Building for the Future  
A case study in rebuilding houses and rehabilitating Andaman coastal communities after the Tsunami  By Chalinee Sathanboa, in cooperation with Save Andaman Network   

It deals with one of the most pressing challenges after the disaster, the (re-) building of houses for the affected population. The author Chalinee Sathanboa presents us with five good examples of house rebuilding schemes in Bahn Nahm Khem, Bahn Koh Muk, Bahn Thabtawan and Bahn Boh Jet Look. As well as the managment structure and the progress of the house-building projects facilitated by Save Andaman Network (SAN).
This study goes beyond the mere re-construction of houses by presenting a comprehensive picture of house-building as community rehabilitation efforts. It highlights serious obstacles such as the bitter conflicts over land ownership, as well as the psychologically valuable effects of implementing those house-building projects when dealing with the traumatic experiences of the Tsunami impacted communities.

But perhaps most importantly, it provides us with SAN’s experiences of implementing house?building projects by facililating the communities with decision?making and implementation procedures. Furthermore, a holistic perspective is chosen that also includes aspects of gender relations and the psychologically important healing effects for individuals when contributing to the community’s (re-) development.

Whilst many of these issues were common to all of the case studies, each one had its own unique set of circumstances and issues to deal with, especially in the area of land ownership. Problems wit land ownership that lay hidden for many years were catapulted into the forefront of community consciousness after the Tsunami with the subsequent land grabs by investors and land developers.

Contributing to the discussion of lessons learnt from the Tsunami recovery and rehabilitation process by stressing the good examples has been of particular concern to Tsunami Aid Watch.

 

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