Yesterday we went to the field to discuss our temporary shelter design with community members. We conducted a few focus groups and asked them to draw their ideal floor plan in the wet mud. The ground became a drawing board and discussion piece for the participants, who told us exactly how they arrange their houses. We soon realized the significance of this arrangement.

The ethnic group living here in West Sumatra province is called Minang, and today we attended a presentation on their culture. The presentation, given by an expert on traditional architecture, explained the structure of the “big house,” the matriarchal home in traditional Minang culture. The Big House structure was built from wood and thatch, and the floor plan and column layout of the building all had spiritual significance. The direction of the house always pointed to the mountains, the spiritual home of traditional Minang. What we saw presented looked very familiar from our community discussions the day before. While the Minang culture has certainly changed and modernized, aspects of the old endure even through natural disasters such as an earthquake.

After a trauma such as a natural disaster, there really is a comfort in a place you’ve known before. Almost a month after the earthquake, we hear many reports that families are still living their collapsed or partially collapsed houses during the day even though they sleep in a makeshift shelter at night for fear of being crushed in a midnight earthquake. It is the small things, such as a familiar layout, that make a structure a home. We will continue to ensure that our reconstruction efforts take these traditional sensibilities into account.