3rd Workshop (FGD) on Private Sector completed on 25th October

The 3rd Workshop (FGD:Focus Group Discussion) was successfully completed on 25th October by attracting 52 participants from private sectors. This WS (FDG) was organised following the 2014 AIWEST-DR (22-24th, Oct) that was successfully completed to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the 2004 Sumatra Tsunami Disaster.

This Workshop concludes a series of workshops that started every 2 month from April 2014. Four different field of stakeholders, namely community, education, government & NGO, and private sector, are asked to participate and the successes and deficiencies of recovery and reconstruction process after the 2004 Sumatra Tsunami were discussed.

It is generally recognised that the external supports for recovery & reconstruction were extremely high at Banda Aceh & Aceh province immediately after the tsunami. However, the external supports rapidly disappeared after 5 years or so and such rapid change of supporting activities has brought strong impacts on local society culturally and economically. The local society now starts to view back past and also to contemplate for their future.

Through the study of 10 year assessment of recovery & reconstruction, the similar or different situations faced by various stakeholders are becoming apparent. Common understanding of such situations among various stakeholders and wider audience is vital for reconstructing a civil society with dignity and mutual respect. To this end, TDMRC plan to hold a public forum on the outcome of the 10 year assessment study on December 20th by asking a larger participation of Aceh people.

2nd Workshop targeting government & NGO stakeholders on August 26

The second workshop for "10 year assessment of Banda Aceh Recovery & Reconstruction" was held on August 26th at Hermes Hotel, Banda Aceh. The target participants for this workshop were governmental people and NGO people. All together more than 70 participants joined the workshop from 8:30 to 16:30, and an intense and good discussions and presentations were made by the participants. All of TDMRC coordinators and FGD group leaders have worked very hard to make this workshop successful, and as their experiences of carrying out such workshop are getting more & more fruitful as can be seen from the successful running of workshop.

Also during the preparation meeting for this event, the following dates for the 3rd and 4th workshops are tentatively decided;
1. October Workshop targeting private sectors: October 25th Saturday Morning. (22-24 will be AIWEST-DR 2014).
2. December Workshop targeting public meeting: December 20th Saturday full day. (This depends on availability of venue, such as Tsunami Museum or public park in from of the museum).

It may be noted that this time, a local news media came to report our meeting. Also UNSyiah has put a web article on the meeting. (http://unsyiah.ac.id/berita/tdmrc-unsyiah-jalin-diskusi-dengan-kobe-university-jepang)

(Sorry for my previously writing "TDMRC" instead of "UNSyiah" by Y.Tanaka)

The follow-up of the meeting is to convert all answers to general questionnaire A1 to A3 will be put in a word digital file by the students of TDMRC, and will be sent to Y.Tanaka who will upload after translating to English using Google translate.

Also to be noted is that in next meetings we should have a logo of TOYOTA Foundation which is supporting finically our project. Y.Tanaka has already contacted Toyota Foundation on how to proceed this.

Hope we will have good & continued collaboration on our project.

(by Yasuo Tanaka) 

WS/FGD Held on June 9th with Education & Community Stakeholders

We have successfully organised a Work Shop/Focus Group Discussion on 9th June at Mekkah Hotel, Banda Aceh with 56 stakeholders of Education and Community sectors. The following is a distribution of participants ages.

In the morning, an opening session and a session to review general recovery & reconstructions was held. In the opening session, remarks from TDMRC & Kobe Univ. are given and followed by a PPT presentation of Disaster Education in Japan (PPT file uploaded to our Dropbox) was made. Comments on general recovery & reconstructions are asked by using questionnaires (Questions A-1 to A-5, uploaded to Dropbox).

Facilitators who are the members of five AGs (Aspect Groups) worked hard to collect comments and opinions on the recovery & reconstruction states of Banda Aceh by separating the comments related to personal (internal) or societal (external) matters. Also at the end of session, one representative from each group (about 10 groups altogether) has reported a summary of comments from each group.   Typed data on all participant's comments (questionnaire, and also posted comments as in the right photo)  in Bahasa Indonesia are also uploaded.

In the afternoon, the facilitators from AG1 (Housing & Infrastructure), 2 (Economic Development), 3 (Mental Health & Psychosocial), and 5 (Community) have asked their specific questions to participants by grouping them into 4 different groups. Posed questionnaire from each AG and analyses of data will be uploaded in our Dropbox.

