more like a home. It's 1,000 times better than the barracks," the 24-year-old told The Jakarta Post.

The 27-square-meter steel-framed shelter has a front and back porch, where Lusi has placed a wooden bench and some potted flowers.

Her shelter is one of 204 units in Lhong Raya and 20,000 to be built in Aceh.

The IFRC and several implementing partners, including the Red Cross, have been working hard to build more than 32,000 transitional shelters across Aceh and Nias.

Though they were unable to meet the Aceh government's target to move all tsunami victims out of tents by July, the institutions have constructed some 8,300 shelters.

But why temporary shelters?

According to Kevin Duignan, IFRC consultant and project coordinator, there had been a long wait for timber to arrive from New Zealand and Europe.

"We're using only imported timber and it takes 13 days to bring in imported timber from New Zealand and 21 days from Europe," he told The Jakarta Post.

The timber was transported on 36 ships, but only 26 of them have arrived and unloaded.

In its country of origin, the logs were sawn to the required measurements before being loaded onto the ships.

Once the timber arrived in Medan, North Sumatra, it was transported by truck or ferry to Aceh.

"If the weather is bad, the delivery might be delayed due to muddy roads and damaged bridges," Duignan said.

According to a source who asked not to be named, the trucks were often stopped by security officers asking for money.

"That's what happened, although we had the documentation to prove the timber was legally imported," the source said.

Hundreds of houses need to be built, but it is important to remember that building transitional housing is not the same as building permanent housing. The construction workers may need to be trained before the next program begins.

Sulaiman, a 50-year-old worker whose job is to put up the shelters' frames, said the workers had been divided into three groups in charge of the shelters' frames, walls and roofing.

"It takes seven days to build a transitional shelter, excluding finishing touches," he said.

From the outside, the shelters look sturdy, and some occupants have put partitions in to form extra rooms, like bathrooms.

However, there have been complaints of roofs leaking during heavy rain.

"It's true that it's not as good as owning your own home but the transitional shelters are a pretty good substitute, because we have more privacy than we would in a tent or barracks," Lusi said.

Save the Children in Aceh has countered recent criticism of its building record, with a switch to sustainable and legally supplied spruce, pine and fir timber treated with borate and Akaline Copper Quat (AQH). A BTC US release announced a contract with Canada's Britco Structures will import the houses as pre-cut panelised kits. The first import shipment in September will provide for the first 300 pre-cut homes, with STC planning to build 708 homes.

The government of British Columbia has offered to train staff to supervise and train communities on how to assemble the houses, the release said.
"Britco has local representation in Indonesia, understands the cultural environment and can help ensure high-quality construction.
"Britco has the ability to produce a design very similar to the original design based on traditional Acehnese architecture.
"The homes will be durable – designed and erected to better with stand the impact of an earthquake."

STC's release last month (July) was the same week as a New York Times report which claimed Aceh recipients of STC-built houses regarded them as good only for chicken coops. The report said the houses were built with untreated, rickety wood, thrown together in three days and nights. "People are mad!" a village elder was quoted. "The aid workers gave promises, but they don't turn out to be reality."

STC's release addressed the issue with an assurance about the 371 houses which its inspectors had found to need replacement. "We intend to replace or repair homes already built that fail to meet our construction standards. We have temporarily suspended new construction and we continue to work with contractors to fix or replace homes that fail to meet our construction standards," it said.

An earlier (April 2006) statement by STC said 30 years experience in Aceh gave them confidence about holding the contractors to account, to rectify the problems and cover the bulk of the cost.

Widening the subject to Aceh re-housing generally, the New York Time report said almost all persons displaced by the 26 Dec 04 tsunami were now out of tents, but many were still in dilapidated barracks. To many, the $8.5 billion has become a mirage, the report said.

Further reckoning of the reconstruction effort came in the Tsunami Evaluation Coalition (TEC) report also released in July, referring to local disenchantment with aid organisations "because of their arrogance and ignorance".
More: TEC July 2006 Executive Summary with top links added to drill-down to key paragraphs

Villagers made homeless by disasters like  cyclones, earthquakes and tsunamis may be saved the deprivation and depravity of barrack accommodation, if delegates to a recent UN-HABITAT World Urban Forum in Vancouver decide to act on a shelter strategy put forward by Habitat for Humanity (HFH). The HFH paper, one of 12 sponsored by the International Housing Coalition, also stressed donor coordination in on-site reconstruction in addition to community based consultation.

HFH's Asia-Pacific vice-president Steve Weir argued the disaster recovery process is slowed when families are put in barracks or tent camps for long periods, because it makes them over-dependent and often leads to increased health risks and family abuse in crowded  conditions. "It's far better to give them the privacy and dignity of their own homes", he said.

Being relocated inland to barrack building made things even harder for tens of  thousands of coastal people  homeless in Aceh, Indonesia, after the Boxing Day 2004 earthquakes and tsunamis. Mr Weir said building the barracks had delayed the progress of survivor families moving from relief to recovery and rehabilitation in new homes.

