Indonesia tsunami rebuild edges forward, but not for everyone
By Ian Morse
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“We’re limited by our funding,” Arie said. “So we are first making sure that each home can withstand earthquakes. The houses can also be developed and grow later by the inhabitants themselves.”
Planners are also rethinking the region’s development following last year’s catastrophe. The destruction brought accusations that the city had allowed reckless development in areas known to be at risk.
In response, the government plans to forbid development in the most unstable areas, including the liquefied neighbourhoods. The government wants to block off a strip of land cutting straight through the city along a major fault line, known as the Palu-Koro fault, which ruptured at a rapid speed and jump-started last year’s cascading disasters.
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An embankment stretching seven kilometres along Palu’s coastline is also under development amid growing community opposition. The three-metre high structure is meant to protect the city from floods after parts of the beach sank during the disaster. But fishing families worry they’ll lose access to the sea, and local environmental groups want authorities to explore other options like replenishing mangrove ecosystems, which researchers say helped protect some coastal villages last year.
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