‘New homes’ unveiled as students return to schools

Model temporary homes for Merapi refugees were officially launched here on Monday as tens of thousands of students on the slopes of the world’s most active volcano returned to schools.

Yogyakarta Governor Sultan Hamengkubuwono X and National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) chief Syamsul Maarif jointly launched the temporary homes made of bamboo in Babadan subdistrict, Sleman, Yogyakarta, on Monday.

“We are preparing some 300 temporary homes here to be assembled and erected later in Umbulharjo subdistrict, Cangkringan,” provincial Public Work Agency head Rani Syamsinarsi said at the ceremony.

Rani said her office had prepared five locations in the worst-hit districts of Cangkringan and Ngemplak to build temporary homes for families whose houses were ruined by the eruptions.

The locations are situated between 9.3 kilometers and 13 kilometers from the volcano’s crater. “We are waiting for the authorities to approve whether it is safe to build the homes,” she said.

The five designated locations in Cangkringan are Plosokerep village in Umbulharjo subdistrict, Pagerjurang in Kepuharjo, Banjarsari in Glagaharjo, Gondang in Wukirsari and Kuwang in Argomulyo. The location in Ngemplak district is Plumbon in Sindumartani.

The eruptions damaged 2,526 houses severely in the two districts, Rani said, adding that of them only 15 are in Ngemplak, while the remaining 2,511 are in Cangkringan.

Speaking at the ceremony, Sultan Hamengkubuwono called on contributors to help the BNPB and the local administrations provide temporary homes for Merapi refugees. The initial 300 bamboo homes were donated by Posko Jenggala.

“Staying in evacuation shelters is not healthy for the families. They can do nothing there. In temporary homes, they can start to rebuild their lives,” he said.

Cangkringan survivor Badiman welcomed the temporary homes, saying that he and the other families in his village would not mind moving as long as they would still live in Umbulharjo subdistrict.

“Our livelihood is there, we cannot stay away from Umbulharjo,” said Badiman, who lost his 15 cows during the eruptions.

Some 33,000 students from locations on the slopes of Merapi went back to school on Monday for the first since their schools were closed following the eruptions, some of the largest ever in the recorded history of Merapi eruptions.

The decision to send the students back to school was taken after the authorities eased the designated danger zone borders from 20 kilometers from the crater to between 10 and 15 kilometers as of Friday.

According to data provided by the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), the eruptions killed 304 people and displaced hundreds of thousands, although many have already began returning home.

The disaster survival ordeal and the time spent living in evacuation shelters became the topic of many students’ stories.

“The class is there but we use it mostly to tell about our own experience with the eruptions,” said Yuli Andani, a student at Muhammadiyah Senior High School in Pakem.

The eruptions forced over 33,000 students to flee, although 3,289 remained at the shelters now, Yogyakarta provincial Education Agency official Baskara Aji said.

Some 2,800 other students from 12 schools located along river banks in the area are also forced to stay in refugee shelters for fear of lava flows in the river. Temporary schools are planned to be built for them.