Aid group charts slow Indonesian tsunami recovery
-13/08/06
Indonesia is recovering fr
Aid group charts slow Indonesian tsunami recovery
-13/08/06
Indonesia is recovering from the 2004 tsunami, although at a slower pace than first expected, according to the regional director for Church World Service there. CWS is the major US-based ecumenical relief and development agency.
Problems slowing the process of recovery include difficulties in tracing land ownership, securing of proper materials and a lack of trained builders ñ reports Linda Bloom for the United Methodist News Service.
“These are all slowing down the building of the houses,” said Maurice Bloem, who is based in Jakarta and has led CWS work in Indonesia and Timor Leste for nearly seven years. Bloem and Yasmin Kapitan, communication and information coordinator for CWS Indonesia, spent 7-8 August 2006 at CWS headquarters in New York.
On the island of Nias, for example, “we work with the people themselves,” he said. “The local carpenters are building our houses.” But because of a lack of skilled carpenters, training is needed for additional builders.
The United Methodist Committee on Relief – which has its own tsunami recovery operations – is among the funding partners for the CWS tsunami work. Both are members of Action by Churches Together, and CWS Indonesia is an implementing partner of the ACT tsunami appeal.
The CWS Indonesia response to the 26 December 2004 tsunami is focused on Banda Aceh, Aceh Besar, Nias and Meulaboh. Projects include programs to rebuild livelihoods, provision of water and sanitation facilities, housing construction, distribution of various supplies, health and nutrition activities, and programs of psychosocial support.
The activities include: Forming 18 farming groups, 14 animal husbandry groups, six paddy farmer groups and one fishermen’s group on Nias to provide livelihood assistance to 516 households; producing and supplying clean water to 7,328 people daily in the Meulaboh area; offering educational and creative play activities to nearly 600 children in seven villages in the Banda Aceh area; and completing 23 of 84 houses to be built in Madula village, Gunung Siotoli, and beginning construction on a children’s playground there.
CWS has been in Indonesia since the 1960s, working in partnership with local organizations, and currently has a staff of 308. Many other organizations have come in to do tsunami work, some less successfully than others, according to Bloem.
“We had to face the difficulty of new NGOs (nongovernmental organizations) flying in and not being committed to staying five or 10 years,” he explained. “And it will take five or 10 years of work.”
Much of the CWS focus is on strengthening and monitoring local NGOs and community organizations “so they can continue our work,” Bloem explained.
The tsunami recovery and other disasters, including the recent earthquake and tsunami on the southern coast of Java and the earthquake in central Java, are only a part of Church World Service work with community organizations and vulnerable populations in Indonesia. Overall priorities include improved child nutrition, improved access to water and sanitation, and strengthening the country’s civil society.
Indonesia has a “huge, hidden hunger problem,” Bloem reported. It also has a growing HIV infection rate that could affect the general population within five to seven years.
For the most part, day-to-day relations between Muslims and the minority Christians in Indonesia are good, and religious groups play a crucial role in HIV/AIDS education, he said. “Faith-based leaders are an important element in the society of Indonesia.”
[Also on Ekklesia: Java quake scene like tsunami, says Indonesian Mennonite; Millions mourn tsunami victims one year on; Mennonites describe Indonesian earthquake horror; finance ministers agree to freeze debts of tsunami countries; Churches respond immediately to Indonesia earthquake; Christian Aid and CAFOD respond to Indonesia tragedy; Lutherans support tsunami rebuilding alongside Java relief; More church agencies gear up aid for Java quake zone; WCC lends support to quake-hit Indonesian churches; Aid agencies meet with Blair to discuss tsunami; Anti-poverty focus in Tsunami international response report; Missionaries accused of exploiting tsunami victims; Muslims offer to guard Christian churches in Indonesia; Catholic agency arranging aid to earthquake zone; The Asian Tsunami one year on]
Aid group charts slow Indonesian tsunami recovery
-13/08/06
Indonesia is recovering from the 2004 tsunami, although at a slower pace than first expected, according to the regional director for Church World Service there. CWS is the major US-based ecumenical relief and development agency.
Problems slowing the process of recovery include difficulties in tracing land ownership, securing of proper materials and a lack of trained builders ñ reports Linda Bloom for the United Methodist News Service.
“These are all slowing down the building of the houses,” said Maurice Bloem, who is based in Jakarta and has led CWS work in Indonesia and Timor Leste for nearly seven years. Bloem and Yasmin Kapitan, communication and information coordinator for CWS Indonesia, spent 7-8 August 2006 at CWS headquarters in New York.
On the island of Nias, for example, “we work with the people themselves,” he said. “The local carpenters are building our houses.” But because of a lack of skilled carpenters, training is needed for additional builders.
The United Methodist Committee on Relief – which has its own tsunami recovery operations – is among the funding partners for the CWS tsunami work. Both are members of Action by Churches Together, and CWS Indonesia is an implementing partner of the ACT tsunami appeal.
The CWS Indonesia response to the 26 December 2004 tsunami is focused on Banda Aceh, Aceh Besar, Nias and Meulaboh. Projects include programs to rebuild livelihoods, provision of water and sanitation facilities, housing construction, distribution of various supplies, health and nutrition activities, and programs of psychosocial support.
The activities include: Forming 18 farming groups, 14 animal husbandry groups, six paddy farmer groups and one fishermen’s group on Nias to provide livelihood assistance to 516 households; producing and supplying clean water to 7,328 people daily in the Meulaboh area; offering educational and creative play activities to nearly 600 children in seven villages in the Banda Aceh area; and completing 23 of 84 houses to be built in Madula village, Gunung Siotoli, and beginning construction on a children’s playground there.
CWS has been in Indonesia since the 1960s, working in partnership with local organizations, and currently has a staff of 308. Many other organizations have come in to do tsunami work, some less successfully than others, according to Bloem.
“We had to face the difficulty of new NGOs (nongovernmental organizations) flying in and not being committed to staying five or 10 years,” he explained. “And it will take five or 10 years of work.”
Much of the CWS focus is on strengthening and monitoring local NGOs and community organizations “so they can continue our work,” Bloem explained.
The tsunami recovery and other disasters, including the recent earthquake and tsunami on the southern coast of Java and the earthquake in central Java, are only a part of Church World Service work with community organizations and vulnerable populations in Indonesia. Overall priorities include improved child nutrition, improved access to water and sanitation, and strengthening the country’s civil society.
Indonesia has a “huge, hidden hunger problem,” Bloem reported. It also has a growing HIV infection rate that could affect the general population within five to seven years.
For the most part, day-to-day relations between Muslims and the minority Christians in Indonesia are good, and religious groups play a crucial role in HIV/AIDS education, he said. “Faith-based leaders are an important element in the society of Indonesia.”
[Also on Ekklesia: Java quake scene like tsunami, says Indonesian Mennonite; Millions mourn tsunami victims one year on; Mennonites describe Indonesian earthquake horror; finance ministers agree to freeze debts of tsunami countries; Churches respond immediately to Indonesia earthquake; Christian Aid and CAFOD respond to Indonesia tragedy; Lutherans support tsunami rebuilding alongside Java relief; More church agencies gear up aid for Java quake zone; WCC lends support to quake-hit Indonesian churches; Aid agencies meet with Blair to discuss tsunami; Anti-poverty focus in Tsunami international response report; Missionaries accused of exploiting tsunami victims; Muslims offer to guard Christian churches in Indonesia; Catholic agency arranging aid to earthquake zone; The Asian Tsunami one year on]