Surprisingly, It Has Been Six Years in Waiting

On Tuesday (29 Oct. 2019) morning, a cool breeze was felt at a temporary shelter for the survivors of the eruption of Mount Sinabung in Terung Peren, Tinganderket district, Karo regency, North Sumatra.

KOMPAS/NIKSON SINAGA

Children of families displaced by the 2013 Mount Sinabung eruption attend lessons in partitioned classrooms in Jadi Meriah village, Tiganderket district, Karo regency, North Sumatra, Tuesday (29/10/2019). The children have been studying in the makeshift schoolrooms for five years.

However, the cool weather did not repel those who have been waiting for up to six years for certainty for their relocation area. That morning, Yelita Sembiring, 40, persuaded her daughter, Astin Singarimbun, 6, to finish her breakfast before leaving for school. She had eggs, as did her brother.

"Their father works in Kabanjahe and returns home once a week," Yelita said, holding her youngest child, who was only three months old. Her husband, a construction worker, does not go home every day even through the distance from his home to Kabanjahe is only 30 kilometers in order to be able to save.

There are 75 temporary shelters in Terung Peren, but only 40 have been occupied since it was inaugurated in 2017. Some residents chose to rent houses. All the residents came from Mardinding village, about 10 kilometers from the location of the temporary housing. Their village is located within a 3 kilometer-radius from the summit of Mount Sinabung, which has been declared a danger zone.

They live in temporary shelters with communal bath and toilet facilities, which are mostly damaged.

Practically, since the eruption in 2010, all residents of the village of Mardinding, have all left their village. They once came home, but a subsequent eruption in 2013 forced the residents to leave the village forever. Since then the lives of citizens have changed. Yelita\'s family and others had to leave their houses and their plantations of between 2 and 5 hectares in the village known for its coffee production.

They live in temporary shelters with communal bath and toilet facilities, which are mostly damaged, and get electricity for three hours in the morning and three hours in the afternoon. They mostly work as laborers with an earning of Rp 80,000 each per day to support their families.

They also receive Rp.2.2 million to rent land a year.

KOMPAS/NIKSON SINAGA

People displaced by the 2013 Mount Sinabung eruption chat in a shelter they rent at the former Karo University in Kabanjahe district, Karo regency, North Sumatra, Tuesday (29/10/2019). They are waiting for government housing, which was initially planned for completion in 2018.

For Yelita, the 27 sq m temporary residence was the sixth shelter she has stayed in. Some of the children there, including Astin and his younger sibling, were born in the temporary shelter.

"We are still waiting for permanent residence, but we don’t know when that’ll happen," he said. Displaced people in Terung Peren are waiting for the third phase of the relocation program for about 1,038 families. The third relocation project should have been completed in 2018, as told by President Joko Widodo when visiting Karo on Oct. 14, 2018.

"The relocations should be a priority," the President said at the time. According to the head of Karo regency\'s Regional Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD), Martin Sitepu, the realization for the third relocation project had been delayed due to the lengthy tender for the project. The office has received funding of Rp 161 billion for the relocation project from the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB).

Not bearable

The delay in the construction of the third permanent housing project forced 200 families from Mardinding village to build houses with their own money. Each family contributed Rp 3 million to buy 2 hectares of land for the housing complex and they each received 5 to 15 meters of land. They then built their own wooden houses for Rp 25 million per house. "I borrowed money from my family," said Ersinalsal Tarigan, 55, a former Mardinding resident.

Beginning in 2019, the construction of most houses had been completed. "Displaced people were able to build 200 houses at their own expense in less than a year. Wonder why the government, which has a lot of money, can’t. We have been waiting for six years," he said.

KOMPAS/NIKSON SINAGA

People displaced by the Mount Sinabung eruption go about their daily activities in permanent housing, the construction of which was delayed, in Garuda Gang, Kabanjahe district, Karo regency, North Sumatra, Tuesday (29/10/2019). The construction of 290 houses was abandoned by the developer.

According Kompas’ observation between Monday and Wednesday (28-30/10/2019), even the second phase of the relocation program designated for 1,863 families affected by the eruption of the Mount Sinabung, who at present stay in temporary housing, permanent housing, rented houses and tent houses, has not been completed.

Hundreds of houses were abandoned, such as the 173 houses in Garuda Gang, Kabanjahe. The permanent residential complex has been grown with grass over a meter in height. The walls and roofing have been installed. However, there are no floors, doors, windows or bathrooms.

The walls haven’t been plastered. Even so, around 20 families have moved there. They completed the construction of the houses with a loan. "We spent Rp 25 million per family," said Januati Pelawai, 55.

The President also requested that the delayed relocation project be completed by the end of 2017.

Regarding the permanent housing condition, Martin said the government could not fully supervise the construction because the second phase of the relocation program was carried out independently by survivors. The government only provided the money to buy farming land and houses.

As reported, the BNPN transferred Rp 190.67 billion to the Karo district government in December 2015 (Kompas, 25/5/2016). The project should have been be completed by the end of 2016. The President also requested that the delayed relocation project be completed by the end of 2017.

According to Karo BPBD data, as many as 290 houses built in the second relocation project have not yet been completed. In this project, the government provided Rp 50.6 million to buy farmland and Rp 59.4 million to buy houses. The displaced people were asked to build houses independently under the supervision of the Karo government.

KOMPAS/NIKSON SINAGA

People displaced by the Mount Sinabung eruption walk past an abandoned construction site in Garuda Gang, Kabanjahe district, Karo Regency, North Sumatra, Tuesday (29/10/2019).

Bleak future

The coordinator of the Sinabung Advocacy Forum (FASI), Lesma Peranginangin, said the slow handling of the Sinabung displaced persons had caused uncertainty among survivors. "They lost land, economic resources and were uprooted. Now, their futures are also threatened because of the slow handling," he said.

FASI was formed by a number of NGOs and Christian churches. The condition of the refugees was more or less the same with that experienced by disaster survivors in Palu, Sigi, and Donggala in Central Sulawesi. Many survivors had to leave their villages, or even lost their land, because of the phenomenon of soil liquefaction.

In the midst of the rehabilitation and reconstruction process, many residents have lived in tents since their initial evacuation in September 2018.

Six years of waiting, for them its been too long.

In Sinabung, the government aims for permanent housing for the third relocation program to be completed by June 2020. Later, the survivors will be given a half a hectare of farmland per family as a new source of livelihood, the same as those received by 473 families from three villages in the second relocation program in 2015.

However, before that day arrived, survivors who were formerly landowners have to work as laborers. They earn 80,000 per day, if there is work for them. In the temporary shelter in Terung Peren, Yelita and her three children continued to pray. Six years of waiting, for them its been too long.