TSUNAMIS MAY ERODE FREEDOM TO REBUILD

Julie Chao, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, March 20, 2005

Banda Aceh, Indonesia --- Nearly three months after tsunamis leveled their villages, the fishermen of Aceh province are anxious to return and rebuild. Idle and bored in inland refugee camps, miles away from the coast, they are trickling back to the water's edge.

Ahadi, who like many Indonesians uses only one name, stands out. On his coastal plot he has erected a humble wood frame in a vast landscape of flat nothingness. Before the waves, there were hundreds of houses here. Now all that remains are concrete foundations, twisted metal, scraps of wood and broken sinks and pillars. Behind the ruins the ocean is calm and blue.

With a rusty saw, Ahadi is at work trying to finish the frame of his house.

But he and others who rebuild may be setting themselves up for a confrontation with the Indonesian government, which has proposed a coastal "buffer zone" about a mile wide to protect people in case of another tsunami. No construction would be allowed in the buffer zone.

"The government has asked us not to rebuild within 2 kilometers [just over a mile] from the coast," said Ahadi, 46. "But people here will come back no matter what happens."

Jakarta's blueprint for reconstruction will be released Saturday, but the uncertainty already has sowed widespread confusion and anger. Rebuilding is largely on hold while the government's plan is debated and fine-tuned.

Fishermen and others here say they are weary of life in the crowded refugee camps and don't understand why the government isn't acting faster.

"There's nothing to do there," said Andi, 22, whose parents, sister and two brothers were killed in the tsunamis. "Women can cook, but what can we do? We just sit around, asking friends for cigarettes. The government has given us nothing but food. They only want us to sleep, eat, sleep, eat."

The emergency is over in Aceh province, where an estimated 220,000 people died and half a million more were left homeless in the Dec. 26 tsunamis, which ravaged coastal South Asia.

The aim is to rebuild homes and neighborhoods for hundreds of thousands of people and to restore devastated industries and livelihoods.

Everyone wonders why, with all the aid money and foreign know-how that has poured in, the effort hasn't yet begun.

Donors, too, are eager for progress. The tsunamis triggered an outpouring of contributions, and charities want to show donors that their money made an impact, said Stephen Gwynne Vaughan, assistant country director for the Atlanta-based aid organization CARE.

But reviving the fishing industry is not a simple matter of giving new boats to fishermen. Many of the province's boat builders were killed in the tsunamis. And several ice factories were destroyed. Ice is essential to transport and preserve the catch.

Banda Aceh, the provincial capital, has made remarkable progress in clearing roads, hospitals, markets and other buildings of mud and debris. The city has bounded back to life. Cars and scooters clog the streets, and cafes are full in the afternoons with men drinking strong Sumatran brew and reading newspapers.

After being closed to most foreigners because of a nearly 30-year separatist rebellion, the city is full of foreign faces. More than 160 nonprofit aid groups and U.N. agencies operating here have driven up prices of house rentals, translators and cars and drivers. The government is relying on them to support the recovery, yet also tries to impose restrictions, such as requiring military escorts.

"The government is both pushing us and holding us back," Vaughan said.

Given the ongoing military conflict, aid groups are treading carefully. Earlier this month, Jakarta announced that groups not involved in reconstruction would be asked to leave before April 1. But on Friday, Welfare Minister Alwi Shihab said that deadline would be extended 30 or 60 days.

Most locals say they are glad to have the foreign aid, but they complain that government corruption prevents it from being distributed fairly.

"For aid that goes to the district office, like milk, eggs and canned fish, you have to have a connection to get anything," said 28-year-old Hijriyati, a mother of three living in a refugee camp. "We see them, but we never get any. We get only rice."

Aceh residents also complain that the central government in Jakarta is making plans with little local input.

It is unclear what will happen to those who already have rebuilt in the buffer zone. Many Acehnese clearly are not worried about the prospect of another tsunami, an event that might occur only once a century.

"My grandfather never told me about a tsunami," said Luthfi, a public works official. "That means there hasn't been one for at least a hundred years. I think [the buffer zone] is unreasonable. An earthquake is a greater danger."

Ahadi, the fisherman already rebuilding, estimates that nine out of 10 people were killed in his neighborhood. Despite the heavy toll, the fishermen say they must return to the coast.

"A crocodile can't live in the mountain," said Andi, citing a Sumatran proverb. "As fishermen, we already know how to live. We can catch two fish a day and have enough to eat. If we live in the mountains, how can we survive?"