Dear friends,
In the face of the Tsunami tragedy in Asia, we all got touched by the size of the disaster, pictures we have seen and pain & confusion we witnessed. Feelings of despair and helplessness do not help the victims who are so urgently in need of food, clean water, medical care, shelter and other things. We might be far away but there is something each of us can do. One thing that consoles me is that my own organization, Habitat for Humanity which is a housing organization is trying to help the survivors in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Bangladesh where we have national branches. Habitat will try to provide immediate shelter as well as long-term solutions to those who became homeless as a result of this tragedy. If you would like to learn more, please read on and share this with others. As news unfolds about the tragic toll of the tsunami in Asia, and stories get told about the dire challenges that survivors face, people throughout the world are responding with inspiring generosity. Habitat for Humanity is being blessed by this generosity and we are committed to doing all we can to make a difference in the region, in the short term to provide shelter and in the long term to provide sustainable solutions to the housing needs of not only those immediately impacted by the tsunami, but to poor communities throughout the region. Already we have received nearly $1 million in donations through our tsunami relief campaign. The Asia-Pacific office has pledged $250,000 to the effort and the European office hopes to raise nearly $1 million more. Currently, we have teams on the ground and en route to the region, assessing the damage, making sure that staff, volunteers and family are safe and doing what we can to work with other organizations and agencies toward permanent solutions. We are receiving offers of help of all kinds - from people seeking to volunteer for Global Village teams and recovery teams to cash and in-kind donations. We are hearing from affiliates that want to help, longtime volunteers and donors who wish to help, and our corporate partners are looking for ways to help us as we help those in need. For now, though, donations, and, of course, prayers, are best. As millions were displaced and became homeless as a result of Tsunami, you can support Habitat for Humanity's efforts to provide shelter to Tsunami survivors, as an individual or as a group effort. If you would like to learn more about Habitat for Humanity's efforts in the disaster area, please visit the following wed sites: http://www.habitat.org/disaster/2004/asia_tsunami/ http://www.habitatforhumanity.org.uk/html/new.html I am also adding a recent update from our Asia Pacific office below. Thank you for your support to Tsunami survivors. filiz BANGKOK, 5th January 2005: Habitat of Humanity offices in four of the principal countries affected by the devastating earthquake-triggered tsunami in the Indian Ocean are putting together plans that could house as many as 18,500 families in a first phase and tens of thousands more at a later date. Corporate and other donors within Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand have already pledged as much as US$1,925,000 in money and gifts-in-kind. Matching funds from Habitat for Humanity International and other donations could allow even more homeless families to have a secure accommodation. Habitat's response aims to help families move out of refugee camps and other temporary shelter and into transitional accommodation as a first step to permanent housing. Overcrowding. hunger, disease and crime in many camps is encouraging local authorities to persuade families to return to their communities, where possible, in order to start rebuilding their shattered lives. Habitat's two-part response involves working in partnership with local officials, relief agencies and other non-governmental organizations to quickly provide transitional housing. The preference is build simple "core" house, preferably on land sites already owned by families. At a later stage these, "core" homes can be improved and extended using "Save & Build" or other Habitat programs. Supplementing this first initiative, Habitat proposes to create "disaster response technical centers" - modeled on its successful building and training center concept. These centers would provide technical expertise and assistance to families, Habitat affiliates and partners. Later these centers could become full-blown building and technical centers. Such centers are "social businesses" that teach people the skills for making their own homes as well as producing affordable building materials such as compressed earth blocks, roofing tiles, door and windows and frames. Plans to date include: SRI LANKA In Sri Lanka, where several Habitat affiliates and their homeowners were directly affected, around an estimated one million people have been displaced. HFH Sri Lanka is part of C-Net, an alliance of ten Christian-based NGOs working to provide shelter using a "core" house concept. The first houses could begin to be constructed within one month. Other alliance members are Christian Children Fund of Canada, Christian Reform World Commission on Relief, LEADS, Mennonite Central Committee, World Concern, World Vision, Shelter for Life, Y-Gro and ZOA. In the first phase, the aim is to build 20,000 core houses and to move 100,000 people out of refugee camps. HFH Sri Lanka is currently the largest homebuilder in the country, after the government, and could be responsible for half that total. Each core house would comprise a permanent structure with roofing, a single room with a verandah or covered living/work space with a 250 sq. ft. footprint. It would include minimum sanitary facilities. A second room could be added later to enlarge the home as funds become available. Each basic shelter is expected to cost up to US$500. While much construction will be new, many homes damaged by the tsunami still have solid foundations, which will be able to serve as foundations for the rebuilt homes. In