In response to disasters in those areas, there was a rapid flow of aid from

various parties including governments, individuals and organisations. In the case of

the Aceh and Nias tsunamis, for instance, the humanitarian aid that followed was

considered the largest disaster relief funding provided to the developing world.

Numerous rehabilitation and reconstruction projects, such as in housing, health,

education, and livelihood were initiated; all were aimed at rebuilding lives of victims

of the disasters. A similar reaction has been seen in response to other affected areas in

Indonesia with smaller-scale projects depending on the causalities and losses.

In post-disaster Aceh, Clarke et al. (Clarke et al., 2010) demonstrate that

rehabilitation and reconstruction are complex and challenging. A number of

organisations (government, religious, secular, international donors) were involved in

disaster relief in Aceh, and several issues arose such as the limited capacity of aid

workers to perform their tasks, a lack of coordination between the relief actors, the low

level of project participation, and the different perceptions of ‘reconstruction’ between

different groups and the community.

Lessons were learnt from the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami in Aceh and several

devastating disasters that have occurred since. In 2007 the Indonesian government

enacted Law No 24 on Disaster Management. The Law addresses many important

issues related to disaster reduction and post-disaster relief. For instance, it describes