Contents update of CGIAR Post Tsunami Initiatives website. http://www.cgiar.org/tsunami http://www.cgiar.org/tsunami/copyright.txt en-us Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT a.santoso@cgiar.org http://www.cgiar.org/tsunami/feed/cgtsunami.gif http://www.cgiar.org/tsunami CGIAR Post Tsunami Initiatives 140 51 Project activities are explicitly designed to assist small-holder farmers gain access to high quality planting materials and provide them with the skills necessary to establish and operate nurseries. Participants are likely to range from individual small-holders wanting to improve their livelihoods by growing more productive tree crops, to farmer and community groups who have similar aims, and to families or small groups who have the goal of establishing local commercial nursery operations. http://www.cgiar.org/tsunami/resources/whosworking0006.html Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT The consortium of four institutions (ICRAF, University of Hohenheim, LRPI and ISRI) will join forces first for a systematic analysis of the land - tree - market chain for the pre- and post-Tsunami conditions to understand the damage done and better plan for recovery. In the action mode for rehabilitation efforts, the project will enhance farmer learning and extension of existing income-enhancing technology for better tree management and harvesting practices - with technological support from on-going development efforts elsewhere in Indonesia in which the consortium partners are involved. http://www.cgiar.org/tsunami/resources/whosworking0005.html Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT BAPPENAS master plan for Aceh-s post-tsunami rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts based on a holistic, comprehensive and integrated analysis. However, at local level, the transfer from planning to action is still slow, while perceptions of what is possible are gradually evolving. Various international bodies and organization have been working together with local governments and/or NGO to support rehabilitation efforts aiming at normalizing the people-s livelihood. Inline with the main goals, in support for the site level-s rehabilitation and coordination efforts led by UNDP, there is a need to have a more targeted working group to face livelihoods and INRM related activities. A four days multi-stakeholders meeting and discussion will be held at Meulaboh, facilitating the need. http://www.cgiar.org/tsunami/resources/whosworking0004.html Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT The United Nations Information Management Service, formally the Humanitarian Information Centre (HIC), provides technical assistance in the collection, processing and presentation of data to the Government of Indonesia and the recovery community. This website provide such repository service for technical documents, data, maps, photograph library. http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/sumatra/ Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT Activities throughout December 2005 will recognize the personal loss and perseverance of these affected communities - culminating in an international memorial service in Aceh on December 26. For those who visit Indonesia, this website provides a schedule of commemoration activities. For overseas friends and supporters, we offer updated information on the progress of rebuilding, as well as transcripts and images from commemoration events. The Government of Indonesia and its international partners will report on the scope and pace of combined rehabilitation and reconstruction initiatives, providing critical direction for action moving forward in 2006. The review also provides important lessons for large-scale disaster reconstruction efforts in Pakistan and around the world. http://e-aceh-nias.org/commemorate/ Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT Date: 22 December 2005 >>> Location: World Agroforestry Centre - SEA Regional Office, Bogor, Indonesia >>> The meeting will seek to acknowledge the diverse conditions of the pre-tsunami landscape and livelihood strategies in Aceh and to provide an opportunity to reflect on progress and issues in the current phase of post-Tsunami rehabilitation along Aceh-s west coast. Later, the discussion will address how rehabilitation efforts at farm level can become better prepared for the coming changes in infrastructure, identify issues that require additional research and knowledge sharing. It is hoped that this will enhance the network between active development and relevant research agencies. http://www.worldagroforestry.org/sea/W-New/Updates/aceh22dec.asp Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT Date: 29 November - 2 December 2005 >>> Location: Hotel Mouligou, Meulaboh, Aceh, Indonesia. >>> BAPPENAS master plan for Aceh-s post-tsunami rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts based on a holistic, comprehensive and integrated analysis. However, at local level, the transfer from planning to action is still slow, while perceptions of what is possible are gradually evolving. Various international bodies and organization have been working together with local governments and/or NGO to support rehabilitation efforts aiming at normalizing the people-s livelihood. Inline with the main goals, in support for the site level-s rehabilitation and coordination efforts led by UNDP, there is a need to have a more targeted working group to face livelihoods and INRM related activities. A four days multi-stakeholders meeting and discussion