In addition, lack of coordination brought a "donor free-for-all" between competing government, UN agency and NGO projects which escalated material costs and delayed transitional shelter reconstruction. Even a year after the tsunamis hit, 190,000 people in Aceh were still living in tents, barracks or in overcrowded temporary housing with friends and extended family.

The donor coordination suggested in HFH's new shelter strategy would cut the competitive hoarding of building materials that  aggravated price demand during 2005 in Aceh's main coastal centres and caused extreme scarcity in the areas in between.


Attention to trauma and finances

A community-involvement action plan in the shelter strategy provides for family involvement in on-site rebuilding, as a means also for helping people deal with trauma. This would access unskilled and well as skilled labour locally, while Habitat Resource Centres (HRCs) would mobilise locally supplied building materials - with village small businesses to receive micro-finance grants or micro-credit injection.

Based on HFH's recent success in housing reconstruction using the methods in Timor Leste, the combined community action and donor coordination framework could serve more families at less cost than barracks, " Mr Weir concluded.

Regarding deprivation, child mortality and malnutrition, a Habitat Poverty Index Survey of nearly 683 families from Timor Leste's Aileu and Dili districts found no statistically significant difference between families that received a US$264 shelter kit and people whose had adequate housing remaining after a disaster.

Dickson Rothschild Architects' Jane Rothschild is back from visiting Aceh recently with Habitat for Humanity's Australian ceo George Macdonald, happy that HFH project dwellings in four Banda Aceh kampongs (villages) are being built in a variety of aways avoiding a "cookie cluster" of identical structures.

Close to the centre of Banda Aceh, Kampong Muliah is being rebuilt with HFH contributing 736 dwellings, of which 525 were completed in May while 40 were in progress.  To suit the village's numerous government officials, traders and sizeable Chinese population, there was considerable variation to HFH's prototype - with verandas, other extensions and the use of joined HFH units to accommodate extended family living.

A few kilometres north of Banda Aceh's centre, teams of four-to-five locals were building 77 HFH dwellings, having already constructed 72 dwellings towards the target 323 in Kampong Tibang - a village central to fish farming which was entirely washed away by the tsunami. Construction here is by local methods using bricks and concrete frames.

Further out where transport costs need to be minimised, quick-to-erect  light weight clad steel framed houses were being used to build 50 HFH dwellings in the former rice farming village of Kampong Lamlhom, about 14 kms southwest from Banda Aceh.

At Kampong Lamkruet, HFH had 75 dwellings under construction towards a target 274, of which 60 are joint ventured with Lafarge - the French-based world's largest cement supplier, which is investing US$70m in rebuilding the local cement plant and getting in extra material from Malaysia in the meantime.

A rebuilding inspection team has recommended criteria and designs be prepared for faster rebuilding response after future disasters, described as "advance preparation of suitable standard affordable housing drawings".

It's a call for action, for experienced architects and house designers to help Partner Housing Australasia to prepare standard drawings of affordable housing - details.

The team which carried out design and construction audits in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand December quarter 2005 was led by surveyor-builder Barry Clark and engineer Rod Johnston, consulting for Partner Housing Australasia (Building) on behalf of Habitat for Humanity (HFH).

Rod Johnston is also editor of the Electronic Bluprint whose Dec 05 issue covered the progress in reporting on the quality, consistency and effectiveness of the reconstruction.

It said the consultants were greatly impressed by the commitment and professionalism of the HFH building teams. "Despite some initial time to establish the operations, the construction is now proceeding effectively with reasonable levels of quality and efficiency in most areas."

Commenting on the various building approaches in the  tsunami-affected region, the report said Government of Tamil Nadu (India) Guidelines encourage a small but very strong heavily reinforced concrete and masonry house with a concrete roof serviced by an external staircase.

Across the Palk Strait, the Sri Lanka Government specifies an unreinforced masonry house with a tiled roof, and (in cases) up to 100% larger floor plan.

Issues to be considered in the advance preparation:
. Regional Performance Criteria clearly defined and communicated.
. Local designs  tailored to suit the prevailing local conditions and expectations
. Deviations from the Regional  Performance Criteria clearly justified on economic and/or cultural grounds, documented and communicated widely.
. In building operations, should tiles be tied down?  Should roof frames be tied down?  How should corrosion be prevented?

Report download (right click):
http://www.electronicblueprint.com.au/updates/Bi-monthly_Update_Dec_05.pdf

For prospective magazine editors, this section shows the research background to AC's above suggested reports. The idea with ACknowledge com au is to provide readers of magazine reports with research, which this section continues to do after reports publication.

