TSUNAMI ARKS An estimated 10% of Mentawai and Batu Island communities are located on flat coral sand islands or in river delta swamps. It is not feasible for these communities to attempt to reach high ground and often the sea conditions make evacuation by boat either dangerous or impossible at night. Island Aid has developed a unique solution that we have named "The Tsunami Ark". Each Tsunami Ark will double as a community center and emergency school in the event that government schools are rendered dangerous or destroyed in an earthquake. The high structure incorporates a lashed bamboo platform with sides and a pointed 'bow' facing the ocean. Protected by a thatch roof, the entire structure is designed to withstand a 3-5 m tsunami in situ. In the event of a mega tsunami, the structure will lift off its base and be carried inland by the wave. The scale and design of the bamboo 'ark' will offer communities a reasonable chance of surviving the impact of the tsunami and stores of drinking water a battery powered waterproof VHF radio will help rescue teams to locate survivors and coordinate aid. A cable braced bamboo structure has been designed to withstand a mega quake. This structure is low cost and can be relocated should that ever prove necessary. It can also be replicated and components pre-cut and supplied to remote locations as a multipurpose shelter and tsunami refuge combined. Regardless of the actual risk of further tsunamis in the region, the security of working in a quake proof structure that can also double as a tsunami refuge will help communities to overcome the long term effects of trauma and loss of family and friends. If the Air Manis TC is no longer required, the building can be used for a fish market, net repairs, fisher association headquarters or as a community center for sports and youth activities as deemed best by the local residents. Replicas of this building in remote villages could also be used for temporary schools or aid distribution points. The proposed buildings are far more durable than tents and more dignified. Our experience with tents leaves us convinced that they are welcome at first but prolonged use of leaky hot and cramped tents is very detrimental for community and aid provider's morale.

			MULTI FUNCTION COMMUNITY BUILDINGS One of Island Aid's priority programs is to fund and build community buildings on tops of hills that can function as schools during periods of seismic activity. Mentawai islanders understand that earthquakes can bring tsunamis and so everytime the area experiences an earthquake, everyone moves up to the hills and they are afraid to come down. Recently we had so many earthquakes that the children were up on the hills for weeks and so school activities were suspended. Each community building would have a large roof to catch rainwater in a big tank so that the people have water. Also a public toilet would be part of the structure because everyone just goes into the bush at the moment. This is contaminating all the village ground and surface water and the health risk is serious.  As well as functioning as  a school, the building can be used for meetings and clinics. This solution is urgently needed all over Mentawai. The cost will be between $5,000 and $15,000 each using local materials. The dimensions of the building will be linked to the size of the community.

			CHILDREN'S INTERNET ACCESS Telephone infrastructure in the Mentawai's and Telos Islands is limited to cell phone service around the 4 largest towns and land lines in these same 4 towns plus one other. The land line system is linked to the mainland via satellite and the bandwidth is very limited. Internet service is still not available in the two regency capitals and the phone system suffers from regular shut downs. No schools have been equipped with internet facilities or computers to date and there are no plans to upgrade telephone infrastructure for the 60% of the population who live far from major towns. Island Aid will establish low cost radio networks based at resorts and linking surrounding village schools to the www at no cost. The bandwidth needed by the resorts will be shared with the linked schools during times when most guests will be out surfing. Because the hotels generally pay for bandwidth and not data volume, this arrangement will not burden them with additional costs. Funds will be needed to maintain computers and radio networks and a solar panel powered battery bank will be needed in each school.

			RECONSTRUCTION PROJECTS 15 villages in the Pagai Islands have suffered serious damage during the September 2007 earthquakes. We expect to be called on by the Mentawai Government to help implement new housing projects in the worst hit villages. We are not set up as a cargo boat but we can carry skilled volunteers and all the tools needed to build earthquake safe housing on high ground. This would be the best option for communities who are close enough to hills to make the move feasible. Island Aid has partnered with Andrew Minter & Associates (NSW) to develop a local construction system that uses recycled iron roofing, local clay combined with waste coconut fiber, lime and cement as the prime materials. The building system is ideal for the construction of solid low maintenance earthquake resistant housing. Wood or bamboo frame structures can be clad with old otherwise unusable roofing iron both inside and outside. An easily made low cost bond coating is applied to the iron and it is then plastered with the blended clay and coconut fiber mix. After curing cracks are filled with a finishing mix. The inside and outside appearance is indistinguishable from a conventional plastered masonry building but water resistance, thermal & acoustic performance and resistance too severe quake stresses are all far superior. The cost is estimated to be less than 50% of current lowest quality concrete block housing.