will be held at Meulaboh, facilitating the need. http://www.worldagroforestry.org/sea/W-New/Updates/meulaboh.asp Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT This is a snapshot report on UNDP-s assistance to tsunami recovery and reconstruction efforts in 2005. UNDP has published a report on its assistance to the tsunami recovery and reconstruction efforts for the past year. It is meant to provide examples of how UNDP is helping people who survived the tsunami rebuild their lives now, and for the future. http://www.undp.org/tsunami/UNDP-Tsunamireport-final.pdf Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT A Joint Report of The BRR and International Partners, December 2005 http://e-aceh-nias.org/oneyear/oneyearReport.pdf Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT Habitat rehabilitation for inland fisheries. Global review of effectiveness and guidance for rehabilitation of freshwater ecosystems. FAO Fisheries Technical Papers. ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/008/a0039e/a0039e00.pdf Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT This online booklet shares stories of those victims whose livelihoods were shattered by the tsunami and highlights how FAO and its partners have been able to help them piece their lives back together. http://www.fao.org/docs/eims/upload//198077/Tsunami_en.pdf Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT Part two of two policy briefs on post-tsunami rehabilitation have been prepared by the WorldFish Center as part of a series of briefs being developed by CONSRN (Consortium to Restore Shattered Livelihoods in Tsunami Devastated Nations) http://www.worldfishcenter.org/pdf/CONSRNbrief2.pdf Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT Part one of two policy briefs on post-tsunami rehabilitation have been prepared by the WorldFish Center as part of a series of briefs being developed by CONSRN (Consortium to Restore Shattered Livelihoods in Tsunami Devastated Nations). http://www.worldfishcenter.org/pdf/CONSRNbrief1.pdf Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT The tsunami of December 2004 had its greatest impacts on rural coastal communities, many of which were already poor, vulnerable and with few livelihood options. With a high dependency on a severely depleted and over-ished natural resource base and on badly degraded coastal ecosystems, few coastal communities could, prior to the tsunami, see a path out of poverty. This is not a situation to which communities should be returned as a result of post-tsunami rehabilitation efforts. Rehabilitation should look beyond returning to the status quo and seek to address the root causes of vulnerability - issues of resource access, marginalization, market access, power imbalances, lack of information, and unsustainable resource use - and build resilience to cope with future threats and opportunities. http://www.worldfishcenter.org/pdf/Rehab-livelihoods%20full-version.pdf Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT The devastation caused by the Asian tsunami in the tiny Indonesian province of Aceh has been well documented. Now, one year after the tragedy, there are growing concerns about the long-term impact of the disaster on the environment. So great are these concerns that a leading British charity has been handed the first international humanitarian aid grant given specifically for environmental work. http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1676008,00.html Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT The Nias regency administration lashed out at the Aceh-Nias Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency on Tuesday for the lack of progress in rebuilding the earthquake and tsunami-ravaged island. The administration said only 30 out of the 8,000 new houses planned for tsunami and quake survivors on the island had been completed. http://www.thejakartapost.com/Archives/ArchivesDet2.asp?FileID=20051228.D04 Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT Muhammad Ibrahim, 42, takes a mournful sip of coffee and surveys the crowded wooden barracks where he lives with family members who survived the tsunami a year ago yesterday.In a few minutes, he lost several relatives, his home and his fishing boat to the giant wave, which survivors here in Aceh province describe as taller than the 50-foot coconut palm trees. http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/ny-woaceh274566441dec27,0,2253606.story?coll=ny-top-headlines Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT The tent camp at Lhoknga in Aceh province has been transformed over the months into an area that has plants and flowers; it has a cleanliness about it as it nestles under the shade of coconut trees, which make the site look quite attractive. But this is twelve months on and that life, no matter how tranquil it may look, is nothing short of unhappiness and of helplessness. http://www.thejakartapost.com/Archives/ArchivesDet2.asp?FileID=20051227.F04 Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT Around $13.6 billion has been pledged by donors around the world to rebuild Indian Ocean countries after the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami, which killed around 230,000 people, the U.N. Envoy for Tsunami Recovery says. It is more than enough to meet the estimated needs. Here are some key facts about the tsunami relief and rebuilding effort, which the United Nations says was the most generous and most immediately funded international emergency relief effort