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Home > WCO Programs > Special Programs >Indonesia Report |
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Rebuilding CULTURE in Banda Aceh, Indonesia |
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5. In the Wake of the Tsunami |
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 Nearing the end of our second day in Aceh, we visited the areas of the community most heavily hit by the tsunami's waves. I cannot adequately describe the destruction nor due its damage (and the resulting horror) justice. It felt like the tsunami arrived the week prior to our visit, as there was little evidence of reconstruction work. Occasionally, one would spot a smattering of UNHCR emergency relief tents but for the most part, the communities near the beach remained flattened and untouched by aid organizations and the government. It appeared that most of the initial tsunami relief money was funding emergency food and shelter within refugee camps but that the bulk of the cleanup and reconstruction process was still in design phase. (I must acknowledge, however, that a cleanup and reconstruction effort must be daunting beyond recognition¡¦where does one start? And if the government begins the process in one neighborhood first, will not the adjacent neighborhood be upset that they were not first selected?)
 Families remained huddled on their plot of land, staking out their existing property for fear that the government might seize their property in some massive land grab. Large freighter ships were randomly settled in smaller semi-ruined sections of town, transported magically by the force of the waves. Graffiti on the ruined houses told of family members deceased and paid homage to the lives stolen by the tsunami. The devastation expanded for miles¡¦cars crumbled like little wads of paper, major towers and buildings dismembered, pools of stagnating and diseased water. And yet, community members wandered through the wreckage in an attempt to find and slowly rebuild something, anything. We were in awe, dumbfounded by the complete absence of a pre-existing community, a whole town. But we were more in awe of what appeared to be the absence of a cleanup and reconstruction effort.
 One dilemma was that the international aid organizations had been diligent in providing aid but in ways that fall short of cultural appropriateness. For example, ACI members referenced emergency housing that neglected culturally appropriate designs. The Acehnese people were reluctant to stay in the emergency housing because the designs failed to include on essential component of traditional Acehnese design: a community space for neighbors to gather, sit, and converse. Only a small space was needed. Acehnese tsunami victims were mindful of the symbolic importance rather than the actual size or square footage of the meeting space. But the cultural neglect had evidenced itself and as a result, ACI is now in consultation with aid organizations vis-á-vis culturally appropriate reconstruction processes and is drafting a manual for distribution to, and among, aid organizations.
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