Around 4:30, our first WS/FGD meeting has been completed very successfully.

For Preparing June FGD or WS for Educational Sector

UNSyiah Team has completed their FGD meeting on 29th April. Their report of this meeting, and also their plans for series of FGD and WS are summaried in two papers. These two papers are uploaded in our Dropbox.

Based on these documents, especially on the future plans, it becomes obvious that some deviation started from the original thinkings in the planned activities. However, these thoughts at UNSyiah side are not shared by Kobe team, and we need to coordinate on these.

Y.Tanaka have produced a PPT file discussing the difference between Kobe Team and UNSyiah Team, and his PPT file was uploaded in our Dropbox. Here are the thoughts & suggestions of his.

2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami 10 yr Assessment Project has two components;
Project1 by Kobe Team (Supported by Japanese Funding Agency)
Project2: by UNSyiah Team (Supported by Aceh Gov.)
There are gaps between the above two, and let's discuss "What are the gaps between two project? and
How we should coordinate?"

What are the gaps between the two projects?
The objectives of two projects may be different.
Kobe Team:
1. Find out how the reconstruction in Aceh has  progressed? (factual history as well as peoples’ opinion about the reconstruction),
2. Through this exercise, find out what are well or poorly reconstructed.
3. Find out what are to be done in future reconstructions.
4. What are the Aceh’s lessons to be told to the East Japan Tsunami victims.

Then, What are the objectives of Aceh Gov.’s project?

UNSyiah Team needs to state the objectives of the project funded by Aceh Gov.

Also the expected outcomes form this project needs to be stated.

The expected outcomes of Kobe Team project are; 

1. Help better reconstructions of Aceh and research activities @ UNSyiah. 

2. Bridge the reconstructions between Aceh and Tohoku, Japan. 

To coordinate these projects, there are things to be understood mutually among us

Kobe Team thinks Reconstructions@Banda Aceh represent significant parts of of reconstruction activities in Indonesia’s case of Indian Ocean Tsunami. Also Banda Aceh’s case would be comparable to those @ Kobe City because both are urban problem.

Then we need to know the main reason of UNSyiah team studying the rural cases? — Comparison between rural and urban reconstruction problems? 

Kobe Team thinks the reconstruction problems and solutions are complex and quite interrelated among different study aspects (i.e, the five AG1 to 5). Therefore, we should try to ask those questions from different study aspects to the same target interviewees in order all of us to share mutually our understandings and thinkings towards the same problem.  

Kobe Team believes that the most important outcome is that this project leads to better reconstruction of Banda Aceh (also Aceh) through mutual participations of talking & discussing on what are the better reconstructions so far achieved and to be achieved in future. This can only be possible by organising a workshop where interviewers and interviewees work together to discuss the same problem.

Things we should coordinate;

1. Decide the date of the June workshop targeted for the educational sector. 

2. One day before the workshop, UNSyiah staff and Kobe team should meet & agree on what questions to be asked to those educational sector people.

Here are some thoughts on questions on educational sectors

1. What were the most sever damages in educational sectors besides the students’ death? and how soon those have been recovered and reconstructed? (School buildings?, Teaching materials? Teaching methods & contents? etc.)

2.  How soon the school activities become normal? (Student behaviours, psychological effects, financial problems, electricity or water problems?)

3. DRR education and preparedness for future tsunami? (Any DRR educational material, or culture or training on DRR?)

4. Any current activities on community involvement or outreaching activities? (Role of school in reconstruction?)

5. Future plans or developments required in educational sectors for better learning and reconstruction?

 

Ache's Economic Developments -Past & Future -

In order to discuss the future of Aceh & Banda Aceh, it is extremely important to understand the economic developments over past 10 years that had supported Aceh & Banda Aceh economic livelihood.

It is also very important to know that the declining production of natural gas in Aceh is a major factor that lowers the GDP (Gross Domestic Products: Pertumbuhan Ekonomi) of Aceh while the agricultural and fishery, and possibly tourism sectors contribute very positively to Aceh’s GDP.

