Nurfika Osman & Reva Sasistiya

Christians weep and pray after seeing the destruction inside Padang Cathedral. Worshippers were forced to pray outside as the church is in danger of collapsing. (Photo: Safir Makki, JG)

Indonesia Quake Recovery ‘Will Take Years’

Despite being given a six-month deadline to finish rebuilding houses in earthquake-ravaged West Sumatra, a local disaster official said on Sunday that the reconstruction effort would likely take two or more years.

“If we look back at our experience in 2007 when a 7.9 magnitude quake hit Padang, we needed at least two years to rebuild West Sumatra,” said Ade Edward, head of West Sumatra’s Disaster Management and Refugee Unit.

The central government, according to Vice President Jusuf Kalla during a weekend tour of the region, would send 1,000 construction workers from Java to help rebuild and give construction training to locals.

Kalla, who leaves office this month, ordered that the thousands of damaged homes be rebuilt in six months, and all other buildings within a year.

“The construction has to start immediately, not only to heal people’s trauma, but also to help the economy in the area recover,” he told reporters on Saturday.

However, looking at recent disasters dating back to the Aceh tsunami in 2004, the target might be overly ambitious.

“Two years ago, 50 percent of buildings still could be used [after the West Sumatra earthquake], but today, only 15 percent of them can,” Edward said. “Besides, most of the buildings that were reconstructed two years ago have collapsed.”

Nonetheless, the West Sumatra provincial government must submit an evaluation of structural losses and rebuilding costs to Jakarta by Oct. 18, with an eye on beginning reconstruction in November.

For the region’s immediate needs, state electricity utility company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara said that power had been restored to more than 60,000 Padang households and that full services would resume within a week. State oil and gas company PT Pertamina said that more than 50,000 liters of fuel would be delivered to Padang by Sunday.

The central government will give locals compensation of up to Rp 15 million per damaged or destroyed house, according to Kalla.

However, officials are being urged to consider whether it was even safe for people to return to their homes.

Braden Weeks Earp, the director of Asian Programs for Build Change, a nongovernmental organization that designs earthquake-resistant houses and has trained communities, including in West Sumatra in 2007, to build them, said an extensive damage assessment must be done first.

“The first step is to assess damage to communities and help families determine if it is safe to live in their home,” Weeks said. “The best way to prevent further tragedy is to ensure that all buildings, especially homes, meet standards for earthquake-resistance. This is not impossible, and it is not too expensive.”

While the Ministry of Finance in Jakarta has allocated Rp 250 billion for two months of emergency recovery operations in Padang and the province, the central government has not begun to calculate the economic losses.

“Nobody knows exactly the damages now, and it is too early to say,” Weeks said.

Fauzi Bahar, Padang’s mayor, said on Sunday that losses in the provincial capital, not including nearby Pariaman, were estimated at Rp 600 billion ($62.4 million).

West Sumatra Deputy Governor Marlis Rahman said on Sunday that he was optimistic economic activities would return to normal within three months, according to state-run news agency Antara.

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