Land for housing: international standards and resettlement in tsunami-affected Indonesia

The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami disaster killed more than 150,000 people and displaced around 500,000 in Indonesia alone. In the worst-hit province of Aceh, it inundated at least 15,000 land parcels and damaged around 74,000 hectares of agricultural land, with at least 5,000 hectares now classified as beyond remedy or repair (Republic of Indonesia 2005b, Part II, 5). After the disaster, at least 13,000 families required resettlement because their land was submerged, uninhabitable or otherwise unavailable. These families were disproportionately represented in temporary barracks and were among the last in line for housing assistance. While most programmes focused on housing those without access to land, housing the landless was central to decommissioning the barracks and ensuring sufficient homes for all victims of the disaster.