ever. http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SP47979.htm Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT Once the word was out about the hundreds of thousands of Acehnese lives destroyed in last years Boxing Day tsunami, the international response was quick in speed, and great in magnitude. Yet despite the obstacle of poor security being removed by the creation of a peace treaty, the transition from relief to rehabilitation of livelihoods has been slower than expected. Five main reasons for this slow development became apparent during a recent workshop in Meulaboh, where representatives of local government, national and international agencies and NGOs discussed opportunities to better meet the long term needs of the affected communities. http://www.thejakartapost.com/Archives/ArchivesDet2.asp?FileID=20051226.E03 Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT Too slow is how critics often describe the reconstruction work being carried out in Aceh. We are of a different opinion. We do not reject the critics findings, as much as the yardsticks they use. The Aceh and Nias Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency (BRR) was only set up in April, four months after the tsunami struck on Dec. 26, 2004. If an assessment were done today, we would only be able to judge the agency based on nine months of work, which is still less than a year. http://www.thejakartapost.com/Archives/ArchivesDet2.asp?FileID=20051226.E01 Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT It was his 44th birthday and the first day of the New Year when, a year ago, fisherman Mahyudin Jamil stood weeping on the spot where his house once stood. Not even the foundation stones remained of the family home where he had lived a frugal but contented life with his wife and their seven children. He had enjoyed fishing is his red and green wooden boat, named Ababit after a bird, selling his catch at market and saving a few fish for grilled suppers. http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/planas/113550619423.htm Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT Healthy mangrove forests helped save lives in the Asia tsunami disaster, a new report has said. The World Conservation Union (IUCN) compared the death toll from two villages in Sri Lanka that were hit by the devastating giant waves. Two people died in the settlement with dense mangrove and scrub forest, while up to 6,000 people died in the village without similar vegetation. Many forests in the past were felled to build prawn farms and tourist resorts. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4547032.stm Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT Hammers swing, wheelbarrows plow through the mud and young men mix concrete. Others shout and sing as brick after brick is put into place in new house walls. The sounds of construction are heard all across Banda Aceh, the Indonesian city at the northern tip of Sumatra that was virtually leveled by last years Boxing Day tsunami. In this once devastated area, known as Lamjabat, where 90 percent of the people and almost every building were washed away, signs of everyday life are beginning to emerge from the wasteland. http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?we_cat=11andart_id=8543andsid=5998304andcon_type=3andd_str=20051224 Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT The economies of tsunami-hit countries are recovering from the disaster more quickly than expected, says a report. The relief agency Oxfam said almost two-thirds of the people who lost their jobs as a result of the tragedy were already back in work. The charity said the huge public response to the tsunami had prevented millions of people falling into poverty in the past year. The Boxing Day disaster killed more than 230,000 people and left a further 1.6 million homeless. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2andObjectID=10361340 Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT Fishermen in Aceh have more boats now than before last Decembers tsunami hit the Indonesian province and donors should focus on other strategies to rebuild the fishing industry, a global research body said on Friday. Rural communities traditionally dependent on fish for food and livelihoods were the worst affected by the tsunami, which destroyed the small vessels and low-technology gear most fishermen used, the World Fish Center said. A year later, efforts to replace lost equipment has enhanced fishermens ability to catch fish, but they have not tackled the problem of overfishing and severe depletion that existed before the tsunami, the Malaysia-based center said in a statement. http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/KLR34216.htm Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT In the dreadful days between Christmas and New Year 2004, when each day brought new horrors on the massive scale of the tragedy, none of us realized how this would change our lives in the coming year. Im writing this on the flight from Jakarta to Banda Aceh -- my seventeenth visit of the year since the tsunami. The response was unprecedented. Never in history had so many individuals, businesses and countries contributed so much in response to a single event. It now appears that around US$9 billion in total will be available to rebuild Aceh and Nias, with around one third from Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) and the private sector, one third from international donors, and one third from the government of