IOM is to build 150 permanent houses in earthquake-affected
communities in Yogyakarta as part of an Australian-funded programme
that will at the same time train people in safe building methods
and earthquake preparedness.

IOM's Mobile Shelter Assistance (MSA) programme, agreed with RHK
Project Management on behalf of the Australia Agency of
International Development (AusAID), will use the houses as hands-on
construction training centres targeting an estimated 10,000 people
in 20 villages over a 6-week period. 

The programme, which aims to rebuild communities through the
provision of technical assistance for rehabilitation and
reconstruction through community-based participatory processes,
will also provide building materials to assist in permanent
reconstruction.

The MSA programme, which focuses on long-term reconstruction,
marks a shift from IOM's early recovery and reconstruction efforts
in Yogyakarta and Central Java following the May 2006
earthquake.

In the immediate aftermath of the quake, which left 6,000 people
dead and 1.5 million homeless, IOM distributed almost 250,000
emergency shelter items. Since then it has constructed some 15,000
transitional bamboo shelters.

For further information, please contact:

Manfred Profazi

IOM Yogyakarta

Tel. +62.8126989879

Email: "mailto:mprofazi@iom.int">mprofazi@iom.int 

Ashley Carl

Tel. +62.811268076

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