One year on and hundreds of thousands of survivors continue to live in tents, improvised emergency shelters and transitional living centres without their own permanent housing, provided by what CWS described as “the single largest organisational mobilisation in response to a natural disaster in the agency’s 60-year history”.
According to CWS reports, however, progress is spreading visibly throughout the affected areas despite the many ongoing challenges that aid workers and locals are faced.
In partnership with the villagers, CWS has drafted in workers from nearby communities and local contractors to help rebuild the village of Meue, in the Pidie district of Aceh Province, Indonesia, where the tsunami destroyed the village’s entire fishing fleet, most of its houses and nearly all livestock.
Not long after the tsunami hit, Church World Service set up a livelihoods recovery project in Meue before further assessments revealed a continued and urgent need for shelter, which was later provided by CWS.
Mother of three, Syaraini, who lives in Meue, said the construction of her own new home and others throughout the village is making “everyone feel more secure so they can focus on earning an income”.
CWS said, however, that there was a persistent need for building materials, educational resources for children, and health and medical resources throughout affected areas.Church World Service and our partners in Aceh have been focusing on people first, and on community needs. We've made great strides in either restoring or building new water and sanitation facilities throughout the region.
Maurice Bloem, CWS Indonesia director
Assistance has expanded from the areas that were initially reachable to include other areas in need of assistance that the agency has identified as “priority intervention areas” still under-served since the tsunami.
To date, CWS has raised $11,436,822 and $6,612,010 in material goods, most of which has been directed to Indonesia, with a proportion of it also going to Sri Lanka, India, Somalia and Thailand.
