Indonesia Tsunami Refugees Recycle the Past
Date: 20-Jan-05
Country: INDONESIA
Author: Karima Anjani
Wrecked shop-front roller doors, bits of roofing and cooking pots litter this tsunami-devastated Indonesian city and the metal used in times past now offers hundreds of people a way to improve their lives.
"Help me roll this," Bima Satriadi, 18, said to his friend, tugging at a metal sheet as he sweated under a scorching tropical sun.
Satriadi and friend, Fahrul, live in a refugee camp on the outskirts of the capital of Aceh province, Banda Aceh, on the northern tip of Sumatra island.
They lost their homes, school and everything else in their village in Lhok Nga, washed away by the quake-triggered waves on Dec. 26 that killed more than 115,000 people in Indonesia.
Up to four tonnes of aluminium are collected each day at one of Banda Aceh's scrap yards. The metal is sent to merchants in Medan city, 450 km (280 miles) to the southeast.
"Generally, they're people who lost their homes and families. Rather than focusing on their loss, they collect aluminium and scrap metal and deliver it to my shop," said scrap yard owner Mawardi.
Piles of wrecked bicycles, pots, metal sheets, parts of satellite dishes and fences are laid out in the mud by the roadside.
With his load firmly secured to a pickup truck, a man prepares for the 14-hour drive to Medan, where the aluminium is sold to smelters for about 5,000 rupiah (about 50 US cents) a kilogram.
The aluminium sheet produced by smelters is used for making kitchen utensils or builders use it for roofs and walls. Aluminium foil is used in packaging, billboards and for car registration plates.
Satriadi and Fahrul have been making cash for their families before school reopens in tents at their camp next week.
"We started this after seeing people collecting aluminium near our refugee camp," said Fahrul, 15, who hunts for scrap for about six hours a day.
The work is hazardous and the youngsters risk injury as well as killer diseases such as tetanus, doctors and aid workers say. But they are keen to earn extra cash to supplement their families' relief supplies.
"In a day, we can get about 50,000 rupiah ($5), and use the money to buy cooking oil, eggs and maybe even pay for our school fees," Fahrul said.
"It's better to go and learn science. Here it smells so bad," he said, flashing a wide smile.
(US$1=9,290 rupiah)