Saturday, August 16, 2008

Aceh villagers face homelessness again - in name of tsunami aid from US government

Fishing families in Aceh who survived the 2004 tsunami that struck the northern tip of Indonesia and washed away every home in their village, and most of the land, face the prospect of seeing their community devastated a second time.

Months after new quake-proof homes on stilts were built, almost half could be torn down to make way for a coastal highway billed as the US government's signature project for tsunami reconstruction.

Even as the 118 homes in the village of Kuala Bubon were being designed and built, plans were being laid for the road from Banda Aceh to Meulaboh, west Aceh, funded to the tune of £125m by USAid, the American government's international relief and development agency.

But the highway route that will scythe through the village could see the demolition of up to 50 of the houses that were built with £750,000 of money donated by Christian Aid in the UK and Lutheran churches in the US.

"It's so absurd," said Rebecca Young, tsunami liaison officer for Presbyterian Disaster Assistance in Aceh. "Funds from American churches were used to build these houses. Now American taxpayers' money is going to knock them down for a road the people don't really want. But USAid said it is not going to bend."

Indonesia's national commission on human rights is reviewing villagers' grievances and is due to visit the site soon. But USAid maintains the road must stick to the route selected by Jakarta after it bought the land in 2005, making any houses built on the land after that illegal.

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