Reports by UNHCR logistics officer Cameron Kiss (Nias) and Christine Vincent (Calang)

Nias housing
Following the initial emergency phase, UNHCR assessed housing needs in order to support a nongovernment organisation in building permanent housing. UNHCR chose to assess three villages in the east of the island. These villages had been almost completely submerged under the sea after the earthquake tilted the island and their inhabitants were not only homeless, but also had serious land ownership issues.
Some 300 houses were needed for people currently living in tents. Working with UNHCR to rehouse displaced villagers, The UNHCR was also going to supply timber (a total of 20 000 m3) to the 14 NGOs managing construction programs across the island. I was part of a supply unit with four international and six national staff procuring the housing materials and transporting them to the field. My task was to procure all non-timber building materials for the houses – items such as roof sheets, tools, earthquake resistant bracing strap and cement joinery. I calculated quantities needed, discussed and planned material quality with my RedR Australia colleague, a construction engineer based on Nias, compiled a database of local and international suppliers, wrote tender documents, and spent a number of weeks visiting suppliers and workshops, identifying products of quality, and negotiating.
As the end of my assignment approaches it is most rewarding to finally see the people of the three villages rebuilding their homes.
By Cameron Kiss, UNHCR Logistics Officer.

Calang: new housing handover
In June 2005 UNHCR signed an agreement with the Government of Indonesia to assist reconstruction along the west coast of Aceh and on the island of Nias. RedR Australia was named as UNHCR’s technical partner and has provided project management, site engineers, logistic and community service support. I recently attended a ceremony at Krueng Sabee village where the first 27 completed houses were handed over. Another 33 houses are almost finished; 400 more are under construction and a total of 1022 will be delivered.
More - see Christine Vincent's report in RedR newsletter.

Download to see both reports

Habitat for Humanity International issued an 18 months review on Indian Ocean tsunami reconstruction saying, it and its Habitat Resource Centres will continue building tsunami-recovery housing through the end of 2007. In addition to assisting low-income families to improve their housing, HRH will also address water, electricity, sanitation and services needs like schools and community centers, and engage with other  NGOs and micro-finance organizations in programs that provide skills and livelihood.

BANGKOK 12th JULY 2006: Eighteen months after the Indian Ocean tsunami devastated coastal areas of Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand, Habitat for Humanity is looking beyond reconstruction to put in place long-term programs that reduce the grim effects of poverty.

"Though Habitat for Humanity's focus is on housing, we are mindful of other actions, called for by the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals, which are needed to break the cycle of poverty and suffering. We seek no less than healthy, self-sustaining, productive lives for every member of every community where we work," said Steve Weir, Asia-Pacific area vice-president for Habitat for Humanity International.

The tsunami-recovery efforts are making a lasting impact on thousands of lives. So far more than 5,200 houses have been built or repaired and about 2,700 are under construction. Over the next year and a half, plans are to provide good housing for more than 10,000 families and to assist three times that many with training and disaster mitigation services.

In a special report published today, Habitat for Humanity highlights the achievements and challenges the organization has dealt with as it works with families, partner organizations, donors, governments and other supporters to help rebuild the lives of families affected by the deadly December 2004 tsunami. Even as the world's focus has shifted to other more recent disasters, Habitat for Humanity will continue building tsunami-recovery housing through the end of 2007. Having established Habitat resource centers in disaster-prone coastal areas, Habitat will continue to assist low-income families to improve their housing.

Moving Forward Rebuilding the tsunami-affected regions will continue long into the future. Water, electricity, sanitation and other infrastructure and services are yet to be completed. Schools, community centers and clinics are needed. In some communities, because of their remoteness or delays in obtaining land, Habitat is only now able to begin constructing houses.

To address the needs, Habitat for Humanity will continue to partner other non-governmental organizations or micro-finance organizations in multi-faceted development programs. Programs that go beyond house construction to provide skills and livelihood development and address water and sanitation needs.

Habitat Resource Centers (HRCs) are the delivery point for services. They offer a range of small business and training support. These might include small business start-up for block or roof tile production, masonry and carpentry training and certification, construction management, appropriate technology, housing micro-finance and other affordable shelter-related support enterprises. In short, an HRC bridges the housing affordability gap in a community by facilitating the development of local businesses needed to provide simple, decent, affordable homes.

Through HRCs, Habitat for Humanity's national organizations in India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand will continue to serve the housing needs of families in tsunami-affected regions.

For the complete report Indian Ocean Tsunami: Recovery and Beyond, please visit www.habitat.org/ap or email msoh@habitat.org to request a copy of the report on CD.

Source (1 Aug 06):
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/habhum/115269426845.htm

Changemakers is running a competition to bring in ideas about how to provide affordable housing, locally and overseas. Entries will be judged on: Innovation, impact, strategy, sustainability. Leaders from the donor/funder/investor community will participate in reviewing and judging entries.

In efforts to seek effective solution to poverty housing worldwide, international housing NGO Habitat for Humanity has forged a partnership with Ashoka's Changemakers, an organization dedicated to "far-reaching social change". Charitable organizations, private companies, or public entities from any country may enter projects on "how to provide affordable housing" solutions for a "significant number of people, not only in the location of origin but also at the country, regional, or global level".

The competition is to get world-wide ideas submitted - on "how to provide affordable housing" solutions for a "significant number of people, not only in the location of origin but also at the country, regional, or global level".

