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Red Cross, Red Crescent shelters take shape in Aceh
Written by
Bonnie Gillespie
, Press Officer, American Red Cross Tsunami Recovery Program
Tuesday, December 06, 2005 — BANDA ACEH, Indonesia – Efforts to get tens of thousands of tsunami survivors out of tents have taken shape in the Indonesian province of Aceh with the assembly of a custom-made temporary shelter from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (Federation), which will be distributed and assembled in conjunction with the American Red Cross and other Red Cross and Red Crescent national societies.
First model of transitional shelter set up at the Red Cross Movement warehouse in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. (Photo Credit: Olav A. Saltbones/IFRC)
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The Federation and the United Nations flew the first two steel-framed shelters into Banda Aceh last week ahead of up to 20,000 others coming by ship, and immediately began training local employees in how to assemble them. The sturdy, 270-square-foot lightweight units were specially designed by construction engineers for local conditions, ease of delivery and speed of assembly.
“The aim is to get everyone out of tents as soon as possible,” said Kevin Duignan, the Federation’s construction project coordinator. “That’s why we needed to design and produce a model that we could transport and put up almost anywhere.”
With support from the UN, the Federation will supply the shelters to the American Red Cross, other national societies and various relief agencies working in Aceh free of charge. By helping meet the enduring short-term shelter needs across the affected area, partners in the Red Cross Movement hope to encourage agencies to maintain focus on the longer-term construction of permanent housing.
Rather than build temporary shelters, most relief agencies decided earlier this year to construct permanent homes as soon as possible, in line with community wishes. Hopes that this could occur quickly were dashed by such constraints as massive land subsidence due to earthquakes, complications over land rights – very little Aceh land was documented before the tsunami – supply problems and absence of clear policy. Meanwhile, displaced people’s living conditions deteriorated.
These sturdy, lightweight units were specially designed by construction engineers for local conditions, ease of delivery and speed of assembly. (Photo Credit: Bonnie Gillespie/American Red Cross)
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The Federation and the UN mobilized a temporary shelter initiative late in the summer as delays became cause for serious concern.
With transport, training and monitoring teams for the project provided by the Federation, the American Red Cross and other implementing partners will do the preparatory groundwork and select local workers to erect the structures with the help of future residents. People living in tents will have priority, as well as widows with children and other very vulnerable groups.
The American Red Cross anticipates an integrated approach in its targeted communities by incorporating water and sanitation and other services as part of the temporary shelter initiative.
“In addition to the temporary shelters, we are looking to upgrade and rehabilitate existing water and sanitation systems in barracks and tent camps as another aspect of the project,” said Susan Brock, American Red Cross health delegate and leader of the Settlement Action Team in Aceh.
Engineers based the shelter design on a concept used by the Federation after flooding in Vietnam. (Photo Credit: Bonnie Gillespie/American Red Cross)
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Based on a design used by the Federation for floods in Vietnam, the shelters are easy to assemble and lightweight because many heavily-affected areas will have to be supplied by landing craft.
Each unit can be easily anchored to withstand almost any conditions with little or no ground preparation, and Duignan says that it should take a small team less than a day to assemble one structure.
“Everything was configured to make it simple,” said Duignan. “Just like Lego.”
The huge cross-agency project is planned to finish in late March 2006.
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