Houses for Mentawai Victims to Be Completed by 2013

Houses for Mentawai Victims to Be Completed by 2013

The government plans to complete the construction of permanent housing for victims of the 2010 Mentawai tsunami by 2013, officials said on Monday.

“We have set aside Rp 1.16 trillion [$133.4 million] for three years of relocation and rehabilitation after the 2010 tsunami,” said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for the National Disaster Management Agency [BNPB].

“We will use the funds to build temporary housing, permanent housing, and public facilities and infrastructure,” he said.

The Mentawai district chief has announced that the government will build 2,072 temporary houses in three sub-districts — North Pagai, South Pagai and South Sipora — for the 11,432 victims who have lost their homes.

“So far, we have built 1,393 temporary houses in those three districts and are planning to build another 679,” Sutopo said.

“But, seeing as our relocation and rehabilitation program is set until 2013, instead of continuing to build temporary housing, we can see that it would be more efficient to build permanent housing,” he said.

According to Doddy Ruswandi, BNPB’s deputy of field emergency, about Rp 486,000 billion has been earmarked for relocation and rehabilitation projects this year.

He said the main difficulty in the relocation and rehabilitation of people in Mentawai was obtaining building materials.

“Although we have already prepared all the blueprints to rebuild Mentawai, the building materials are hard to find in the new location,” he said.

“Therefore, we have to go all the way to Padang to get the necessary building materials,” he added.

Doddy said the BNPB has also prepared a budget of Rp 13.9 billion for one year to help the tsunami victims regain their social and economic lives.

“We plan to fund development projects in the area via community-based business initiatives, such as fish farming,” Doddy said.

He said the government would also work to rebuild damaged infrastructure to help local communities recover their pre-tsunami lives and livelihoods.

Sutopo said the victims would only live in temporary housing for a couple of years before moving into permanent housing.

“Hopefully, the construction of all permanent houses will be completed by 2013,” he said.

Indonesia Pledges $34 Million to Rebuild Wasior by Early 2012

Indonesia Pledges $34 Million to Rebuild Wasior by Early 2012

Nurfika Osman & Elisabeth Oktofani

Armida Alisjahbana, minister of national development planning, on Thursday predicted that all reconstruction and rehabilitation in Wasior, West Papua, would be completed by early 2012, pledging nearly Rp 304 billion ($34 million) to rebuild the region devastated by flash floods.

The floods overwhelmed the area in October, killing 161 people with 7,000 left homeless and 146 missing and presumed dead. The Teluk Wondama district administration in Wasior says those displaced will eventually be relocated to the Rasiei and Naikere districts in West Papua.

“We have recently begun discussing the implementation of our rehabilitation and reconstruction program, since completing an inventory of the damages and losses incurred as a result of flash floods in Wasior,” Armida said, suggesting that program activities would include the construction of temporary housing, basic infrastructure and restoring economic and social activity.

She added that the government had already finished building temporary housing and public kitchens, as well as supplying a source for clean water.

“We have finished building 99 temporary homes that are ready to be occupied,” Armida said, adding that further reconstruction activities would ideally begin by the middle of next year, including plans to permanently relocate over 7,000 people from Wasior to 1,500 newly built homes in Rasiei and Naikere by 2012.

“In the first six months of next year, we plan to draw out the full plans. The reconstruction work can only begin after everything is ready, which should be mid 2011,” Armida said. “We expect that all relocation activities will be completed by early 2012.”

The central bank has pledged to help out by providing credit facilities to disaster victims to help them rebuild.

Six foreign governments have agreed to contribute to a $30 million fund to help establish community empowerment programs in support of disaster-recovery efforts across Wasior, as well as the disaster-struck zones of Mentawai in West Sumatra and cities in close proximity to Mount Merapi, the World Bank said on Thursday.

Citra Lestari, a World Bank consultant speaking to the Jakarta Globe, named the contributing governments as Australia, the Netherlands, Denmark, the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as the European Union.

She said the fund would be managed by the National Community Empowerment Program (PNPM) .

The fund is intended to support community disaster recovery efforts and assist affected households in restoring their livelihoods, Citra said.

It would also pay for the timely provision of investment block grants, to help generate economic activity and employment, providing badly needed income for households, as well as fund “cash for work” initiatives under existing PNPM programs.

Indonesia's Borobudur Rising From the Ashes

Indonesia's Borobudur Rising From the Ashes

Farouk Arnaz & Elisabeth Oktofani

Jakarta. The major eruption of Mount Merapi on Nov. 5, which blanketed surrounding areas in volcanic ash, poses a serious and ongoing threat to ancient temple complexes such as Borobudur.

Officials are concerned the acidic soot will hasten the wearing of the temples, Borobudur in particular, which is covered in up to 3 centimeters of ash.

The site was closed to the public after the eruptions began on Oct. 26, while the government has sent workers in to clean up the temple complex.

“Since Nov. 11, we’ve taken emergency action to keep Borobudur clear of ash by cleaning up 72 stupas and the main stupa, and wrapping them in plastic,” Junus Satrio Atmojo, the Culture and Tourism Ministry’s head of historical and archeological sites, said Saturday.

The government has allocated a total of Rp 600 million ($67,200) to clean up the Buddhist temples of Borobudur, Pawon and Mendut, as well as the Hindu temple complex of Prambanan, he said.

That includes Rp 248 million for Borobudur.

“Cleaning up Borobudur and the three other temples requires that we be extra careful and work step by step to prevent the ash lodging in the pores of the rock surface,” Junus said.

“It’s not a question of hiring more people to help clean up, but of the equipment that we need to buy.”

