A 150-home resettlement site for survivors of the December 2004
Asian tsunami neared completion this weekend when work started on a
community centre and a school.

With 107 houses completed and 43 more scheduled for completion
by the end of this month, Tereubeh in Aceh Besar district will be
the largest permanent resettlement site for tsunami-affected
families built by IOM in partnership with the American Red
Cross.

 

The two agencies have agreed to construct up to 1,630 permanent
homes, 149 transitional homes and 12 schools and community centres
in Aceh on land identified by the Indonesian authorities at both
the district level and the national level through the Ministry of
Transmigration. Some 634 units are already completed and the
remainder are scheduled for completion by 30 June.

In Tereubeh, 80 per cent of the homes will be occupied by
families from coastal areas in Aceh Besar, Aceh Jaya and Aceh Utara
districts. The remaining 20 per cent will go to poor families from
the local community which provided the land for the site.

ECHO, the European Community Humanitarian Aid Office, is
supporting the site with an IOM-implemented water and sanitation
project. IOM has connected 107 houses to the local mains water
supply and American Red Cross will connect the remaining 43.

Tereubeh is located inland from the tsunami-affected coast, in
the hills overlooking Banda Aceh city.  The incoming families,
most of whom made their living from fishing before the tsunami, are
now taking up farming with technical and financial assistance from
IOM’s Livelihood project, which is funded by the NGO
Americares.

Some households are also raising freshwater eels which will be
exported to Malaysia through a local company.

For more information please contact:

Jeff McMurdo

IOM Banda Aceh

Tel. +62.812.6989342

E-mail: "mailto:jmcmurdo@iom.int" target="_blank" title=
"">jmcmurdo@iom.int

Paul Norton

IOM Jakarta

Tel. +62.811895651

E-mail: "mailto:pinorton@iom.int" target="_blank" title=
"">pinorton@iom.int