			ARTISANAL FISHING/ TRANSPORTATION BOAT PROGRAM The AMTC will focus on the development and construction of prototype boats for the different fisheries and requirements found between Benkulu in the South and Sabang in the North. The rights to proven designs from other successful aid programs will be purchased or negotiated on a royalty basis and technical experts employed at nominal rates if site visits and travel to Padang is required. The focus will be on building small boats in kit form that can be transported economically to target areas with the assistance of other NGOs and donors. This first wave of boats will be development prototypes to confirm that designs are acceptable to the end users. Inevitably there will be modifications and design refinements suggested after evaluation trials. Once these changes have been incorporated in the second wave of boats, production of kits for remote assembly yards can commence. A third wave of 'Production Boats' will be sold via micro credit schemes and so ongoing production will not require funding. Full funding is requested for 3 generations of each boat design and only one or two of each will be built. All small boat owners in Indonesia have been hit hard by the recent impact of rising global oil prices and the new National Government's determination to eliminate crippling fuel subsidies regardless of the political cost.  Automotive Petroleum prices increased from Rp1,450/ltr in 2003 to Rp4,500 in October 2005 and reliable sources are confident that the price will stabilize at around Rp8,000/ltr by mid 2006. Kerosene (Rp3,000/ltr) and Diesel (Rp4,300/ltr) have followed the trend. The country has enjoyed subsidized fuel for so long that the entire fishing and marine transport infrastructure has developed without much concern for operating costs. Current boat/engine combinations are not economically feasible at current fuel price levels let alone anticipated prices for the near future. A radical new approach is needed to avoid mass unemployment and social unrest not to mention further deterioration of fisherfolk's already desperately poor living & health standards. Where as rural and urban communities in Indonesia can choose to use public transport,  small capacity motor bikes, bicycles or even walk to their work place, the majority of fisherfolk must have a seaworthy boat to reach off-shore resources. In most cases, existing boat owners can not simply use existing boats and buy more economical engines and hope to travel far enough out to sea to find fish. The only solution is the widespread adoption of new designs, new building techniques,  new materials and to combine this with training to introduce modified fishing methods that best suit the specific fishery in each area. The technical solutions must be low cost, easy to repair and safe.  Micro credit will be a critical part of the equation as boat owners will need help to bridge the transition period.

			VIRGIN COCONUT OIL - BIO DIESEL The Mentawai Islanders economy is heavily dependent on the production of Copra. Industrial copra production is locked into a supply line with one or two factories as buyers. Middlemen and transport costs absorb over 50% of the value of the crop. Harvesting methods are un-mechanized and the nuts are gathered by hand and carried on foot to small boat landings around the coast. The drying and smoking process is time consuming and dirty with constant high levels of smoke in the vicinity of settlements.  The concentrated acid and caustic soda washes that are needed to remove the smoke coloration and taste, destroy many of the valuable enzymes and natural antibiotic properties of virgin cold pressed oil. Coconut Oil production will focus on high value health food markets and bio-diesel will be produced from low grade by-product.

			REFORESTATION & CONSERVATION PROGRAMS We are negotiating with one of London's top hotels at the moment. They want to purchase over 500 Ha of degraded forest land on an island near one of the northern Mentawai resorts and replant it. This is new twist on carbon trading and accreditation is the main challenge facing the concept . The Hotel owners believe that Rain Forest rehabilitation and conservation makes more sense to them than spending millions on upgrading their historic building carcass to gain marginal improvements in energy efficiency. For less money they can rejuvenate a substantial area of humid rain forest along with its wild life and at the same time provide dignified employment for local communities doing what they know how to do best... acting as guardians of the trees they revere as possessing the spirits of their ancestors.

			COCOA (CHOCOLATE) CULTIVATION Coco grows well on tsunami vulnerable low coastal areas in Mentawai and it can be introduced in areas already planted with coconut palms.

			Seaweed harvesting (under development)

			Fruit and Vegetable gardens for supply to resorts and boats (under development)