An online application process will facilitate open discussions from web visitors. Deadline is 23 Aug 06.But applicants are encouraged to apply earlier, for discussion which may "enhance" their application process during the voting of the online. Innovative solutions to poverty housing are being sought - and will be rewarded: $5,000 cash to each of three winners. Applicants may be made online: www.changemakers.net.

Entries will be judged on: Innovation, impact, strategy, sustainability. Leaders from the donor/funder/investor community will participate in reviewing and judging entries. Select competition finalists will be invited to present policy recommendations to the World Bank Institute and in-country policymakers via videoconferences.

The Changemakers Innovation Awards series is based on a unique "open source" format by which participants compete for the best solutions to pressing social issues while collaborating to advance current initiatives.

"With more than 1 billion people worldwide living in poverty housing conditions, we need creative approaches and solution to tackle the problem," says Lucija Popovska, Program Director for Habitat for Humanity Europe & Central Asia. "With this competition, we hope to open dialogue for meaningful discussion, and allow a platform for voices with innovative solutions."

For more information, contact Tricia Deering at tdeering@habitat.org or by phone at +36 1 411 2170.

About Changemakers Changemakers is an initiative of "Ashoka: Innovators for the Public", a global citizen sector organization that finds and supports outstanding individuals with ideas for far-reaching social change. Since it was founded in 1980, Ashoka has invested in, and elected to its fellowship, more than 1,700 social entrepreneurs in 62 countries around the world. They are fostering social change across many fields including education, health, human rights, economic development, civic participation, and the environment.

About Habitat for Humanity Habitat for Humanity is a nondenominational Christian charity dedicated to eliminating poverty housing. It has built more than 200 000 houses; more than one million people are living in Habitat homes they helped build and own through low-cost, no-profit mortgages. We have positively affected lives in 100 countries around the globe. Habitat's Europe & Central Asia regional headquarters are in Budapest, Hungary. The ECA region is actively fundraising, building and renovating homes with families in need.

Source (1 Aug 06):
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/habhum/115444124546.htm

Save the Children has engaged Canadian timber expertise for new pre-cut houses and will erect a first batch of 300 in Aceh province.

17 Jul 06: Save the Children announces new approach to providing housing in Indonesia

Westport, Conn. (July 17, 2006) — Save the Children announced today a new contract with a Canadian timber supplier, Britco, to provide pre-cut, panelized houses to Indonesian families who remain without permanent housing 19 months after an earthquake and tsunami killed over 160,00 people in Aceh province, Indonesia.

Save the Children also has received support from the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT), which has agreed to provide training to staff to supervise and train communities on how to assemble the houses in Aceh province.

Save the Children will erect a first batch of 300 of the new pre-cut, panelized houses in Aceh province – with the first shipments due to arrive in mid-September. This initiative is part of the agency's continuing efforts to address serious housing issues that have delayed construction of permanent homes.

"We intend to replace or repair homes already built that fail to meet our construction standards," said Charles MacCormack, president and CEO, Save the Children USA. He added that Save the Children had entered into contracts to build 708 homes. The agency's ongoing inspections had to date found that 371 homes need to be replaced, 200 require repairs and 137 are in various stages of completion, some requiring additional repairs. "We are committed to correcting these problems," MacCormack said.

As a result of improper construction work, including the use of untreated timber, Save the Children has reviewed and revised its construction program. "We have temporarily suspended new construction and we continue to work with contractors to fix or replace homes that fail to meet our construction standards," MacCormack said.

MacCormack noted that the new contract with Britco had a number of advantages, including:

- Britco is an established building specialist with sufficient capacity to deliver high volumes of housing units.

- Timber is from sustainable and legal sources.

- The government of British Columbia has offered to train staff to supervise and train communities on how to assemble the houses.

- Brtico has local representation in Indonesia, understands the cultural environment and can help ensure high-quality construction.

- Britco has the ability to produce a design very similar to the original design based on traditional Acehnese architecture. The homes will be durable – designed and erected to better withstand the impact of an earthquake.

- Britco is an approved supplier of sustainable timber for the government reconstruction agency, BRR.

Save the Children and Britco plan to review the first assembled home at Britco's headquarters in Vancouver on Friday July 21, and the agency expects the first shipment of pre-cut homes to arrive in Indonesia by September. "We anticipate it will require communities, once trained, approximately four to five days to erect each home," MacCormack said. "Sites are now being cleared in Aceh province in anticipation of the new housing."

Ken Baker, CEO of the British Columbia Forestry Innovation Investment group, which helped initiate Save the Children's partnership with the BCIT, said, "The Government of British Columbia is pleased to be funding the BCIT training program as a way of ensuring the Britco houses will serve the people of Aceh for many years to come."

"Save the Children has worked in Aceh province for 30 years and remains committed to the long-term development of the province. We will tolerate nothing less than the most efficient and effective use of donated money to help children and their families," MacCormack said.

Source (17 Jul 06):
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/EKOI-6RT52D?OpenDocument

IFRC/WWF's July timber event told Aceh  imported only  3,000 cu m so far against needed 204,000 to make 120,000 houses. The event was attended by more than 50 representatives from the Aceh provincial administration, the BRR, donor agencies, construction and banking experts and sustainable timber producers from Australia, Canada, Indonesia, New Zealand and the U.S.

