Tsunami Survivors Still Homeless for "Lack of Wood"
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 02. 9.06
And it's all because of TreeHuggers who insist on protecting tropical rainforests. That's not what the Guardian article of 02/9/2006 reported. But how much ya-wanna-bet, that's how US media will spin it? The details: "Tens of thousands of Indonesian survivors of the 2004 Asian tsunami are still living in rotting tents, despite a months-long campaign to rehouse them, because the International Federation of the Red Cross has struggled to secure legally certified timber, it emerged yesterday. Only 235 out of the approximately 16,000 temporary shelters needed for the 67,500 Acehnese living under canvas have been completed since the programme began in September". Odd that there wasn't enough lead time, given that the WWF asked for sustainable timber use over a year ago.
From the WWF article:
Tessa Robertson, Head of the Forests Programme at WWF-UK, said: "The island of Sumatra has already lost the majority of its natural forest, and what does remain is mainly in uplands and conservation areas, home to rare species such as the orang-utan. Logging these areas to supply timber for Aceh not only would have a devastating impact from a conservation point of view, it could also trigger additional human disasters.
Given another decade or so of illegal logging comparable to recent rates, there would be no timber of any sort left. The crunch comes sooner or later. So, why not more emphasis on alternate materials? Are there designs which could be used that minimize the board feet consumed per dwelling unit? These are the questions left unanswered.
what about hay bails? concrete? there are alternatives I don't understand why they aren't using them..
Certainly anyone reading treehugger would figure out to build with bamboo instead of trees..to import timber when there is sufficient bamboo resources is the mistake..not berating treehuggers for sustainable insistence on materials.
Timothy Ivory
Thanks for the post. Yes, what a disaster after a disaster in Aceh. It's very sad for the people of Aceh. I'm not proud to be Indonesian sometimes with the stands, political style and practices of my own country government. I never understood how a country so rich, beautiful and resourceful can 'mismanage' everything so badly. I don't live there anymore for the last 12yrs. But recently I asked my mother to fly to Aceh to buy me some Organic and Fair Trade Coffee from Aceh (one and only I found out), and what she told me is similar to what you wrote here. She was heart-broken to see everything is still in a big mess. People are trying to sell 'everything' they have to tourists or anybody to make a little bit of money to continue surviving. My mom even took pictures which I'm still waiting to be sent to me along with the packages of coffee (to sell at my shop). I will definitely post them one day when it's all arrived. The sadest thing is that this tsunami event had gathered the most donated money from many generous people around the world, but there's not much trace of where that money is being spent even after a year of the disaster :-( Thanks again...I feel 'hopeless' sometimes to my own country's social and political issues.