From Earthquake to Safe Shelter
Medair and local Indonesian partner Cipta Fondasi Komunitas (CFK, ‘Creating Foundations for Community’) coordinate the construction of up to 2,400 transitional shelters in earthquake-affected Padang Pariaman district.
Hundreds of thousands of people are still without acceptable shelter in Indonesia following the earthquakes of 30 September 2009. Those quakes killed more than 1,100 people and left 280,000 families homeless.
In October, Medair assessed the affected areas for communities where unmet needs were greatest. As a result, we and local partner CFK are now working in the Sungai Sarik sub-district of Padang Pariaman, where approximately 6,700 homes were either completely or partially destroyed.
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“We are used to earthquakes, we often feel the earth tremble,” said 70-year-old Zaenab, widowed sister of M. Nur.
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“We were away from home when the quake struck. After the earth stopped shaking, we rushed to our house.”
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“If we had been in the house, the result would have been horrific. Instead, we are alive, but homeless.”
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In October, Medair’s Mark Wooding met with people in affected communities to assess how we could best provide assistance.
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For 15 days after the quake, M. Nur and his family slept in the outside air until they were given this tent.
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Medair partnered with local NGO CFK and designed a model transitional shelter (T-shelter). They selected M. Nur and his family as part of a pilot training and demonstration project.
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The community removed the wreckage of the old house. They salvaged some pots and pans, clothing, and furniture for the family.
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Swift progress was made because the community worked together–Indonesia’s “gotong royong” system.
With funding from Swiss Solidarity and private donors, Medair has trained the trainers who are now providing technical assistance that will help Indonesians construct earthquake-resistant temporary homes. The CFK trainers use training materials in the local language, and conduct workshops and on-site demonstrations. Essential tools and construction materials are being distributed to households to build transitional shelters until the government provides funding for more permanent structures.
Medair and CFK have designed an excellent transitional shelter (T-shelter) model and a training workshop for the community. Although we are providing training and materials, we are not actually building T-shelters for people, but rather working within the traditional “gotong royong” system—where groups of about 10 households build each shelter together by pooling resources in the “spirit of community.”
In December, the first T-shelter was constructed for M. Nur, a 65-year-old blind man and Muslim elder, and for his extended family. Their story, from earthquake to safe shelter, is told in the photo feature above.