Indonesia. http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaileditorial.asp?fileid=20051223.E02&irec=1 Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT The Indonesian Forum for Environment (Walhi) urged the government on Wednesday to immediately cancel forest concession rights that have been given to logging companies operating in Southeast Aceh and Aceh Singkli, saying that it would only worsen the deforestation problem in the tsunami-devastated province. Walhi executive director Chalid Muhammad said his organizations investigation, carried out from September to early December, found that rampant illegal logging activities have taken place in the two regencies. http://www.thejakartapost.com/Archives/ArchivesDet2.asp?FileID=20051222.C06 Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT Local economic markets are gaining strength, for example, but 600,000 people lost their livelihoods in Indonesia-s Aceh Province alone, and one year later, many thousands throughout affected areas remain unemployed or underemployed. The tsunami response has been by far Mercy Corps- largest humanitarian relief and recovery effort ever. Of the record-breaking $52 million in resources entrusted to Mercy Corps by donors, the agency had used $33 million - approximately 64 percent - through the end of October. http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/289513/113521507568.htm Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT Abdul Malik usually sleeps late. With no job and a solitary goat his only asset, there is not much else to do in the Aceh town of Leupung where he lives in a wooden shelter for victims of the Dec. 26 tsunami. Like hundreds of thousands of other survivors of the tsunami in Asia who lost everything in one of modern historys worst natural calamities, the former handphone seller is desperate for work or a small business loan to get back on his feet. To make matters worse, the killer waves wiped his town off the map and reconstruction here has barely started. http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/B612073.htm Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT One year after a tsunami devastated South Asian communities, global fisheries experts say habitat restoration, retraining and education programs are much needed to revive severely exhausted fisheries and steer survivors into more sustainable livelihoods than fishing. http://www.worldfishcenter.org/pdf/FINAL%20WorldFish%20Release.pdf Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT The Indonesian Development of Education and Permaculture (IDEP) Foundation was one of the first organizations to rapidly respond in the tsunami-affected region of Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Since the devastating December 26, 2004 earthquake, the organization has distributed over US $500,000 in aid and sent 200 international volunteers and staff to work on the ground in both the response and ongoing disaster recovery phases. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0512/S00344.htm Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT Despite their eagerness to get back on their feet and start anew after last years tsunami, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Aceh are apparently still finding it hard to seek the necessary capital. The SMEs are facing difficulties in obtaining new credit and servicing their previous liabilities, when all their assets and belongings were devastated by the Dec. 26 disaster, a seminar held on Tuesday by the World Banks International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Bank Indonesia (BI) revealed. http://www.thejakartapost.com/Archives/ArchivesDet2.asp?FileID=20051221.B08 Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT Rebuild. Its the slogan of the Indonesian reconstruction agency, set up after the Dec. 26 tsunami killed 231,452 people around the Indian Ocean rim, most of them in Aceh. Sartinah and hundreds of thousands of other tsunami survivors are doing plenty of both as the anniversary of one of natures most ferocious episodes approaches on Dec. 26. Sartinahs family is one of the lucky few that have a new home. More than 1.5 million people are still living in tattered tent camps, military-style barracks or crammed in with relatives in Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand. http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SP23685.htm Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT The head of reconstruction in Indonesias tsunami-devastated Aceh province defended the pace of home rebuilding for survivors on Thursday, saying it was exceeding the countrys national capacity. Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, who heads the governments BRR agency, told a news conference that 16,500 homes had been built by mid-December while 15,000 more were under construction. "If you compare with the capacity of our own state (housing agency), per year they build 16,000 houses. What we have is more than that. I dont agree with what you are saying that it is slow," Kuntoro said in response to a question about the pace of home rebuilding. http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/JAK33093.htm Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Indonesian government signed three grant agreements on Wednesday totaling US$6 million to help improve livelihoods, rehabilitate natural resources and provide earthquake-resistant housing in the tsunami-affected province of Aceh. ADB Country Director Edgar A. Cua explained that the grants for Aceh would consist of a $2.5 million grant to help