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Nias Island
The population of Nias Island is 711,976 people with an average family size of 5.5 people. The tsunami killed 140 people and left hundreds homeless, mainly in the west, north, and south coasts. The earthquake in March 2005 affected the whole of Nias Island, killing 850 people, injuring 6,000, and leaving 80,000 people homeless. Over 13,000 homes were destroyed and another 58,000 partially damaged. Infrastructure damaged included 755 schools, 173 health facilities, and over 1,000 kilometres of road.
Since February 2007, Medair has been implementing a project in Lolomatua in the centre of Nias Island. The project aims to improve access to local health care and to clean water, through rehabilitation of clinics, increased training, and reconstructed water supplies.
Medair Project
What are the core issues that Medair is aiming to address?
The goal of the programme is to improve the health and well-being of the disaster-affected people in Nias Island and on the West Coast of Aceh. To achieve this, Medair will improve access to adequate health care, clean water, and sanitation, so that residents are able to resume normal lives.
How is Medair addressing the problem?
Medair constructed water points and latrines alongside completed homes, to encourage people to leave temporary accommodation as quickly as possible
The initial 14-month project, now nearing completion, improved access to a safe water supply and adequate sanitation by providing:
- 500 water & sanitation units, comprising of a shallow well, bathing area, latrine and septic tank, constructed alongside new homes
- Five rainwater harvesting systems constructed for communal buildings such as schools and health facilities
- Piloting a bio-sand filter project as a method for household water treatment
- Capacity building of local water & sanitation committees, to support and enhance the water & sanitation activities
- Assessment of existing surface water drainage to develop village drainage plans which can be implemented in the second phase of the project
- Ongoing needs assessment in underserved disaster-affected areas of Aceh and Nias Island, to ensure outstanding needs are addressed in subsequent phases of the programme
On 1 December 2006, Medair started phase two of the programme in Aceh, which expanded on the initial programme, including:
- Approximately 500 water & sanitation units
- Improve water and sanitation facilities in four schools
- Rehabilitate 180 wells damaged by the tsunami
- Build up to three gravity-fed water systems providing clean, potable water to communities.
- Hygiene promotion in all supported villages
- Expansion of the bio-sand filter project, and support to community water and sanitation committees
- Improvement of drainage systems in up to three villages
On February 2007, Medair launched a project on Nias Island, with the following objectives:Six health clinics rehabilitated or reconstructed, depending on extent of damage
- Staff recruited and trained for health clinics
- Childhood disease vaccination campaigns
- Health & hygiene education in villages, to increase local understanding of disease prevention and to help families remain healthy
- Up to 10 gravity-fed water systems repaired, and up to 10 rainwater harvesting systems repaired/reconstructed to ensure long-term access to potable water supply at household level
Who is Medair assisting ?
Aceh Phase 1: Approximately 6,500 people
Aceh Phase 2: Approximately 15,200 people
Nias Island: Approximately 35,000 people
Presence of Medair in Indonesia
Medair has been operational in Aceh Province since receiving permission to work from the Indonesian Government in July 2006.
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