YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia (UCAN) -- Two Catholic universities are cooperating with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) to build 17,000 temporary homes for victims of the May 27 earthquake.

The temporary structures will be built in 22 villages in the provinces of Yogyakarta and Central Java, both of them affected by the disaster. Yogyakarta city is 405 kilometers southeast of Jakarta.

The earthquake, measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale, destroyed thousands of houses and other buildings, including Catholic churches.

The project's components were noted in a Memorandum of Agreement, signed on July 5 by: Slamet Santoso Sarworo, rector of Catholic University of Atma Jaya; Jesuit Father Paul Wiryono Priyatamtama, rector of Jesuit-run University of Sanata Dharma; and Doctor Bondan, head of the Indonesian Red Cross in Yogyakarta, representing the IFRC. The memorandum says the two universities, both in Yogyakarta, will provide technical, administrative, sociological and psychological assistance for the project, while IFRC will provide funding.

Some Atma Jaya personnel discussed their participation in the project with UCA News, including Ignatius Purwanto Hadi, who heads Atma Jaya's Team for Post-Quake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction (TPRRPG, Indonesian acronym).

Atma Jaya students have been busy helping local people develop a temporary house prototype, he said on July 30, "and for the last two weeks, 150 of our students have been collecting data in the villages."

"The students have also approached quake victims and introduced the building program," he added. "If the people welcome the program, we hope to reach our goal to have all quake victims out of their tents by this October."

Hadi said the IFRC budget would give a 20-square-meter bamboo house costing 1.5 million rupiah (US$165) to every family whose house was totally destroyed.

"It is just a shelter from the hot weather and rain," Hadi said. The people can replace the temporary structures as they wish, he pointed out, "when funds promised by the government come or when they have another financial source."

TPRRPG uses bamboo for the temporary homes because bamboo is cheap and easy to find. Such houses are also quake-resistant, environment-friendly, and cool in the day and warm at night. To build the houses, Hadi noted, quake victims need no special skills, only some technical guidance, and "the homes can last five years if well maintained, so people have enough time to save."

According to Hadi, IFRC decided, based on its budget, to build 17,000 houses. Elisabeth Dewi Purwandari, 26, a project volunteer who studies in Atma Jaya's faculty of technology, the building of 17,000 houses in two months is a realistic goal, if the morale of quake victims is high and they work together.

However, Purwandari said, when she and fellow students explained the program to the quake victims, the people initially were skeptical because earlier promises of aid, including those from the government, have not materialized.

Thank God, she added, they now welcome the housing aid program.

Hadi said his university also is cooperating with the Netherlands office of the International Organization for Migration (IOM). "With IOM's financial aid, we will build 5,000 simple houses in Terbah sub-district of Yogyakarta," he said.

The university is also helping to rebuild destroyed schools, markets, historic buildings and churches.

Yanuarius Benny Kristiawan said Atma Jaya's faculty of technology, where he is a lecturer, has surveyed 100 churches slightly or badly damaged in Yogyakarta and Klaten district in Central Java.

"We gave technical advice on renovating slightly damaged churches, but redesigned six totally destroyed churches. Each parish pastoral council would handle the construction of those churches," he said. He also proposed that long and large bamboo buildings be erected as temporary churches.

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