Book “Post-tsunami housing reconstruction in Aceh”

01/09/2005

After the devastation caused by the 2004 tsunami, several hundred NGOs and international organisations arrived in Aceh, on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, to begin the long reconstruction process. 500 000 Acehnese had lost their homes, and during the next four years, 140 300 houses were built thanks to the 7.8 billion dollars collected by the international community and private donors. Never before had humanitarian programmes involved so much construction.

Author(s)

Simon Deprez, Eléonore Labattut, Editions Karthala, Paris

Based on field research, this study analyses the impact that this vast reconstruction programme has had on the Acehnese population and territory.
The authors consider the appropriation and sustainability of the new houses in relation to their architectural type, the construction methods used and their adaptability. They also look at the related issues of planning, property law, economic aid and how well the emergency phase was linked to development programmes. Also highlighted is the post-conflict context in which the reconstruction took place, following the 2005 peace agreement which ended thirty years of guerrilla war between the separatists of the GAM and the Indonesian government.

Aceh has been impoverished and isolated by years of conflict. Has this massive reconstruction programme laid the foundations of sustainable social and economic development?