In Krueng Raya, a village 45 minutes west of Banda Aceh, people are taking their future into their own hands. Five days after the Tsunami, they started rebuilding their homes. From the rubble and destruction left behind by the disaster on December 26th, they have been finding tools, wood, plastic and other material to build the places that will house them for the coming months or perhaps years.
In Krueng Raya, a village 45 minutes west of Banda Aceh, people are taking their future into their own hands. Five days after the Tsunami, they started rebuilding their homes. From the rubble and destruction left behind by the disaster on December 26th, they have been finding tools, wood, plastic and other material to build the places that will house them for the coming months or perhaps years.
“We did not want to live under tents and just sit and wait for the aid to come,” said the leader of Krueng Raya fishing village, who gave up his land so people could live on it. “We are use to working and living with dignity … we are all working very hard here,” he said.
Oxfam’s evaluation team arrive to Krueng Raya last week, and spoke to the community to find out their urgent needs.
“When we arrived here we were amazed by how much they have done by themselves. The people told us that they want us to provided them with clean water and water and we are already working on this. We are also going to be distributing some soap, latrines, sleeping mats, shelter, underwear for the women and jerry cans,” said Inga Mephan, Oxfam`s health promoter.
One of the women in Krueng Raya described the difficulties they faced:
“We have a roof to protect us from the sun and the rain, but we have no toilets, we have to go to the bushes… women are not very comfortable with this situation, we need privacy ” she said.
Krueng Raya was near the sea and when the Tsunami hit, most people manage to run to high land and save themselves. Now, 3500 people have resettled on this higher land and are now building their houses and carrying on with their lives. Some have already managed to start small businesses, such as selling fruits.
The challenge for Oxfam is to find the source of water. Oxfam’s Inga Mephan said: “We might have to dig very deep 120 metres to be able to find it, but we have the experience and we will be able to make it happen. But in the mean time we are trucking in clean drinking water twice a day for the whole camp.
Krueng Raya, Indonesia: Building structures for houses, 16 Jan 05. Credit Lina Holguin/Oxfam
