How should Aceh be rebuilt?

By Rachel Harvey
BBC News, Aceh

In the past couple of weeks, there has been a noticeable shift in emphasis in the relief operation in Aceh.

There are, even now, still bodies being pulled from the rubble and thousands of people remain dependent on regular handouts of food and water.

Refugee camps are becoming more permanent

But there is a sense that this tsunami-ravaged province is moving out of crisis and into a longer term phase of rehabilitation.

Gradually those displaced by the disaster are being moved from tented camps into semi-permanent, transitional shelters.

There are various types on offer, from international agencies like the IOM and Oxfam, and from the local authorities who are constructing barracks-style camps across the province. The latter are controversial.

The Acehnese have bitter memories of being forced into similar camps by the Indonesian military during one period of the continuing conflict with separatist rebels.

Questions remain about the role of the military in the new camps, and the degree to which local people will be allowed to choose the kind of shelter they want.

Much depends on the government's blueprint for the reconstruction of Aceh.

If they move us to a new place, we will be like children again, we won't know anything Yusriarani, village head of Lamno, Aceh

It is due to be made public by 26 March - three months after the massive earthquake and tsunami which followed.

The plan will dictate who can build where - which is a lot more complicated than it might sound.

The area along the west coast has been utterly devastated. Entire communities have literally been wiped off the map.

"Where there has been total destruction, the soil may not be appropriate for building anymore," said Antonella Vitale, a shelter expert working as a consultant for UNDP.

"Rivers have changed course and land is now cut off or simply washed away."

Even if it were possible, is it safe or sensible to reconstruct towns and villages in such areas?

Some villages may not be able to be rebuilt in their previous locations

The government's preferred solution is believed to be a system of zoning.

There has been talk of a 2-km "exclusion" zone around the coastline of Aceh, with some exceptions to allow fishermen to reach their boats.

Parts of the shoreline will be replanted with mangrove trees, in the hopes of creating a natural buffer should the sea rise up once more.

Other suggestions are more fanciful. One proposal was to build "escape hills" - man-made bits of high ground dotted across the province.

Whatever the details of the plan, it seems certain that some communities will not be able to return to their original land. It simply is not viable. But almost all survivors say they want to go home.

Hidden behind a cloud of cigarette smoke, Yusriarani has deep lines etched into his permanently furrowed brow.

He used to be a youth leader in his village near the west coast town of Lamno. Now, aged 33, he has lost his wife and two-year-old child.

And he has been made the village head. There is no-one else left alive who is qualified.

Yusriarani is trying to lead his shattered community from a tent in the grounds of a secondary school.

Nothing is more fundamental to someone's sense of security than their land and their house Matt Stevens, World Bank

He knows it may not be possible to rebuild his village exactly where it was. But he says it is important that his people be given land close by.

"We need to be in an area where we know the earth, so that we know which crops grow well," he said. "If they move us to a new place, we will be like children again, we won't know anything".

There are serious legal issues involved in all this. What about compensation, for instance?

Matt Stevens, a lawyer working for the World Bank in Aceh, has been consulting with the government about possible options.

"We support any process of zoning or relocation which is voluntary or based on community desires," he said.

"[But] the government will need a clear policy on compensation, either in terms of land in an alternative location, or money. That process will need to be closely watched by civil society to make sure people get their entitlements."

And that raises another problem.

Land rights

In order to claim compensation, people will presumably need to prove prior ownership. But thousands of documents were lost in the deluge.

The local government kept copies of land titles, but the building where they were stored was badly damaged. Some are in the process of being salvaged, but most are lost for ever.

It is thought there could be as many as 300,000 cases of property or land affected by December's disaster. It is not clear how potential disputes will be resolved.

"These sorts of things can bubble along for 20 to 30 years and can break out into violence. Nothing is more fundamental to someone's sense of security than their land and their house," Mr Stevens said.

Security is a rare commodity in Aceh. The province has been afflicted by a long-running, brutal, separatist conflict. Adding another level of violence over land disputes would be catastrophic.

Ultimately whatever the government decides, the master plan will only work if it has the backing of local people.

Despite advertisements in newspapers and numerous working parties, there is a lingering suspicion that the survivors of the tsunami tragedy are not being sufficiently consulted.

After decades of imposing policies on the province, there is an opportunity here for the central government in Jakarta to show that it respects the wishes and aspirations of the Acehnese people.

If taken, the blueprint could become part of efforts towards political as well as physical reconstruction in Aceh.