Headline: Don't pay partners for timber, aid agencies told
Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan

The government is asking international organizations wishing to assist reconstruction work in tsunami-hit Aceh to no longer pay their local partners, including state agencies, to buy timber.

The Aceh-Nias Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency (BRR) made the call during a timber marketplace event Friday organized with the World Wide Fund for Nature Indonesia and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in Medan.

Agency programming and planning advisor for housing Kasru Susilo said the country had a limited supply of local timber to meet demand for reconstruction work.

Kasru said the remaining forests in the country would soon disappear if the international groups relied on their partners to source timber.

"Timber demand for reconstruction work in Aceh is very high. We are targeting to build 120,000 houses for tsunami survivors in Aceh, where a 36-square-meter house will require around 1.7 cubic meters of wood. This would mean we will need more than 120,000 cubic meters of wood and it would be impossible to meet this demand with local timber."

Instead, the wood should be directly sourced by international agencies and sent in from abroad, he said.

The event was attended by more than 50 representatives from the Aceh provincial administration, the BRR, donor agencies, construction and banking experts and sustainable timber producers from Australia, Canada, Indonesia, New Zealand and the U.S.

WWF-Indonesia executive director Mubariq Ahmad said based on information gathered by the group, the rate of illegal logging in the country had increased following the tsunami, especially in Aceh.

"We estimate that 40 percent of local timber being used in reconstruction work here is likely to have been derived from illegal logging," said Mubariq.

Data released by WWF-Indonesia and Conservation International Indonesia found only 30,000 cubic meters of sustainable timber had been sourced from abroad, with some 20,000 cubic meters to arrive in the province this year.

Ralph Douglas, a construction consultant working for the British Red Cross, said the group has imported some 14,000 cubic meters of timber to speed up reconstruction work in Aceh. The group plans to build 3,591 houses in several areas in the province.

Douglas said all timber used by the group for the reconstruction came from sustainable forests abroad.

The prices of local and imported timber were not much different, he said. "But we doubt that the local timber quality will meet the specifications of the houses that need to be built, which the BRR has required should last 10 years."

Source (10 July 06):
http://www.thejakartapost.com/Archives/ArchivesDet2.asp?FileID=20060710.G02

Indonesian clay-built dwellings are described in a World Housing technical report as "Unreinforced clay brick masonry (UCB) housing construction".
Most are a single-story building with the main load-bearing by brick masonry walls built in cement mortar and a timber roof structure. This is non-engineered construction built following the traditional construction practice, without any input by architects or building experts. Builders follow a pattern by observing the behavior of typical buildings in the surrounding area. Buildings of this type typically experience severe damage or collapse in the earthquakes in Indonesia.
Source:
http://www.world-housing.net/Report_Selection/list.asp?varCountry=Indonesia

According to an American Institute of Architects article May 05 "rebuilding fever" can result in a built environment less attractive than it was before. A long-term redevelopment plan is crucial during this rebuilding time. Architects can help the community not only to rebuild, but to use the disaster to become an even better place to live.  The  AIA Disaster Assistance program is leading a collaboration of architects, engineers, and community planners who will lend their expertise and assistance to Sri Lanka’s tsunami relief efforts.
More:
http://www.aia.org/liv_disaster_arch

In Yogyakarta, the Indonesian Red Cross (called Palang Merah Indonesia - PMI ) says the race is now on to build sturdier shelters for the survivors of that disaster, which left 5,800 people dead and an estimated 1.17 million homeless.

Once a “mapping process” is complete, communities will chose a person to represent them financially and money will be paid directly into a community bank account. Financial reporting will be assisted by the university students and local PMI volunteers.

Those resources will then be divided up by the communities themselves to help the most vulnerable families. Financial transparency will also be ensured via notice boards, detailing how much money has gone into which accounts and how many shelters have been improved.

This type of early recovery programme is also culturally consistent with local customs and coping mechanisms, which rely on neighbours and friends to help each other out.

“The process is empowering and allows communities to take the lead in deciding what resources they need for themselves,” says Bill Marsden, the International Federation’s early recovery advisor in Java.

“This community-led approach, which sees people purchase local materials and work together on reconstruction, also helps survivors come to terms better with their losses,

Meantime shelter is tens and tarps

The distribution of tents and tarpaulins by the Indonesian Red Cross was with the support of the International Federation, along with other aid agencies, is expected to meet most of the survivors’ immediate shelter needs by August.

PMI worried that the makeshift shelters wouldn't hold up under the coming monsoon rains, which are only a matter of weeks away. What’s more, the wet conditions are likely to increase the risk of illness among survivors, including respiratory disease, malaria and dengue fever, which are endemic to the region.

In response to the threat, the local Red Cross is working to ensure that families are well prepared to cope with the challenges of the monsoon by supporting a community purchasing initiative to be carried out through a traditional neighbourhood self-help system called “gotong royong”.

