Evaluation of Post-Tsunami Housing Built in Aceh, Indonesia

The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is the not-for-profit humanitarian aid organization of the United Methodist Church. UMCOR works in over 80 countries worldwide to alleviate human suffering resulting from war, conflict or natural disaster. Having recently completed a housing project in Aceh, Indonesia, an area devastated by the 2004 tsunami, UMCOR requested a Capstone team to evaluate the quality of the houses built. Furthermore, UMCOR requested that the team also evaluate post-tsunami houses built in Aceh by Church World Services (CWS), a development ministry of Protestant, Orthodox, and Anglican denominations in the United States, to whom UMCOR provided funding. This study evaluates both projects based on field research, which included housing evaluations, interviews with staff, stakeholders and key informants, as well as work with architectural consultants to determine benchmarking standards. The Capstone team also assessed the project planning in order to further understand the findings and offer recommendations.