Aceh: A New Dawn

3. Recovery and Reconstruction

35 3 Recovery and Reconstruction Kuntoro Mangkusubroto1 When the tsunami struck in December 2004, many areas were devastated.This was especially so in the western parts of Aceh where the port and inland roads were completely destroyed.The only way to transport medical facilities and food was by air.This was initially undertaken by the Chinook helicopters provided by Singapore. Since then, several Singapore NGOs like Mercy Relief, the Singapore International Foundation (SIF) and the Singapore Red Cross have been helping Indonesian tsunami victims, especially in the reconstruction of the Meulaboh harbour.This habour is now complete and became operational in April 2006, serving as one of the most strategic points of entry for building materials and supplies to the area.2 This chapter is an update of the rehabilitation and reconstruction programme, detailing the progress taking place throughout Aceh and examining many aspects of the reconstruction and rehabilitation process. It should be noted that the agency — BRR, the Badan Rehabilitasi dan Rekonstruksi of Aceh and Nias — was formed by the Government of Indonesia on 30 April 2005.Two days after that, on 2 May, the BRR was mobilized without delay and its forces were put into operation in Banda Aceh. Since then, its operations and base have been in Banda Aceh.The BRR has over 700 full-time Facing page: Coastline of Meulaboh. Photo courtesy of Lee Poh Onn. 36 personnel, mostly resident in Banda Aceh, some bringing along their families to settle in the area. The formation of the BRR was based on a special bill: Peraturan Pemerintah Pengganti Undang Undang No. 2/2005, which was later formalized into the Undang Undang No. 10/2005.3 The BRR is to operate for four years, and thereafter it will be handed over to the local government and technical ministers in Jakarta to continue with the process.Within four years, the management at the BRR hopes that all major infrastructure projects will be completed, laying the foundation for further development in the area. Three big missions lie ahead for the BRR. One is to rebuild all facilities, infrastructure, and houses within four years.The second is to improve the capacity of the local government and social institutions.The third is to revitalize businesses and the economy in the region such that the sustainability of the whole programme can be maintained. Progress at a Glance Figure 3.1 shows a high-school complex specializing in agriculture at Kahju, Aceh Besar. It is about 40 kilometres from the totally destroyed Banda Aceh. It is in the process of being reconstructed. In total, over 375 schools have been rebuilt, representing a significant achievement. It should be noted, however, that 1,200 schools were destroyed during the tsunami, including elementary and high schools and sections of a university. Hence the proportion of reconstructed schools only represents about 35 per cent of the total number of schools.Areas in Aceh now look relatively clean. A year earlier, it was still covered with debris. Much progress has been achieved in the previous one and half years. Figure 3.2 illustrates a temporary housing project, also in Aceh Besar.There are various types of housing in the vicinity. BRR does not standardize their design but stipulates the size of a house. Previously, the specifications were such that it should be no less than 45 square metres.Then, BRR realized that they were going to face problems if they did not put an upper limit to the size of the houses because some NGOs in the area were competing with each other to provide better and bigger housing. Although one NGO may be willing to build 45 square metre housing in some areas, some 70 square metre houses can still be found elsewhere.This causes a social problem when villagers start to compare the size of housing provided: why in one village is there 70 square metre housing, while in others 76 square metre housing is available? The 45 square metre specification has been selected because in some areas, especially in Meulaboh, many houses have already been built based on that size limit. Basically, these are known as core houses. Owners of such houses can expand and redesign from this core.The basic design of these houses is such that these houses are ready to be “expanded”, if owners chose to exercise the option of doing so. 37 FIGURE 3.1 Educational Complex at Kahju, Aceh...