The idea is simple: vulnerable communities are asked to identify their most critical needs, including building materials and tools, and in turn, PMI provides them with the financial and technical assistance needed to start rebuilding.

This innovative pilot project, which is supported by the International Federation and volunteers from local universities, aims to direct help to those who need it most – people still living in tents and tarpaulins and those still sleeping under the stars.

The university volunteers will also provide support and advice on how to make a safe shelter and clear rubble away safely.
The goal is to help get 17,000 families under safe cover – for example, by constructing a safe and dry room from the remains of a destroyed home – before the rains hit in September.

“For the students and lecturers, this is part of the education process,” says Dr Slamet Sarwono, President of Atma Jaya University. “Here, we have a chance to exercise the right side of the brain to learn empathy and ethics.”

In mid-July, teams of volunteer undergraduates trained by PMI carried out in-depth assessments of the needs of vulnerable communities in the sub-district of Dlingo and Gantiwarno in the quake-ravaged area of Klaten. In total, they will cover 23 communities in the coming weeks.

One of the 120 student volunteers taking part in the initiative is Mbak Novi, who comes from Bantul – one of the towns hardest hit by the tremor.

More (27 Jul 06):
http://www.ifrc.org/docs/news/06/06072701/

AusAID announced on 3 Jul 06 that 1,650 more people were accommodated in Aceh with the help of Australia Red Cross, other Red Cross/Red Crescent national societies and NGOs. This brought the total to 6,000, for people put in "high quality temporary housing" during eight months of building, using the Australia Indonesia Partnership for Reconstruction & Development (AIPRD's) A$3m fund.

The release also called the accommodation "recently completed transitional shelters", identifying the building sites as Cot Cut, Aceh Besar and Lhong Raya, Banda Aceh. Altogether, the building work employed more than 200 local trades people.

To date, A$150m was  spent of more than A$250m allocated for relief and construction activities in Aceh and North Sumatra.
This included AIPRD funds for helping Acehnese re-establish land ownership, strengthen sub-district governments, and re-establish village level communities. "An extensive community land mapping activity has enabled communities to determine land boundaries for over 53,000 parcels of land in 172 villages," the release said. "This process ensures the community can begin the process of reconstruction knowing that boundaries have been agreed."

Source:
http://www.indonesia.embassy.gov.au/jakt/MR06%5f16aiprd.html

In a recent address,  Australian Red Cross CEO Robert Tickner said best results for building new dwellings come "when agencies manage to consider these in a holistic manner, through the design of their own activities or through collaboration with others".
He said this was best achieved when "the homeless are in charge of rebuilding their homes, with financial and material support and technical supervision. It is quicker, costs less and builds more local skills and capacities than when outside contractors are used."
"Perhaps most importantly, instead of waiting passively, people are helped to overcome the trauma of the tsunami as they literally take charge of rebuilding their own lives."

"Recovery and reconstruction is not one-dimensional", Mr Tichner said. "It is physical, psychological, economic and environmental."

Nias

The Australian Red Cross partnered Zero to One Foundation in completing 254 permanent houses in the Sirombo sub-district in the Midwestern coastal area of Nias, also nine bridges, two schools, three clean water systems and a Nias first aid centre.
Although it slowed the rebuilding process, project leaders preferred careful planning and prior community consultation "before a single foundation was laid or supporting beam erected".
"Elders, community leaders and heads of households huddled together to debate and discuss such things as the choice of materials.
"People were asked whether they wanted timber or concrete houses. Whether it was acceptable to build houses away from roads and sea - and did people approve of the proposed housing designs."

Source:
http://www.ifrc.org/docs/news/06/06032801/index.asp

East Java resident Professor Johan Silas has designed a temporary timber house that can be nailed together in a day using basic tools and limited skills. The materials cost about Rp 10 million (US$1,100). So far, more than 600 have been built for survivors of the 2004 tsunami - many through an Asian Development Bank funded project which contracts Silas overseeing 30 local trades people.
Silas is also innovative in planning for village (kampong) development, and travels as a guest lecturer in Australia, Europe and Japan. .Governments and professional bodies in France, Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have also shown their appreciation and United Nations Habitat awarded him the Scroll of Honour in 2005.

More (2 Jul 06):
http://indonesianow.blogspot.com/

Lessons From Tsunami And Other Natural Disasters Presented At UN-HABITAT World Urban Forum In Vancouver
Habitat for Humanity- Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre Research Advocates Comprehensive Shelter Framework Strategy For Disaster Response

Source: http://www.habitat.org/ap/news/2006/06_26_2006_Lessons_From_Tsunami_Presented_At_UN_HABITAT_World_Vancouver.aspx

SINGAPORE, 26th June 2006 – At the recent biennial UN-HABITAT World Urban Forum, Habitat for Humanity International and the Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre asserts that community-based disaster response (CBDR) is by itself insufficient as an effective shelter intervention.