He added that because the disaster had occurred toward the end of the fiscal year, the government was short of funds to procure the necessary equipment.

“Our experience from the Aceh tsunami in 2004 tells us that cultural heritage and historical buildings are always the last to be budgeted for in the disaster recovery fund, and that’s why we need outside donors,” he said.

“Donors don’t necessarily have to give us cash. We’d be grateful for items such as plastic sheets, hoses, baking soda and anything else we can use to clean the monuments.”

Junus added that Unesco, which lists Borobudur as a world heritage site, had only been able to offer sending an expert to gauge the damage, as it had no experience dealing with volcanic clean-ups.

“We politely declined, as we have plenty of Indonesian experts,” he said.

He added that authorities were in a race against time to clean up the temple and reopen it, given the high number of foreign tourists expected to visit Borobudur, with many booking trips months in advance.

Borobudur is the country’s most popular tourist attraction.

Temple officials have reopened the Borobudur yard and the first of the temple’s nine levels to the public, but the rest of the site remains closed for cleaning.

“That’s because we haven’t been able to remove all the volcanic ash covering the temple,” Iskandar M Siregar, head of technical services for Borobudur management, said on Saturday.

“At this time, we’re only allowing visitors to visit the temple yard and the first level of rock. Visitors are forbidden from climbing on any part of the temple.”

He said it could take up to four weeks to clear away all the ash coating the structure.

“We’re using brooms and dust pans to clean it up, so we can’t go any faster,” he said. “So far, we’ve collected 20 cubic meters of ash.” Iskandar said this represented less than a tenth of the total volcanic ash at the site.

He also rebuffed calls to wait for the rains to wash away the ash, pointing out that this would only complicate matters.

“That’s because the ash would wash into the temple’s drainage system and damage it,” he said.

Clean-up crews are trying as much as possible not to use mechanical equipment, which could damage the rock surface of the temple, he said.

Iskandar also said workers had not yet wrapped up the entire monument in plastic, and were prioritizing the top three levels, where the stupas are located.

“We have to hurry because the ash has a corrosive character, that accelerates the weathering of the stupas and stones,” Iskandar said.

Spiritual caretaker of Indonesian volcano dies

Spiritual caretaker of Indonesian volcano dies

Slamet Riyadi

MOUNT MERAPI, Indonesia — He was the keeper of Mount Merapi – an 83-year-old man entrusted to watch over the volcano's spirits, believing it could be appeased by tossing offerings of rice, chickens and flowers into the gaping crater.

And when the eruption came, Maridjan was among those who died, along with dozens of villagers who believed him, not seismologists or government officials, about the danger.

As Merapi began spewing 1,800-degree gases and thousands of panicked people streamed down the mountain's slopes, Maridjan refused to budge from his home deep in the evacuation zone, just four miles from the crater.

His rigid body was found Wednesday, prostrate in the Islamic prayer position and caked in heavy white soot. Nearby was an Indonesian Red Cross volunteer who had been trying to persuade him to leave.

"I never thought he was going to leave us in such a way," said Prabukusumo, whose brother, the sultan in the nearby court city of Yogyakarta, is now tasked with choosing Maridjan's successor.

"He's lived through so many, much bigger eruptions. I'm still in shock."

On Thursday, politicians, soap opera stars and singers were among hundreds of people who flocked to Maridjan's funeral on the fertile slopes of the mountain entrusted to his care by a late king. Televisions crews and reporters jostled for position with family and friends, who reached to touch the white silk-covered coffin as it was carried to the grave.

Mourners knelt to pray as the body, wrapped in a simple white cloth, was lowered into the ground. Led by his weeping wife, they tossed pink and white flower petals, then covered it with soil and piled cut orchids on the mound.

One of the world's most active volcanos, Merapi is located on the so-called "Ring of Fire," a series of fault lines prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity stretching from the Western Hemisphere through Japan and Southeast Asia.

When he was 50, Maridjan was named "key holder" of the mountain, inheriting the position from his father.

For 33 years, the diminutive man with an impish smile led ceremonies meant to hold back Merapi's lava flows and quiet the spirits he and other villagers believe live over the mountain that rises from the heart of the Indonesian island of Java.

The mystical practice persists in Indonesia, even though most of the country's 237 million people – like Maridjan himself – are Muslims. Islam is a relatively new arrival to the country and coexists with older traditions that have their roots in animist, Hindu or Buddhist beliefs.

Maridjan was believed by many to have the ability to speak directly to the volcano, and fellow villagers considered him a hero, trusting his word over local authorities when it came to determining danger levels – with deadly consequences on Tuesday.

"Maridjan was very conscientious in performing his duties. But because he was a role model, many other victims died when the explosion happened because they still stayed in the village," said his brother, Wignyo Suprapto.

"They thought that everything would be safe because Maridjan did not leave."

He enjoyed a kind of celebrity and just days before the deadly explosion, Maridjan joked with camera crews following him from his mosque in the village of Kinahrejo to his thatched-roof home. Walking barefoot on a dirt road, he teasingly covered his face with his hands.

He was said to have predicted his end, telling a friend who urged him to evacuate: "My time to die in this place has almost come."

But far from serving as a cautionary tale, Maridjan's death has made many villagers only yearn for his quick replacement.

"I'm more afraid than ever," said Prapto Wiyono, a 60-year-old farmer who was among thousands of people crammed in emergency shelters. "Who's going to tell us now what's going on with Merapi?"

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Associated Press reporters Andi Jatmiko and Elisabeth Oktofani contributed to this report from Mount Merapi.