Y.Tanaka found the following figures that indicate the economic changes in Aceh, and he would like to see more detailed follow-up on this by UNSyiah researchers. Three references are thought to be extremely important for this study, and they are the following 3 literatures that are uploaded in our Dropbox:

1) Buku_Datin_Kinerja_Pembangunan_2004-2012
2) Sisira Jayasuriya and Peter McCawley (2010), The Asian Tsunami Aid and Reconstruction after a Disaster, (A JOINT PUBLICATION OF THE ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK INSTITUTE AND EDWARD ELGAR PUBLISHING)
3) Peter McCawley’s presentation: Indonesia Update 2013 - Aceh’s Economy – Prospects for Revival after Disaster and War- (taken from web).

Figure taken from Kinerja Pembangunan 2004-2012

Please see page 93 of this book.

 

Slide taken from Peter McCawley's presentation on Aceh's GDP's structural distribution. 

Y.Tanaka thinks that MIgas in the figure may represent the mines and natural gas contribution, and Agric would include agriculture and fishery.

April 24th WS(FGD) Postponed to 29th (第１回ワークショップ開催延期)

The followings are the summary of phone discussion with Y.Tanaka and TDMRC representative on April 21st evening.

Discussion was made at UNSyiah on how to conduct the first FGD (WS) on 24th. The details of questions and others have to be sorted out still, and it was decided to postpone it to 29th (Tuesday).

It was also confirmed that the discussion in FGD (WS) will be conducted by grouping the participants  into small numbers, say 7-8 persons for the participants to feel easy of expressing their views.

To collect a quantitative survey data/result from this FDG (WS), it is important to identify the individual's background (i.e., age, gender, and affiliation) so that we can judge his/her comment representing what kind of community or stakeholder.  All answer sheets need to be collected after the FDG (WS) and archived digitally.

In UNSyiah, the reliability of the data collected at FDG (WS) was discussed with respect to its quantitative accuracy. Alternative such as a survey over a large number of public using questionary is not used in this project because;
 outcomes expected from FDG (WS) are
1) sharing of understanding on recovery & reconstruction states at Banda Aceh among participants, and 
2) discussing together about the future plan of Banda Aceh among the participants through the understanding of current recovery and reconstruction status. 

Further discussions on the details of how to conduct the FGD (WS) continue at UNSyiah.

(Written by Y. Tanaka)

日本側研究者の皆様へ(To Japanese Researcher)

バンダアチェ市10年検証について、シャークアラ大学側は合計３回の会合を行い、第１回目を５日後の４月２４日（木）に実施することを決めました。田中は参加できませんので、実施方法の詳細を本ブログでまとめて、皆様のご意見を頂きたいと思います。

それと10年検証では、これから実施する参加者からのヒアリング調査だけでなく、シャークアラ大学研究者によるデータ収集が不可欠＆最重要と思います。人口、インフラ施設、政府組織等々についての10年間の年表の作成が特に必要と思います。

是非、ご意見をお願いします。なお、財団への申請書提出は終了し、後は結果を待つばかりです。どうぞ宜しくお願いいたします。

(Y.Tanaka is asking comments from Japanese researchers by reading this blog. Also he thinks that the data collections at UNSyiah side on population, infrastructures (water, sewerages, electricity, roads etc) over 10years at Banda Ache is the most important item. Lastly he comments on our application to the Japanese foundation has been accepted, and we just need to wait for their reply.)

3rd UNSyiah Meeting held to discuss 1st Workshop on 24th April

On 17th Thursday, 3rd meeting was held to discuss the details of 1st Workshop on 24th April.
The followings are key points as discussed in the meeting.
(Y. Tanaka highlights those statements that are not clearly understood.)

1. UNSyiah researchers are going to undertake 3 to 4 times FGDs (Focus Group Discussions?)  and a couple of in depth interviews or field survey with questionnaires. 

2. The first FGD on next Thursday, 24 April, is the so-called experts FGD.  Its purpose is to validate the questions formulated by each aspects based on experts judgements.

3. The 2nd and 3rd FGDs are dedicated to post those validated questions to the sample audiences which comes from different stakeholders and/or communities. Most of the aspects plan to do a multi-stage FGDs. This means there will be follow up action by in-depth interview with some further selected respondents. We have already identified some commonality of respondents from some aspects as well as completely different respondents from one aspects to another. We conclude based on this fact, that we are going to split into two parallel groups in every FGD event (FGD2a, FGD2b and FGD3a, FGD3b). Each of these sub FGDs (40 persons each) are consisting of two different target respondents. In this way, each aspects group who has commonality in respondents will be in the same sub FGD. We will try to finish the design of these sub FGDs in these two days and will update you on this.

