75 household resettlement, Simeulue Island, Aceh, Indonesia 2005-6
As Shelter Manager for CARE Canada International/planningAlliance (Toronto) on the Achenese island of Simeulue (off the west coast of Sumatra) after the 2004 Tsunami, Thomas worked with the village families of Latiung to prepare a new village site inland and 16 meters above sea level. The Island, lifted over 1.25 meters in the Dec 24/04 and March/05 earthquakes, creating an inaccessible coral beach. Overnight, a fishing economy disappeared. CARE provided parallel livelihood training in farming and Thomas worked with young Indonesian architecture students to develop shelter designs for the 75 families. Crews were formed of 6 people who worked on each others’ house. According to Simeulue law, only men could hold land title. Thomas negotiated with the Simeulue Governor and village Mayor to change the law so that single women could own their own house and plot - a first in Simuelue. (see photo below)
