Rebuilding lives and homes in Aceh and Nias, Indonesia

This document presents the experience and lessons learned from the implementation of the Earthquake and Tsunami Emergency Support Project (ETESP) housing program carried out by the Asian Development Bank in Indonesia.

On 7 April 2005, the Board of Directors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved the Earthquake and Tsunami Emergency Support Project (ETESP), providing a $290 million grant from the Asian Tsunami Fund to meet Indonesia’s disaster management, rehabilitation, and reconstruction requirements. The ETESP was designed as a multisector project to be implemented from 2005 to 2008, and consisted of five major groupings: (i) livelihood restoration, (ii) provision of social services, (iii) community infrastructure, (iv) physical infrastructure, and (v) fiduciary governance. The community infrastructure grouping included a housing sector component (the housing program) to which $72.5 million of the $300 million grant was allocated for implementation support. The design of the housing program reflected the policy of the Government of Indonesia granting a 36-square meter core housing unit to all families affected by the earthquake and tsunami, irrespective of their previous housing status. The grant agreement between ADB and the Government of Indonesia was signed on 29 April 2005.