Those Who Long for Wooden Houses

Traditional houses in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, have proven resistant to earthquakes compared to houses with brick walls. However, this is not easy to realize.

KOMPAS/DANU KUSWORO

An interior look at a traditional gazebo shows an open platform used as a meeting hall in Senaru traditional village of Bayan district, North Lombok regency, West Nusa Tenggara. The village maintains its ancestral wisdom by preserving its traditional houses made of wood and bamboo. The traditional structures in the area were unaffected by the series of earthquakes that shook Lombok last year.

Traditional houses in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, have proven resistant to earthquakes compared to houses with brick walls. The trauma of earthquakes means that some of the local community desire returning to living in indigenous houses. However, this is not easy to realize.

“Actually, we want to return to living in our former houses. It feels more comfortable,” Maryam, 50, told the Kompas daily’s Wallacea Expedition Team as she watched workers build the foundations for government-sponsored concrete houses. Maryam is one of the quake victims in Bayan village of Bayan district, North Lombok regency, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB). Yet, as a number of other people also share the same wish, it is not easy to rebuild traditional houses in the village.