develop sustainable livelihoods in 20 coastal communities in Aceh Besar and Aceh Utara regencies by providing fishing boats and post-harvest facilities for small-scale fishermen and farmers. http://www.thejakartapost.com/Archives/ArchivesDet2.asp?FileID=20051215.L01 Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT After a massive three-month emergency relief operation in Indonesias Aceh province in the immediate aftermath of the 26 December 2004 tsunami, the UN refugee agency returned to the province in June 2005 to help out with the reconstruction effort by rebuilding communities along Acehs badly damaged west coast. In this second rebuilding phase, UNHCR is focusing its efforts along a 200km stretch of Acehs west coast where the priority is integrated, holistic community rebuilding involving community members in the reconstruction. http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/UNHCR/a4ad1c462697261d0245ff080366c1c4.htm Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT A few weeks ago, the exasperated residents of this fishing village put up a billboard with a message for tsunami relief workers: "We dont need boats. We need houses." The billboard sums up the state of reconstruction a year after a tsunami roared through the Aceh region on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, leaving 133,000 Indonesians dead, 25,000 missing and more than 500,000 homeless. In the aftermath of the disaster, foreign aid groups and Indonesian government agencies built too many boats, too quickly, but they didnt build enough housing. http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-12-14-tsunami-fish_x.htm Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT A World Bank official said on Wednesday that reconstruction work in the Indonesian province of Aceh had taken too long, with 180,000 people still living in temporary homes a year after a massive tsunami hit the region. Andrew Steer, head of the World Bank in Jakarta, urged Indonesias government to treat the rebuilding of Aceh as a top priority, as many survivors were still living in squalid camps and were frustrated by the slow pace of reconstruction. "We are not happy at all with the progress in Aceh. There are still over 60,000 people living in tents today, thats clearly unacceptable a year after the tsunami," Steer told reporters in Singapore. Another 120,000 live in barracks or with host families. http://today.reuters.com/News/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=SIN269748 Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT A recent ceremony has marked the first harvest for farmers in one village since the tsunami struck. After three months of toiling in the field, 39 hectares of land at Lambaroh village in Lamno, Aceh Jaya district, is finally ready for harvesting. An important moment for the community, as the ceremony is a sign they are on their way to economic recovery. http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/SODA-6JTA35?OpenDocumentandrc=3andemid=TS-2004-000147-LKA Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT Germany has awarded scholarships to 65 students from tsunami-hit Aceh and North Sumatra studying at the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB), the German Embassy in Jakarta said. In a simple ceremony on Wednesday held on the IPB campus in Bogor, Sur Place scholarships -- which were funded by the Donors Association for the Promotion of Science and Humanities in Germany -- were given to 65 needy postgraduate students. http://www.thejakartapost.com/Archives/ArchivesDet2.asp?FileID=20051202.T03 Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT The global response to the Indian Ocean tsunami prompted the region and the world to consider its implications for regional and global relations. The idea that ASEAN should have its own regional center for humanitarian assistance (The Jakarta Post, Oct. 27) should be seen against such a background. It is a clear reflection of the need for a much more permanent and effective mechanism to manage disasters. The center would hopefully not only improve the capacity of ASEAN members countries to provide quick-response humanitarian assistance in case of natural disaster, but also change their mind-set as to how they should manage their relations, particularly when faced with disaster. http://www.thejakartapost.com/Archives/ArchivesDet2.asp?FileID=20051122.E03 Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT Preliminary survey results by Unifem (United Nations Development Fund for Women) involving around 6,500 Acehnese women, survivors of the tsunami, indicated that almost 70 percent of them make decisions on their own. Important decisions the survivors make range from simple daily choices, to livelihood options, to whether they want to return to their original villages, relocate, or stay in temporary shelters. http://www.thejakartapost.com/Archives/ArchivesDet2.asp?FileID=20051109.E03 Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT Soon after the tsunami destroyed the coastline in the Indonesian province of Aceh, the IRC launched programs to help people resume their lives and jump-start the local economy. To date, the IRC has provided grants to nearly 200 small Acehnese businesses - from motorcycle taxis and car washes to beauty salons and fishing cooperatives - benefiting nearly 20,000 people. “It is important that we are focusing our help on these marginalized groups. http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/memphotoalbum/113135944820.htm Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT The anniversary of the Boxing Day disaster is looming, but government inertia has left the village the Guardian has been monitoring playing a reconstruction waiting game. The community noticeboard in Nusa is conspicuously underemployed. There are no updates on reconstruction programmes and the only bulletin on livelihood is a dog-eared one from June. The only recent notice advertises monthly distribution of rice, cooking oil, noodles and sardines to those who lost their homes in Decembers tsunami. http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1607209,00.html Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT Poor coordination has been blamed for the slow rehabilitation and reconstruction process in tsunami-struck Aceh, particularly in the areas of housing and economic recovery, a study reveals. Conducted under the Aceh Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Appraisal (ARRA) project, the study found that coordination problems had given rise to the impression that certain service-providers had allocated certain budgets to themselves. http://www.thejakartapost.com/Archives/ArchivesDet2.asp?FileID=20051028.A06 Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT Following growing concern about the sub-standard quality of boats being built in the last few months, FAO has made the training of boat builders an integral part of its efforts to ensure that safe, high quality boats are delivered to fishers. Forty-two boat builders, including representatives of the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries and the network of local fisher associations, the Panglima Laot, have received training through two boat building sessions. The first session was held in the district of Aceh Utara on the east coast of Aceh while the second is being held in the Nagan Raya district on the west coast. http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/RMOI-6HC3FY?OpenDocumentandrc=3andemid=TS-2004-000147-LKA Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT Ten months after the tsunami, and six months after the Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency (BRR) was established, the reconstruction of Aceh is still in trouble. I am not talking here about the pace of reconstruction. Frequent complaints around this issue only beg the question "Compared to what?" My concern here is rather about information and coordination. Both are very weak areas, and something needs to be done urgently to address these and save the reconstruction. http://www.thejakartapost.com/Archives/ArchivesDet2.asp?FileID=20051018.F04 Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT Over the weekend, close to 30,000 persons perished in one of the worst earthquakes in South Asia while another fifteen hundred were killed by floods and landslides in Guatemala. When the tsunami devastated our shores in Aceh, we thought it was the worst and last nightmare. Before long, the Nias mega quake hit. As we sighed with relief, Katrina and Rita inflicted massive destruction in the U.S. Serious attention to disasters is nothing new. The decade of the 1990s was designated to be the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR). http://www.thejakartapost.com/Archives/ArchivesDet2.asp?FileID=20051015.F04 Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT From atop the coconut tree where he fled to escape the onrushing water, Muhammad Yacob watched the tsunami turn his rice paddy into a briny, debris-strewn swamp. Nine months later, Yacob and his wife are harvesting their best-ever crop -- despite fears that salt water had poisoned the land. "The sea water turned out to be a great fertilizer," said Yacob, 66, during a break from scything the green shoots and laying them in bunches on the stubble. "We are looking at yields twice as high as last year." http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=8887 Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT The head of the Aceh and Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency (BRR) agency has vowed to speed up reconstruction work, particularly the building of permanent houses for people left homeless by the Dec. 26 tsunami disaster. BRR chairman Kuntoro Mangkusubroto said that so far the agency had constructed around 6,300 houses, including 870 in Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh, which bore the brunt of the tsunami that left over 220,000 people dead and missing as well as around half a million people homeless. http://www.thejakartapost.com/Archives/ArchivesDet2.asp?FileID=20050919.C01 Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT The meeting and discussion seeks to acknowledge the diversity condition of pre-tsunami landscape and livelihoods strategies in Aceh, to provide opportunity to reflect on progress and issues in the current phase of post-Tsunami rehabilitation along Aceh-s west coast. Later the discussion will formulate how rehabilitation efforts at farm level can become better prepared for the coming changes in infrastructure, to identify issues that require additional knowledge sharing and research, and to enhance network between active development and relevant research agencies. Participants will include the representatives of organization and government agencies actively involved in rehabilitation efforts for agriculture, agroforestry, forestry and livelihoods issues, along Aceh-s west coast, researchers and resource persons from research institutions, universities, and government agencies Tue, 04 Jan 2006 08:49:37 GMT