“Inappropriate intervention strategies have delayed the progress of families trying to move from relief to recovery and long-term development.” said Steve Weir, Asia-Pacific vice-president for Habitat for Humanity International. “The response in each of the impacted countries has been a donor free-for-all often characterized by donor competition and poor coordination leading to steep cost escalations and delayed reconstruction. At the one-year anniversary of the tsunami in Aceh alone 190,000 people were still living in tents, barracks or in overcrowded temporary housing with friends and extended family.”

An effective comprehensive shelter framework must include two additional key strategies:
. On-site Reconstruction and Strategic Donor Coordination
. Community Based Disaster Response.

The proposed three-pronged comprehensive shelter framework strategy is supported by research on three large-scale efforts to rehouse those affected by disasters: the UN-led distribution of shelter kits in Timor Leste in 1999 and multiple approaches in post-tsunami Aceh in 2005 and 2006 including those by Habitat for Humanity.

A paper with these case studies and the resulting comprehensive shelter framework was authored and presented by Steve Weir, Charlie Ayco, director for Habitat for Humanity International and Earl Kessler from the Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre advisory committee at the third session of the World Urban Forum (WUFIII) taking place in Vancouver, Canada with its main theme, “Our Future: Sustainable Cities: Turning Ideas into Action”. The research was one of twelve papers sponsored by the International Housing Coalition in an effort to put housing back on the world’s agenda.

In brief, On-site Reconstruction returns families to their own land to initiate recovery and reconstruction. It is key to the economic recovery of families and communities. Relocating families to barracks and tent camps for long periods not only encourages dependence slowing the recovery process, but often leads to increased health risks and family abuse in crowded camp conditions that lack the privacy and dignity of their own home.

In the post-tsunami environment, housing providers faced a competitive climate where the scarcity of materials and local production capacity resulted in unnecessary hoarding causing prices to more than double in the early months. In many easily accessible locations donors scrambled to “outbid” each other in order to secure a community and demonstrate responsiveness to their donors.  This has led to serious neglect of more remote communities. Strategic Donor Coordination calls for the coordination of donor reconstruction activities in geography, product and methodology. More families can be served at a more reasonable cost if there is a coordinated, collaborative non-competitive environment.

Community-based Disaster Response continues to be the preferred strategy for engaging local community leadership. It requires a high level of participation from a community to work alongside its partners, making decisions and engaging local resources. This has proven to accelerate the transition from relief to recovery for the community as they begin to focus forward to the hope of the future rather than backward toward their loss.

The Shelter Framework as a Sustainable Approach

The paper states “On-site temporary housing set up from provisional materials – plastic sheeting or scavenged materials – is the first step to recovery. It is a short phase of a larger program based on an on-site reconstruction approach in partnership with affected families. An on-site redevelopment action plan addresses rebuilding as a means of healing the trauma of disaster and abuse as it reconstructs the local built environment, encourages social participation and establishes the framework for the economy to restart.”

Economic Growth and Employment
The paper reviews two specific response strategies and their effectiveness within the proposed Shelter Framework and concludes that “Habitat Resource Centers and Shelter Kit construction mobilize community resources absorbing skilled and unskilled labor in assembling shelter kits and rebuilding houses, community infrastructure and facilities. The HRCs facilitate the production of construction materials by small, local business through targeted micro-finance lending, enabling a consistent stream of products and skilled labor to the local building market.”

Impact results from  Timor Leste Survey

A Habitat Poverty Index Survey of nearly 683 families from the Aileu and Dili districts in Timor Leste found no statistically significant difference between families that received a shelter kit and those who already lived in adequate housing at the time of the kit distribution in the areas of total deprivation, child mortality and malnutrition. “These findings suggest that a US$264 shelter kit program enabled families to reach the same level of poverty reduction as those with adequate housing at the time of independence. Why would we not increase the number of families assisted tenfold rather than increase the cost of assistance per family tenfold?” remarks Steve Weir.

The working paper was presented to the UN World Urban Forum in Vancouver, Canada, in May 2006.
It examines three community-based shelter interventions, the 1999 UN-led distribution of shelter kits in post-conflict Timor L’Este (formerly East Timor) and two approaches to tsunami-recovery housing in Aceh, Indonesia, during 2005 and early 2006. Additional research is under way in Habitat for Humanity’s Sri Lanka, India and Indonesia tsunami responses and some of these preliminary findings are also included.
This paper suggests that Community-based Disaster Response by itself is insufficient as an effective shelter intervention. What is needed is a comprehensive Shelter Framework that includes these three key strategies:

Key Shelter Framework Strategies
1. On-site Reconstruction
2. Strategic Donor Coordination
3. Community-based Disaster Response
Policies, methodologies and protocols that incorporate these three key Shelter Framework strategies can dramatically accelerate the transition from relief to development.

Objective
HFH's hope is that these observations and recommendations will be debated and then incorporated into a broad Shelter Framework that will influence tactical level strategies by NGOs and governmental disaster agencies, funding decisions by donor organizations, best practices for global disaster response standards like Sphere and policy by coordinating bodies like the UN.

