Irab and her husband were working in the rice fields when a large earthquake struck West Sumatra. © CARE / Arie Infanto

Three years ago, Irab Geragai, 32, moved with her husband to a plot of land in a remote village in West Sumatra, Indonesia.

They built a house with brick walls and a corrugated iron roof, in between a single-track tarmac road and a densely tree-covered slope. As their family expanded, the couple worked on rented land to harvest rice to eat and sell, as their main source of income.

On September 30 last year, early on a Friday evening, when Irab and her husband were working in the rice fields, a large earthquake struck West Sumatra. In the region’s cities, towns and villages, over 1,000 people were killed and many tens of thousands of families left without shelter, clean water, and other essentials.

Irab raced back up the hill to her house, where she had left her three children with an elderly neighbour. The children were unharmed, but all that remained of the house was a roof atop a pile of bricks.

In the next few days, Irab and her husband salvaged what they could from the ruins of their house, including building materials that they could reuse in a makeshift shelter. They had help from family and neighbours but, in spite of this, most of their belongings were lost.

In the first weeks that followed the earthquake, Irab had help from CARE, who gave her plastic sheeting, blankets and a cooking set. “We really needed these gifts,” said Irab, “as we had lost so much.”

While these emergency distributions helped Irab to keep her family warm, clean and dry in the immediate aftermath of disaster, she still has a long way to go to rebuild her life. Now seven months pregnant with her fourth child, she lives in the remnants of her old house, under what remains of the iron roof, in a space that is dark, humid and unsafe.

CARE is now providing Irab, and nearly 3,500 families similarly affected by the earthquake, with further support to help on the road to recovery. Like these other heads of households who, in Indonesian law and custom, are usually women, she will receive training in safe building techniques and a cash grant of over £200 to buy materials and labour to build a longer-lasting, safe and comfortable temporary house.

The cash grant gives Irab choice and responsibility. And the newly learnt safe building techniques amount to an investment in her future too. This combined support means that she can begin to rebuild her life and, with a better understanding of how to build a stronger house too – one that is more resistant to all risks, including earthquakes, flooding and landslides – she can also build back better. “I still find it hard to believe what happened to us,” Irab concludes, “but I have not given up and I have hope for my children and the future.