North Aceh "untouched" by post-tsunami aid
Banda Aceh (AsiaNews) In the northern part of tsunami-devastated Aceh province people are still waiting for aid to arrive. Locals say their region has been "untouched" by relief and rehabilitation programmes. National as well as international NGOs and agencies have failed to provide help. Food aid has also ended and residents are going hungry.
Residents in the Kecamatan Samudera Sub-Regency (district) complain that the 20 homes that could re-house the still homeless tsunami survivors have not been built.
Mustafa, 33, from the village Matang Ulim, said that residents in Kecamatan Samudera Gueudong have nowhere to sleep. "No one has come [. . .] to give any help," he lamented.
The same is true for the residents of the village of Balng Nibong, where the tsunami destroyed at least 130 homes. The International Organization of Migration is expected to build only 13 housing units after it had to change plans because of land shortage. Local sources explain that last year's tsunami devastated 1,217 homes.
In the village of Puuk 70 new housing units are under construction, whilst another 56 are being renovated.
In the villages of Krueng Mate and Matang Seulimeng, respectively 28 and 29 new housing units will be built.
According to Husnan Ibrahim, a government official in North Aceh, residents in the area need at least 7,868 homes. At present, only 1,345 are available.
More than 27,500 displaced people have complained that over the last five months some programmesthe so-called life support guarantee or jadup in Indonesianhave been terminated. They provided daily help to people in need.
For the thousands of locals who eke out a living fishing, the loss of this support spell even harder times since they cannot afford the higher fuel cost decreed by the government in October.
"Life has become very hard these days," said Maimun, 45, from Sawang. "We urgently need jadup for our daily needs," he explained.
Jadup programmes were terminated in July but "the promises made remained but promises," added Ramli, a refugee from Lancok, a village in Syamtalira Bayu Sub Regency.
Even so, the North Aceh People Empowerment and Social Guidance Office said that the programmes in question were not interrupted. The problem is that "Social Affairs Office in North Aceh did not distribute the necessary funds."
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