4. Subsequently, it might be useful to conduct the final FGD (FGD4) which is dedicated to a public discussions based on final results of the assessment in order to once again have comments from wider audience, particularly from the community.

5. On the other hand, for some reasons, we feel that there are some details which cannot be acquired through FGDs, particularly with the aspects of economic development and infrastructure/housings. Also, by the fact that we want to include not only Banda Aceh, but also the cases of remote districts representative for the western and eastern coasts in our study. 
-----------The above are what discussed in the 3rd UNSyiah Meeting---------------

Y.Tanaka basically agrees what UNSyiah team planned, and also the needs for extending the study for the areas outside of Banda Aceh. --- Question is that "Do we have enough time to complete our study on Banda Aceh's recovery & reconstruction assessment??"
Y.Tanaka pose this question because we need not only those FGDs (Workshops?) and their analyses, but more importantly a good collection of data to create in-depth historical map (or graph) on populations, infrastructures, governmental organisation, educational system, industrial (agricultural & fishery) production changes at Banda Aceh or Aceh State over the past 10 years. This is the task UNSyiah FG(Focus Group) members have to complete otherwise nobody does. I expect more discussions and follow-ups will be made in the future blogs.

Application to Japanese Funding Agency has been submitted

On Friday 11th today, our application to Japanese Funding agency has been submitted.
The application will be reviewed by the agency managements in late May, and we will hear from them after that.

In any case, we will start our study by organising the first (preliminary) workshop by targeting the community people on April 24th. TDMRC focus groups will prepare the procedures to conduct the workshop, and various comments from participants on how they observe and judge the recovery & reconstruction states at Banda Aceh after 10 years from the 2004 Tsunami.

The following is an example of Kobe City study on how participants felt on the livelihood recovery & reconstruction;

We need to find out on what items Banda Aceh community people feel the recovery & reconstruction have been achieved, and on what items they feel not.

Also more importantly there should be a discussion on the future reconstruction or development of Banda Aceh after they have presented those have been & have not been achieved. This is a key discussion for creating a future vision of Banda Aceh, and a clear workshop procedure to conduct this discussion session is needed.

TDRMC meetings on 2nd April & 10th April

There were two meetings held at TDMRC on how to carry out the study.
            1) April  2nd 2014
            2) April 10th 2014

The followings are the summary of meetings.
1) Five focus groups & persons in charge have been decided;
   - Reconstruction of Human Settlement and Infrastructure of the affected area
        (Dr. Azmeri / Cut Mutiawati /?)
   - Regional and Communities’ Economic Revitalization
        (Dr. Safrida / Sofyan / Elvira Iskandar)
   - Social Ties and Psychological Recovery
        (Yulia Direzkia, Psikolog / Hendra Syahputra / Nursan Junita)
   - Disaster Management Efforts
         (Dr. Eng. Syamsidik/?/?)
   - Community Preparedness.
         (Rina Suryani Oktari/?/?)

 Members of management committee have been decided;
   - Head : Dr. Khairul Munadi
   - Vice: Dr. Ella Meilianda
  Management :
   - Project coordinator: Dr. Nizamuddin
   - Project Administrator: Alfi Rahman
   - Visual & Graphic designer/EO: Mahruza

2) First (preliminary) workshop date has been decided.

   - April 24th Thursday

   - Funding from Aceh provincial government is confirmed.

The 10 year commemoration of 2004 Sumatra Tsunami disaster will be held on December 26th 2014 in countries and places all over the world where this disaster has changed the life of individuals, communities, and society as a whole.

In Banda Aceh, Indonesia, teaching and research staffs of Syiah Kuala Universiti (UNSyiah) are conducting an assessment study on 10 year recoveries & reconstructions at Banda Aceh city from the 2004 Sumatra Tsunami. This study is to be a collaborative effort between Banda Aceh and Kobe of Japan that suffered a heavy damage due to the 1995 Great Hanashin-Awaji Earthquake (Kobe EQ).

The organisations involved in the study are; UNSyiah (TDMRC:Tsunami Disaster Mitigation Research Center, Graduate Program of Disaster Science, and the Administration Office), Kobe University, and Kobe Institute of Urban Research.

This blog is to facilitate the above study by communicating among the members involved in this study project.

Yasuo Tanaka 31/03/2014