Tsunami Recovery Rolls Ahead Slowly

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia — Along the ruined highway of Indonesia’s northern Sumatra coast, the horizon is a flattened wasteland dotted with reminders of lives lost, wooden signs scrawled with the words “kuburan masal” -- mass grave.

Once, this two-lane road was the major artery linking fishing villages and farming communities to the bustling provincial capital of Banda Aceh.

Then, the tsunami washed much of it away.

Where once the drive from Banda Aceh to Meulaboh was an easy five-hour ride on smooth asphalt, today it’s a bone-jarring, 12-hour slog on dirt and gravel. Every few yards the road is pockmarked with holes; all along the way, the devastation is inescapable.

But there are signs of rebirth. Temporary houses and schools are starting to sprout, and the Americans are poised to mend the coastal road -- and, with it, the wounded communities that once thrived along its path.

“This is a road writ large. It enables communities to become communities again, livelihoods to flourish, businesses to grow,” said William McKinney, representative for the U.S. Agency for International Development in Aceh, which is funding the five-year, $245-million road project.

It is this way across the wide swath ravaged by a magnitude 9 quake and tsunami six months ago -- 11 countries where an estimated 180,000 died and 50,000 more are missing. The focus has shifted from emergency relief to longer-term recovery; donors and aid agencies are seeking to rebuild basic infrastructure and renew broken lives.

But the challenges are daunting, and complaints abound that promised funding has been slow to come, and reconstruction is not moving as quickly as hoped.

In Sri Lanka, the government says it has signed agreements with donor agencies to build 27,000 houses and has pledges for 90,000 houses in total. But some tsunami survivors, frustrated by government inaction, held demonstrations earlier this month. Hundreds carried black flags, blocked traffic and became violent when police tried to disperse the demonstrators, who were demanding promised compensation for destroyed homes.

In southern India, construction has begun on permanent housing in the devastated district of Nagapattinam. Officials there estimate that about 17,000 new homes are needed and 4,000 others can be repaired. J. Radhakrishnan, the top local administrator, said he hoped the first of the homes would be ready in three months, while all housing was expected to be completed within a year.

On Thailand’s resort island of Phuket, hotels and stores have reopened and the Starbucks is selling cappuccinos again. But around Khao Lak in neighboring Phang Nga province, recovery has been much slower, with construction just starting along the main strip that was once lined with dive shops and hotels.

Nowhere is the task more pressing than in Indonesia’s Aceh province, near the epicenter of the Dec. 26 earthquake, where more than 131,000 people were killed.

The tsunami unleashed 30-foot walls of water that wiped hundreds of miles of coastline and entire villages off the map. More than half a million people were left homeless.

Half of them still live in basic tents while about 150,000 have moved into government-built barracks. The rest have moved into tight quarters shared with friends and relatives.

Small steps have been taken on the road to recovery. Markets that were clogged with mud are bustling again with vendors selling vegetables and seafood. Streets once swollen with bodies are jammed with cars and motorbikes. Mountains of debris have been carted off and spots of green are sprouting from blackened earth.

But reconstruction has been slow, with only a few wood-framed houses going up around Banda Aceh and its surrounding villages. Bulldozers and other heavy equipment are scarce.

Frustrated survivors had hoped for more, their expectations heightened by armies of foreign aid workers and millions of dollars in pledges that initially came their way.

Just off the coastal highway, fisherman M. Yayah Abu Bakar, 43, and his family of five live in cramped barracks a few miles from the remains of their home. Everything they have -- pots, an old mattress, piles of clothes, a kid’s bicycle -- is borrowed or donated.

“Why are we still here?” he lamented. “They promised we would have our own house soon. The government is getting a lot of money but the reconstruction has been too slow. We cannot live like this.”

Nearly $7 billion in reconstruction aid was promised by fellow nations but little has been disbursed. Donors are reluctant to disburse without a clear plan and guarantees of transparency.

The United Nations and humanitarian groups have defended the pace, saying the scope and complexity of the challenge requires a thoughtful and well-planned response.

“It’s not simply going back and rebuilding what was there before

“You’re not talking about rebuilding a home or rebuilding infrastructure. You’re talking about ensuring when you rebuild as a collective, it’s in areas that are viable and sustainable. ... That takes time.”

Bottlenecks in Indonesia have eased with the creation of an agency to oversee reconstruction. Headed by former Energy Minister Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency has approved nearly $1.8 billion in projects in six weeks.

Among them: a $600-million agreement with the International Red Cross to build 22,500 houses, 70 schools and 180 clinics over four years; the $245-million coastal highway project; a $30-million Intel project to provide wireless Internet access to Banda Aceh. An additional $585 million in projects by the United Nations and non-governmental groups was approved in mid-June.

Mangkusubroto promises that in the next few weeks and months, reconstruction will be clearly visible in Aceh.

Some construction is already underway. The first of 200 temporary schools put up by UNICEF are opening this week, while the rest will be completed over the next month. The International Organization for Migration, which has committed to building 11,000 houses, will have a few dozen steel-reinforced concrete homes ready for families by month’s end.

But the soft-spoken Mangkusubroto is acutely aware that any reports of corruption could halt the flow of new money. The agency has sent a message of “zero tolerance” for corruption, and hired international auditors and accountants to look over its shoulder.

“We’re not very proud of our past when it comes to corruption ... but we have to fight this. Otherwise, trust will diminish and the pledges cannot be realized,” he said.

Other tough issues remain. How will those who lost their land be compensated? Where will people be allowed to rebuild? Where will the timber to build housing come from?

But the paramount challenge is getting the Acehnese deeply involved in rebuilding their own community, according to aid agencies.

“It’s the cornerstone of what we do. It’s all community participation. The process helps build the foundation for communities in the future,” said Peter Stevenson, program director for U.S.-based Mercy Corps in Aceh.

The need to inject new life into local communities is what motivates the U.S. agency that expects to rebuild the 150-mile stretch of highway between Banda Aceh to Meulaboh, starting in July.

“Without this road, Banda Aceh cannot function,” said USAID’s McKinney. “The road provides a lifeline for goods, services, people, livelihoods. Everything you’ll do requires a road or road network.”

In Leupeung, a coastal village 15 miles south of Banda Aceh, more than 1,400 of 1,800 residents perished in the waves. People are struggling to rebuild the community of fishermen and farmers.

Without the road’s existence, the townspeople will have no chance to get back on their feet, said the village chief, who uses one name, Syarbini.

“It is the future for our village,” he said.

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Tsunami recovery at a glance

Progress in recovering from southern Asia’s devastating Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami:

Indonesia: Reconstruction has recently picked up steam, with temporary schools and houses sprouting in hardest-hit Aceh province. In the last six weeks, the government’s new reconstruction agency has approved $1.8 billion in projects, including housing, schools and roads.

Sri Lanka: The government says it has signed agreements with donor agencies to build 27,000 houses and has pledges for 63,000 more. Little construction can be seen along the battered coast, which is dotted with tents and temporary shelters. Frustrated survivors have held protest rallies.

India: Construction of permanent housing has begun in the southern district of Nagapattinam, where officials estimate that 17,000 new homes are needed and 4,000 others can be repaired. The first homes are due to be ready in three months; all are expected to be completed within a year.

Thailand: The government has completed 1,400 houses and 1,700 more are being built in the six provinces hit hardest. An additional 500 homes are being built by villagers with money from the government. Construction has been delayed by disputes over land rights.

Warning system: Countries in the region have set up stopgap measures to warn of impending tsunami on their shores, but comprehensive, nationwide programs are years away. A regionwide sensor network for the Indian Ocean could be in place sometime next year.

Source: Associated Press

Los Angeles Times

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Tsunami death toll

The death toll from the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami is at least 178,953. The number of missing is 49,616, with most presumed dead. The toll by country:

Indonesia: 131,029 dead; 37,066 missing

Sri Lanka: 31,229 dead; 4,093 missing

India: 10,749 dead; 5,640 missing

Thailand: 5,395 dead; 2,817 missing

Somalia: 298 dead

Myanmar: 90 dead

Maldives: 82 dead

Malaysia: 68 dead

Tanzania: 10 dead

Bangladesh: 2 dead

Kenya: 1 dead

Source: Associated Press

Los Angeles Times

Note: Sri Lanka’s death toll is in dispute. One government agency’s higher figure, 38,916 deaths, would raise the overall total to 186,640.