Hundreds of families are staking out their old plots of land in the wastelands of debris left by the waves, preferring to struggle in the ruins rather than take up places in government-built barracks.

``It's a simple wooden house on stilts, but it's a real home for me and my family,'' said Rusli Raden, surveying a shambles in Blang Oi, a destroyed village of which he is the informal head, on the outskirts of the provincial capital, Banda Aceh.

``Many of my fellow villagers now living in tent camps also want to return, but they are all waiting for sources of water to be made available,'' he said.

The scene in Blang Oi is being repeated all along the northern coast of Banda Aceh, with tents and makeshift homes multiplying across the once densely populated areas three months on from the catastrophe.

Their return reveals the distrust many have of the barracks, seen by some as an attempt to exercise greater control over the Acehnese by a government that has for decades been trying to crush separatist rebels in the region.

It also underscores the problem thousands will face in proving their ownership of property, with registry lists and land deeds all lost in the December 26 disaster.

Authorities initially tried to dissuade people from returning home with a plan to set up a two-kilometer exclusion zone to protect people from any future tsunami.

But a blueprint to be released this month is unlikely to include the zone, with focus shifting to warning systems and easy escape routes.

To facilitate the returns, non-governmental group the Centre for Local Government has begun helping survivors re-establish their occupation of their lands.

Teams of residents measure every plot in their area in the presence of the claimant and immediate neighbors to prevent future disputes.

``We recognized that before anything else there should be a clear map,'' the center's Azwar Hasan said.

The center will gather the data and come up with a scale map of each village, showing all land plots and their owners - dead or alive.

``In the absence of legal land titles, such maps could become a base to claim ownership,'' Azwar said.

A month after the mapping of four villages began, work at the 12 other villages in the region started this week.

Darman, a community leader in Punge Jurong, said his team took 15 days to measure their neighborhood.

``It went smoothly and there has been no problem or dispute among residents,'' he said. ``We all know each other, and we all know who owns what.''

Surviving heirs for plots whose owners died in the disaster were easy to locate because of the existing close neighborly ties, he said.

``This is the kind of self-help project that should become a pattern for other areas,'' said Betina Moreira of the US Agency for International Development, which is funding the program. ``Let the people map out their own areas.''

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE