The two new schools are being built by the shipping companies in cooperation with the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC). They will accommodate 216 pupils and 18 teachers in all. Two primary schools which were destroyed by the tidal wave will be rebuilt.
- To ensure school children proper teaching facilities is very important. The projects will give visible results quickly. Both Klaveness and Wilh. Wilhelmsen are companies operating globally and we are therefore happy to help the youngest generation in one of the many countries in which we have activities, says operational manager Finn O. Hovland in the Torvald Klaveness group and vice president corporate communication Cecilie Stray in Wilh. Wilhelmsen.
The school children who will be able to start using their news schools around New Year 2006, are today taught in tents erected by the NRC. Many of their fellow pupils and teachers were killed by the Tsunami. The area in which the schools are being built was amongst the hardest affected areas. The SND Peunaga Cut Ujong must be built on a new lot because the old site is located too close to the sea and within the green-zone, in which there now is a governmental building ban.
The NRC is working in Sumatra under the umbrella organisation CARDI (Consortium for Assistance and Recovery toward Development in Indonesia), which is an international organisation consisting of the NRC and similar help organisations from Denmark, U.S.A and The Netherlands.
The Aceh-province on the Northern part of Sumatra was hit the hardest by the Tsunami on 26 December 2004. An enormous amount of lives were lost. Large parts of the infrastructure were destroyed such as domestic buildings, schools, water installations, electricity and roads. Approximately 2 million houses were ruined. 80 per cent of the Meulaboh-area, in which the schools are being rebuilt, was wiped out. Of the 24 schools in the area, 14 were destroyed or seriously damaged by the tidal wave.
Contacts:
Operational manager Finn O. Hovland in Torvald Klaveness group, tph. (+47) 22526244 (office), (+47) 817 95 055 (mob.)
Vice president Corp. Communication Cecilie Stray in Wilh. Wilhelmsen ASA, tph. (+47) 67584160 (office), (+47) 97700802
Adviser Grazyna Samsel, NRC (+47) 41512689 (office), (+47) 23109929.