PRESS CONFERENCE on tsunami recovery efforts in indonesia

 

Rebuilding of housing, schools and medical clinics destroyed by the December 2004 tsunami in Indonesia had met or even outpaced expectations, Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, Director of the National Executive Agency for Rehabilitation and Reconstruction of Aceh and Nias, told correspondents at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon.

“It is very encouraging,” Mr. Mangkusubroto said, in providing an update on reconstruction efforts nearly three years after giant waves killed hundreds of thousands of people and devastated infrastructure and livelihoods.

Having built more than 100,000 housing units out of the 120,000 said to be needed, the housing programme was slated to end in April, he said, although upgrading of substandard housing would continue, and non-governmental organizations might build some more units.

There were now twice as many village clinics for the affected population as were required under national standards, and nearly 64,000 hectares of agricultural lands had been rehabilitated, exceeding the 60,000 hectare target originally set.  In addition, although 360 schools were originally called for in earlier plans, the 100 schools scheduled for completion by the end of the year were adequate, since, sadly, the school population had been drastically reduced by the disaster.

Besides reporting on progress, Mr. Mangkusubroto said he had come to the United Nations to bear witness to the successful operations of the United Nations Office for Recovery Coordination, the creation of which had been one of the main requests his agency had made to Bill Clinton, the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery.  By May 2005, most United Nations agencies and more than 500 non-governmental organizations had come to Aceh, and a mechanism was needed to integrate all their efforts.

The result, he said, was a model mechanism that could be an example of United Nations system coherence.  In addition, he wanted to confer on preserving and disseminating lessons learned from the biggest disaster recovery effort in modern times.  His agency had already been sharing such information with experts from other “at-risk” countries, including India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives, through the Tsunami Recovery Impact Assessment Monitoring System and other mechanisms.

He said another successful mechanism that was put in place for recovery efforts was his agency’s “world-class” accountability system.  Because of that system, donors had high trust that their funds would be used for reconstruction; a record 89 per cent of pledged funds were actually committed.

Asked to name the major sources of the $6.4 billion committed, a member of Mr. Mangkusubroto’s office said that $400 million came from the United States, $150 million to $300 million came from Australia and $150 million came from Japan.  However, the largest sums came through non-governmental organizations.  For example, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies was responsible for around $600 million in contributions.

Asked about the Trust Fund for Tsunami Recovery, Mr. Mangkusubroto said it was a mechanism to overcome the strictures of permitted financing schemes to support multi-year projects.  It was now, in addition, being looked at as a way to keep funds on hand for future disasters, since it was intended that his agency be disbanded in April 2009.  Trust funds were not a standard mechanism in the Indonesian legal system, however, and the concept required further study.

Finally, asked whether he felt the Islamic sharia law, which was in force in Aceh, had hindered redevelopment, he said new investment laws were needed to keep development going in the region, but the problem was not the sharia laws related to interest.  It was important that local leaders explain sharia to the many outsiders coming to Aceh during the recovery period to clear up such matters.

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For information media • not an official record