DKP built 2,236 disaster-proof houses for fishermen

Antara, Tuesday, October 27, 2009 19:52 WIB

Denpasar (ANTARA News) - The Marine and Fisheries Department (DKP) has built 2,236 disaster-proof houses for poor fishermen in 55 districts and cities across Indonesia in 2009, an official said.

"The program was aimed at reducing the possible negative impact of climate change and natural disasters on the fishermen," Director of DKP`s Coastal and Sea Division, Subandono Diposaptono, said after attending a seminar about climate change conducted by Bali Collaboration for Climate Change Issue (KBPI) here on Tuesday.

Subandono said two types of disaster-proof houses were built, namely traditional and modern.

The modern type of houses were built in coastal areas where the risk of being engulfed by tsunami was low while the traditional type of houses were built in areas where the tsunami risk was high with waves that might reach a height of more than three meters.

"The traditional house is structured in such a way that it can withstand the horizontal pressure of a tsunami wave so that the building will only suffer minor damage. On normal days, tenants of traditional houses can use the space underneath the house for leisure activities, trading, repairing fish nets or weighing their fish catches," Subandono said.

He said averaging 27.5 square meters in width the traditional houses were built parallel with the probable direction of tsunami waves and in perpendicular lines to the coastline to minimize the pressure big waves on the building structures.

Building disaster-proof houses for fishermen had been a DKP program since year 2006. Up till 2008, the department had built 497 houses for fishermen in 18 districts and cities in Indonesia.

DKP provides the budget for house construction while the regional administrations provided the needed land.

"In 2009, we built 40 disaster-proof houses in each district or city where there were fishermen," Subandono said.