IOM is manufacturing hundreds of durable bamboo homes each week for
vulnerable survivors of the May earthquake on the Indonesian island
of Java weeks before the arrival of the rainy season.

Three hundred and forty local labourers working four production
lines are able to produce 140 prefabricated homes each day at a
newly-opened facility in Yogyakarta province. Four hundred and
fifty homes were constructed as part of a pilot project and
finished components for nearly 1,000 others have been distributed
to area villages.

The dawn 6.3 magnitude earthquake on 27 left an estimated 1.5
million people homeless in two provinces in the island’s
populous agricultural heartland.

With its government and international partners, IOM is racing to
produce as many homes as possible before the arrival of monsoon
rains in November.

"We are all keenly aware that the rainy season is around the
corner and we need to get as many people as possible into these
secure structures," says Jules Korsten, who heads IOM’s
earthquake relief efforts in Java. "By opening this production
facility and tapping into our expertise in transport and logistics
we are doing all we can to accelerate the process."

The units, which are made entirely of bamboo and woven wall
materials known as gedek, are designed to be inhabited for at least
two years. They sit atop a sand and cement base and large tarpaulin
sheets provide a roof. Each unit costs roughly US$150.

IOM trains facilitators from area universities to oversee
community members building the structures. With some training, five
men can erect a unit in three days.

In addition, IOM’s Shelter Assessment and Community
Liaison team continues to evaluate communities in Imogiri and Jetis
sub-districts in Yogyakarta province, and will move to Klaten
sub-district in neighboring Central Java province next week. A
total of 8,190 households have been assessed and verified, and
close to 4,300 beneficiary families have already been selected.

IOM has transported close to 113,000 bamboo poles from West
Java, to Yogyakarta on behalf of the government, which is
distributing the building materials across the two affected
provinces.

IOM’s fleet of more than 200 trucks and light vehicles has
also delivered roughly 37,000 tons of food and non-food items in
the past four months on behalf of the Indonesian government, UN
agencies, local and international NGOs.

IOM's shelter assistance programme is funded by the Humanitarian
Aid Department of the European Commission (ECHO), the United States
Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Dutch
government.

For more information, please contact:

Paul Dillon

IOM Indonesia

Tel. +62-812-698-8035

E-mail: "mailto:pdillon@iom.int">pdillon@iom.int