UNDP & Tsunami Recovery

Gender & MDGs

All-Women Local Bank opens in tsunami hit Meuraxa, Banda Aceh
Banda Aceh, 2 February 2006 – Residents of Meuraxa in Banda Aceh can now deposit their money, apply for loans and get general financial supports and advice from their own local bank named Baitul Quiradh Meuraxa. More...

Job retraining key to reconstruction in Aceh

Meulaboh, Aceh, 8 September 2005 —Mulia Hati, a centre for women’s employment and support operated by Samaritan’s Purse and funded by UNDP opened just a few weeks ago but has already become a second home to the women working here.

Working women at Mulia Hati, a centre for women’s employment and support operated by Samaritan’s Purse and funded by UNDP.

Eight months after the tsunami, signs of change and renewal in Aceh are becoming clearer by the day. Houses are going up, children are back in school and even those still in temporary housing are starting to return to work. Full story.

Tsunami damage threatens progress toward MDGs in Maldives, 17 August 2005

Male’, Maldives, 17 August 2005 —Last December’s tsunami sharply magnified problems associated with polluted ground water and rising sea level in the low-lying Maldives according to a new report issued by UNDP.

According to the report, which reviews progress toward meeting the Millennium Development Goals, the tsunami destroyed more than 90 percent of toilets on some islands. The tsunami wave contaminated the ground water with salt and washed fecal matter out of septic tanks and into the freshwater wells on many islands. Freshwater was forced up and out of some wells, while others were inundated with floodwater. Nearly eight months on from the tsunami, the problem is still a big one. Full story

Women from tsunami-hit districts in five countries meet to address gender concerns in reconstruction

Batticaloa, Sri Lanka, 1 August —Thirty six year old Jesinda Jeganathan squats with her face resting on her palm outside her 10 by 10 tin beach shack in the Zahira College tsunami relief camp in Batticaloa. Her thoughts are not on the tsunami which flattened her house, destroyed her livelihood and killed her relatives, but on the future that awaits her. Full story.

Tsunami survivors start over: Women use UNDP 'Cash for Work' earnings for businesses

Banda Aceh, Indonesia, 21 June 2005 —Several tsunami survivors who have participated in UNDP’s Cash for Work programme have invested their earnings in new businesses. Although the wages paid by the programme are modest for their efforts to clear rubble, mend boats and fishing nets and clear land—they are paid 35,000 RP per day (about US$3.50)—some have managed to save and invest in new businesses which are now providing them with a steady income and the basis for a new post-tsunami future. Full story.