CRS Responds: 1 year after the Indian Ocean tsunami

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January 2006

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CRS Responds: 1 year after the Indian Ocean tsunami
A year after one of history's worst natural disasters devastated families and communities all around the Indian Ocean, Catholic Relief Services reviewed the relief effort so far and made plans for the future development of hard-hit coastal communities in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and India where its work will continue. With the help of other humanitarian organizations and people in the devastated regions, CRS has identified the following priorities: shelter for the homeless, food for the hungry, medicine for the sick, and help to rebuild the communities and livelihoods of those ravaged by the catastrophe. The agency has begun a 5-year plan to aid the survivors and to provide them with the tools they need to rebuild their own lives.

The terrible toll

Total Killed: 180,963

Total Missing: 49,695

Total Displaced: 2,046,912

Indonesia is the country worst hit by the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami, with hundreds of thousands dead, missing or homeless. Catholic Relief Services has committed staff and over $128 million through fiscal year 2009 to aid the reconstruction of homes, schools, businesses, churches, hospitals and markets.

This latest tragedy in Indonesia is compounded by three decades of conflict between the government of Indonesia and the Free Aceh movement. Fighting has been marked by ongoing accusations of human rights abuses. Despite the many obstacles, the survivors of Indonesia—with the help of Catholic Relief Services and other international humanitarian organizations—are returning to their homes and their lives.

In the first year the CRS Aceh Program in Indonesia, it has:

• Sustained nearly 113,000 people with enough food to eat, and equipped more than 135,700 people with basic household needs

• Begun construction of 500 permanent homes and has plans to build more than 6,000 homes over the next five years

• Constructed more than 500 temporary shelters designed to house families for up to two years while they await completion of their permanent homes, with 1400 additional shelters expected to be built in early 2006

• Provided employment opportunities for nearly 26,500 people

• Built the first women and children's hospital and reconstructed the main government clinic in Banda Aceh

• Secured contracts to build more than 245 major infrastructure projects, including an $11 million project to repair a 62-mile stretch of coastal road, and projects to rebuild bridges, canals, markets, clinics and schools

• Trained more than 30,000 community health workers, strengthening the frontline of Aceh's health delivery system

• Rehabilitated and built clean water systems and provided testing equipment system for more than 47,000 people.

In Sri Lanka, CRS has:

• Constructed more than 5,000 temporary shelters that will house families for up to two years as they await completion of their permanent homes

• Completed or is currently constructing 350 permanent homes

• Distributed nearly 11,000 basic household items and sanitation kits, far exceeding our initial goal of about 7,500

• Provided fishing nets, boats, engines and other assets to more than 4,600 families to help them restart their trades and jobs

• Put more than 11,600 people to work in reconstruction programs like building roads and cleaning up debris and wells

• Built 20 classrooms, allowing nearly 500 students to return to safe learning environments, and 17 temporary classrooms.

The CRS India Program has:

• Supplied nearly 600,000 people with enough food to eat and medical care in the immediate aftermath of the tsunami

• Provided 135,000 people with access to clean water and improved water systems

• Built temporary homes designed to house more than 5,500 survivors for up to two years until their permanent homes are completed

• Resettled 145 affected families in permanent houses, with another 1,200 houses now under construction

• Distributed boats, nets and other tools to more than 26,000 families and individuals to help them restart their fishing, agriculture and other trades.

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