Quake Resistant Houses: Indonesia

It would be perfect to have quake resistant buildings and houses throughout the archipelago of Indonesia and in doing so it would dramatically lessen the damage costs and loss of life.

With the recent earthquake in Yogyakarta decimating the area and a year ago the Tsunami in Sumatra, the insurance costs were unbelievably high and in Yogyakarta alone the bill is estimated at $10 billion. Now thanks to recent technology from the Public Works Ministry's Resettlement Development Research Center in Bandung technical assistance in rebuilding at least 60,000 quake-resistant houses is in progress.

Quake-resistant houses being built now using this latest technology have made it so they are quick to build and are affordable. Each house measured 36 square meters and cost around Rp 36 million to build. The house models for Yogyakarta had been used for tsunami victims in Aceh and Nias island in North Sumatra. In Aceh, at least 4,500 such houses have been built from the 26,000 ordered by the International Organization for Migration.

The research center does not produce the houses which are said to be safe even in high-risk quake zones but will teach the technology to small and medium-scale business assigned to rebuild houses for quake survivors.

Such an advancement in technology is surely worth investing in and the Indonesian government should come to the fore and foot the bill for a great deal of these innovative houses. After all, it will pay off in the long run.