Disaster of Man's Making Now Threatens Sumatra

In Jangut, a village in Lamno, local carpenters hired by IBS have almost finished 96 houses. IBS is building hundreds more in seven other Lamno villages.

Cut Anita, whose name is pronounced Choot Anita, sleeps in a tent put up on the three-foot-high foundation that is all that remains of her family's house. Though the tent leaks when it rains, and she could move to a government barracks on a hillside, she says she would rather stay here. The tsunami killed her mother, father and only sister. Left alone, the 24-year-old clings to one bright prospect: "That's my future home," she said, over and over again.

To save the forests, the World Wildlife Fund and Greenomics have developed a plan to import timber from the United States and Australia, and some organizations are moving forward with plans to build houses of bricks, rather than wood.

"Whoever comes fastest, that's what we want," said Bukhari M. Nur, 35, the Jangut village head. He said he would prefer homes made of brick, like his former house. But, he said, his old house cost $14,000 to build, while IBS is spending just $2,700 per house. So he and his villagers will settle for wood.

Besides, local hardwood is good quality, said Bukhari, a timber dealer until the tsunami destroyed his business. He used to truck lumber out of Lamno to Banda Aceh. Now, he said, he's pleased the wood is staying in Lamno, contributing to rebuilding.

At the local sawmill, near the river that comes down from the mountains, the sound of wood being cut and planed breaks the stillness. Goats romp about the courtyard. A flatbed truck from Doctors Without Borders pulls out, laden with lumber.

Baharuddin, a sawmill manager, said the demand for timber -- and its price -- has risen since people began to rebuild. Some of the best wood goes now for almost $300 a cubic meter.

"That's the tsunami price," he said, with a shrug.

Supply is not a problem. The wood comes "from up there," Baharuddin said, gesturing toward the mountains, "and in the next subdistrict over," indicating another set of mountains.

Local loggers say they are as busy as ever.

"As far as I know, you can cut any tree in this area," said Rachman, 46, who had just spent two weeks in the mountains felling trees and was heading back after a two-day rest.

Rachman, a soft-spoken father of four, described logging as bone-breaking work. But it is his only source of income -- he makes $7 a day cutting one cubic meter.

At the Doctors Without Borders office here, field coordinator Philippe Aruna said the group now knows the timber for the boats it is building was illegally logged. But when members of the group began the project in March, they had no idea. The local shops were full. Then by last month, he said, the supply began to dwindle, and the timber they saw looked green, not seasoned. "We started to realize maybe it's not clean," he said.

At this point, he said, it makes no sense to stop. The boats are almost finished. The wood has been delivered. He pointed to a stack of lumber on the ground nearby.

Doctors Without Borders is not in the boat-making business, but it does want to ease psychological distress. A major source of depression among the fishermen is a lack of work. "You come here and see the people, the fishermen, sitting the whole day, and they don't have anything to do," Aruna said. "One way to support them is to get them back to the sea."

Renate Korber, desk officer for Caritas Austria in Banda Aceh, said Caritas had suspended wood purchases until the sourcing issue was resolved. In any case, she said, Caritas is exploring the alternative of building houses of brick or stone, she said.

Masrizal, head of Mamamia, said that the timber for the houses his group was building was purchased from loggers who harvested wood that fell during the tsunami. He called environmentalists' concerns "illogical."

"People are suffering," said Masrizal, 37, smoking a Marlboro and sitting on a plastic chair at the work site. "Before, plenty of local timber was exported from Indonesia and nobody complained. Now we need the timber for the tsunami victims, and people are protesting."

Special correspondent Yayu Yuniar contributed to this report.