addition, a great deal of used materials can be recycled to keep costs low while providing for permanent shelter. (HFH Sri Lanka typically builds masonry homes with wooden or metal roof structures and corrugated iron sheets, ceramic tile or fiber-cement tiles which it produces often itself. Even under normal construction circumstances HFH Sri Lanka programs are adept at making use of recycled and otherwise available natural resources such as gravel, stone, and timber.) Homeowners will be selected irrespective of ethnicity, religion and political affiliation, and consistent with local demographics. The C-Net project will prioritize refugee families living below the poverty line, those who have lost primary wage earners, and those with women as head of households. The program will be implemented in line with the principles of self-help and community participation. To provide for longer-term sustainability, HFH Sri Lanka plans to create disaster response technical centers in four locations. It already has experience with a regular, affiliate-based, building and training center which focuses on production and marketing of building material components to HFH homeowners, and a center with a corporate supporter which provides the infrastructure to allow HFH Sri Lanka to train master masons and others. To pay for this first phase, as much as US$2 million or more may be available. Locally-based Sri Lankan and foreign companies have pledged as much as US$750,000 to HFH Sri Lanka. Overseas donors, many of them Sri Lankan expatriates in Europe and North America, are also making pledges and Habitat for Humanity is expecting to provide matching funds for some aspects. INDIA HFH India is set to focus on hard-hit coastal areas of Tamil Nadu state, south of the state capital Chennai. An estimated 10,000 people were killed in the state. HFH India is working with the Discipleship Center, an established partner, which has a substantial relief effort under way based out of the Chennai area. This is also leading to links with the Salvation Army and various Catholic organizations. DC is distributing "family kits" of food, clothing and tents to families as part of a state government plan to encourage people to return home. The work is focusing on (from north to south) Pondicherry, Nagapattinam, Cuddalore and Kenyakumari, four areas that have received less help than some areas. There are 82 refugee camps in Nagapattinam and 59 in Kenyakumari. The government has ambitious plans to close camps within a few weeks. Habitat affiliates staff and volunteers are working on behalf of DC in Nagapattinam. They are assessing applications and handing out "family kits" to some 2,000-4,000 families. HFH India is to provide transitional "core" housing to up to 4,000-6,000 families in the first building phase. Disaster response/building and training centers are to be located in Pondicherry, Nagapattinam, Cuddalore and Kenyakumari, possibly based out of current DC distribution centers. Each center would aim to support around 1,000 families or more as they build new homes. The core houses, about half the size of a normal HFH India unit, would cost about US$400-500 each. One of HFH India's most experienced directors, Christopher Kumar, expects to move to Chennai to co-ordinate the response. Habitat partnered with the DC during the final stages of the Gujarat earthquake response. Prior to the tsunami, two partners worked together in Rajistan and are developing a partnership to assist families living in the slums of Delhi. The response from the Indian corporate sector has been strong, and could reach the US$1 million mark. The Aditya Birla group, a major supporter of HFH India, has offered financial and community support especially for Kadaloor. Bellarpur Industries, another a major India corporate name has offered a substantial sum from its Tsunami Relief Fund for rebuilding communities. The Manorama Group is making relief funds for an "Adopt-a-Community"- type of rebuilding project in neighboring Kerala state. INDONESIA In Indonesia, the worst hit country, Habitat's national office is expecting to work in Aceh, at the northern tip of Sumatra island, and on Nias, an island to the west of Sumatra. HFH Indonesia is examining a plan to use materials donated, or sold at a discount, by a major Indonesian steel group, to erect transitional steel housing in refugee centers. The housing would involve a series of 24 sq. m. units. The homes would be dismantled for re-use once the families return to their own land. The viability of the scheme and the cost of the units have to be confirmed. Units could cost around US$200 each. The initial plan is for housing 250 families in Aceh and another 200 in Nias. HFH Indonesia would follow-up with establishing three disaster response technical centers on Sumatra. As in India, these would be designed to support hundreds and later thousands of families with expertise and assistance as they build new homes. Encouragingly, Indonesian and foreign businesses, along with churches and others have pledged some US$650,000 to HFH Indonesia. As well as the steel for the initial housing units, there have been substantial pledges from real-estate firms and a foreign bank among others. THAILAND In Thailand, the local Habitat organization has also received strong support from the local business community. One major local bank has made a six-figure, US-dollar pledge and a large building materials group is offering substantial quantities of building materials. Though HFH Thailand does not have activities in the tsunami-affected south, it is joining the national reconstruction effort. Options being considered include disaster response technical//business and training centers, and a target of 1,000 "core " homes costing around US$750 each. In Thailand and Indonesia, in particular, HFHI may provide significant capacity building support to strengthen national organizations. * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected]: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
