Australia hands over rebuilt schools in quake-hit region

Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Klaten, Central Java

Australian Ambassador Bill Farmer on Tuesday symbolically handed over 16 schools rebuilt in Klaten regency, Central Java, as part of the Australian government's Rp 215 billion reconstruction program following the 2006 Java earthquake.

The schools included 11 state-run kindergartens and elementary schools, and five elementary schools run by Muslim organization Muhammadiyah.

The handover ceremony for the state schools was held at state-run SDN Basin elementary school in Kebonarum, while a separate ceremony for the Muhammadiyah schools took place at SD Muhammadiyah Sinar Fajar Bawak, Cawas.

Among those in attendance were Director General of Elementary and Secondary Education Suyanto from the Education Ministry, Muhammadiyah vice chairman Dahlan Rais and Klaten Regent Sunarno.

"This is one of 29 government and Muhammadiyah schools that we have rebuilt since the May 2006 earthquake," Farmer said.

Australia, Farmer said, worked with the Indonesian government, Muslim organizations Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, and local communities in the reconstruction of the 29 schools in Yogyakarta and Central Java.

Dian Lestari of the Australian government's Yogyakarta-Central Java community assistance program said of the 29 rebuilt schools, 13 were in Bantul, in Yogyakarta province, and 16 in Klaten.

With the handover on Tuesday, she said, 27 of the 29 rebuilt schools were already in use.

Through the school reconstruction program, Farmer said, his government would provide a total of 89 new equipped classrooms with a combined capacity of more than 3,300 students in both provinces.

The devastating earthquake that hit Yogyakarta and parts of Central Java on May 27, 2006, killed nearly 6,000 people, displaced some 1.5 million others, and damaged hundreds of thousands of houses and public facilities.

Following the earthquake, Farmer said, the Australian government immediately committed Rp 60 billion in humanitarian and emergency relief to assist the victims.

It committed another Rp 240 billion to the Yogyakarta-Central Java community assistance program, whose aim is to assist local communities in rebuilding their lives.

"We have now reached the final phase of our response to the earthquake. The district and provincial governments have asked us to focus on support for livelihood, so we will now give more attention to that," Farmer said.