Indonesia's Bureau of Reconstruction and Rehabiliation for Aceh and Nias after the 2004/5 earthquakes and tsunamis reported for Sep 05:
New Houses 691
Under Construction 1,047
Total Families Assisted 1,738
BRR inspectors commented that Habitat was leading other international NGOs in house reconstruction.

The Australian Council For International Development released its report on Aust NGO activities for third quarter 2005.
Concerning HFH, ACFID reported the NGO was awaiting a response from the Australian government as to whether the AIPRD/AusAID would support an initiative with Australian-sourced plantation pine. It said that meanwhile, in partnership with two other NGOs, HFH had sourced alternative timber in Padang, Sumatra, and barged it to isolated areas to the south of Banda Aceh.

Habitat for Humanity is an internationally operating non-profit, non-denominational Christian housing organisation. Established 30 years ago, its charter is to build simple, decent, affordable houses in partnership with those in need of adequate shelter. Working in partnership with low-income families and people of good will from all walks of life, Habitat has built more than 200,000 houses in 100 countries, including scores in Australia.
Details see: http://www.habitat.org.au/

Acting Aceh Governor Mustafa Abubakar said in Banda Aceh on Tuesday that Aceh's refugee housing problem would largely be settled by the end of the month. "At the beginning of January this year, up to 45,000 refugee families were still living in tents and emergency huts, but four months later, about 35,000 of them were moved into the shelters," Mustafa said.
The administration's May data showed the number of tsunami refugees living in tents had dropped to about 10,000 families or 25,000 people, Mustafa said.
Source (8 Jun 06):
http://www.thejakartapost.com/Archives/ArchivesDet2.asp?FileID=20060607.G02

Jakarta, July 12 (Xinhua): Hundreds of tsunami survivors on Simeulue Island in Indonesia's Aceh province are still living in makeshift tents and emergency barracks more than 18 months after the devastating disaster.

"They remain to stay in emergency tents made by themselves from used plastics. Their condition is appalling," Yan Irawansyah, a resident of Semeulue, was quoted on Tuesday by the national Antara news agency as saying.

The tsunami survivors have been staying in the tents since the earthquake-triggered tsunami that devastated Aceh and Nias on Dec. 26, 2004.

They set up their own tents made of used plastic because they did not get makeshift tents from NGOs helping tsunami survivors in Aceh.

The refugees have been waiting for new houses promised to be constructed for them by the government and foreign donors, he said.

They were not only victims to the 2004 tsunami, but also to a massive earthquake which hit Simeulue and Nias Island on March 28, 2005.

"The worst damage in Simeulue was not due to tsunami but the aftershocks in 2005," he said.

He said the target set by Aceh Governor Mustafa Abubakar to make the province free from emergency tents in June 2006 was valid for the Aceh mainland, not for Simeulue Island which has not received adequate attention.

Local councilor Asdar also expressed concern over the fate of the refugees who had been living in the tents for the past 18 months.

The tsunami survivors do not have clean water supply in the refugee camps and are forced to consume rain water, said Asdar, a politician from the Golkar Party.

 Source (12 Jul 06): http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/003200607120021.htm

29 Mar 06: IFRC has vowed to complete its commitment to provide more than 1,750 steel-framed transitional shelters for the most vulnerable families giving priority to those who remain in tents around the 10 sub-districts of Nias. These shelters form part of a massive Federation-spearheaded project aiming to construct 20,000 transitional shelters for the most vulnerable people across tsunami-affected Sumatra.

At present, in partnership with the Indonesian Red Cross (Palang Merah Indonesia-PMI), the Federation has completed 65 transitional shelters in Pramuka camp and Olora-Islamic centre in the central sub-district of Gunung Sitoli benefiting the same number of families.
Younos Karim, Federation head of office in Nias.

The Federation has also erected 187 transitional shelter frames in other camps expected to be completed by April 2006. More transitional shelters are ready to be put up in other areas in collaboration with the Canadian Red Cross, UN Habitat and Caritas Austria. Red Cross Red Crescent works in coordination with BRR as well as the United Nations Office for Recovery Coordination.

Australian Red Cross, in partnership with Zero to One Foundation, has completed a total of 254 permanent houses in the Sirombo sub-district in the Midwestern coastal area of Nias.

The Canadian Red Cross is in the process of completing the requirements for an ambitious project which will deliver 2,500 permanent houses in the northern sub-districts of Lahewa and Afulu, two of the worst hit and least accessible areas in Nias.

The Spanish Red Cross is to reconstruct 80 houses and ten schools in villages in South Nias. Further, the Netherlands Red Cross formed a consortium with the Belgian Red Cross and the Spanish Red Cross for the construction of about 750 houses, four community centres as well as water and sanitation facilities in 10 villages, all in South Nias.


Enormous logistical constraints

The logistical constraints of completing construction projects on Nias are enormous. Everything – the cement, the bricks, and the timber and the steel need to be brought from Aceh by ship, making the process frustratingly laborious.

Source (29 Mar 06):
http://www.ifrc.org/Docs/News/06/06032801/index.asp