Feature: Acehese obsessed with absence of houses, jobs

At least 60,000 internally displaced people still live in tents and barracks and most of them have not yet found a job in Indonesia's Aceh province, which was severely hit by monster Tsunami a year ago.

This has constituted a major problem for the rehabilitation and rebuilding process, according to local authorities.

"It is very cold at night. Many of us get sick. I do not know what to do today. I have no job," said 32-year-old Hassan Basri here on Sunday. He was a tsunami survivor who has lived in tent ever since the tides swept away his house on Dec. 26, 2004.

Hassan tried to restore his previous business of prawn ponds but in vain.

While he spent the past year in his tent with poor sanitation and hygiene, frustration mounted day by day.

"I wonder if this condition could make me into a criminal to meet my daily needs," said Hassan.

All the displaced Acehnese like Hassan have been expecting the government to help them build homes, restore business and finally return to normal lives.

However, according to officials, the homeless must wait longer to obtain permanent houses, as the government and non-government organizations have only finished building over 16,000 out of 120, 000 permanent houses, a target yet to be reached in the middle of 2007.

The rebuilding process was still hampered by difficulties to transport materials to isolated areas, poor coordination among the concerned parties and other technical problems, Head of the Aceh and Nias Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency (BRR) Kuntoro Mangkusubroto told Xinhua by phone on Sunday.

The BRR had already rebuilt and recovered dozens of fish ponds and rice fields, but there were still more areas awaiting their help, said Kuntoro.

"There is still great work to do and we have to speed up next year," he said.

Some barracks measuring five by five meters, are settled by more than one families, as the owners brought their relatives to stay together.

"We are like chickens here. One simple room is occupied by three families, and we also cook in the room," said Nanang Fahrudi, one of the displaced people.

"We cannot do our work as before tsunami, like making salt, raising fish and prawn. We need help," said Fahrudi.

Meanwhile, BRR coordinator Muhammad told Xinhua that the process had been going on to identify locations to build houses for the homeless

"Our main task is how to create working opportunities. The most important thing is that the economy will grow, so people in Aceh can get jobs," he said.

Earlier on Saturday, Vice President Jusuf Kalla told Xinhua by phone that there were many achievements in the rehabilitation and reconstruction process, but it must be speeded up next year.

"We have obtained some achievements, but we need to accelerate our speed to build more houses in 2006," he said.

Source: Xinhua