IFRC to present 19,000 shelters to tsunami survivors in Aceh

Banda Aceh, Dec. 7 (ANTARA) - The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) will present tsunami survivors living in a total of 19,000 shelters in Aceh with ownership certificates on the shelters, a spokesman said.

"The handing over of the shelter ownership certificates will mark the completion of our program for tsunami victims in Aceh and Nias," IFRC Executive Manager for Indonesia Firmansyah said here on Friday.

IFRC had been carrying out its programs in tsunami-hit Aceh and Nias in cooperation with the Indonesian Red Cross since 2005.

The shelters were built so that tsunami survivors could live in better temporary accommodations than tents pending the completion of permanent housing projects for them, Firmansyah said.

"With support from 32 red cross and red crescent societies in many countries, domestic and foreign NGOs, we will enable the tsunami survivors to own the shelters," he said.

The shelters are temporary dwellings consisting of galvanized steel structures and anti-termite wooden walls capable of withstanding eartwuake shocks.

A 8.9-magnitude earthquake followed by a deadly tsunami devastated Aceh Province and Nias Island (North Sumatra Province) on December 26, 2004, killing at least 170,000 people and rendering almost one million others homeless.