International aid and development agency World Vision, has assisted some 75,000 people affected by the massive earthquake that struck Jogyakarta and Central Java one year ago.
Around US$3.83 million has been spent on education, infrastructure, health and relief projects for the people of Bantul district in Jogyakarta and Klaten district in Central Java province.
Almost 6,000 people were killed and around 300,000 houses were severely destroyed or damaged when the earthquake struck on 27 May 2006, leaving 1,000,000 people homeless.
A month after the earthquake, World Vision had distributed more than 9,000 essential relief packages, benefiting more than 45,000 people and also provided 3,000 cleaning kits to help clean the rubble in quake affected areas.
With hospitals and clinics unprepared for the volume of casualties after the disaster, World Vision also helped several hospitals and clinics by providing urgently needed basic medicines and equipment. 14 sub-district health centers (Puskesmas) were equipped with kits containing power generators, tents, water tanks, lighting equipment, folding beds, water pumps, medical equipment and supplies and basic medicine.
Since that time, World Vision has revitalised more than 600 community health posts (Posyandu) for free healthcare, supplementary foods for children under 5 and training for staff on basic health services. World Vision also encouraged mothers to breastfeed babies to at least the age of six months.
To help children recover from the impact of the earthquake, World Vision established 20 child friendly spaces (CFS). Around 3,000 children came to the CFSs to learn and play in a safe environment. World Vision provided the CFSs with facilitators from the communities themselves and provided learning and playing facilities. Most of the CFSs continue under the communities' supervision.
World Vision provided 10 temporary schools and equipped them with chairs, tables, textbooks and other furniture benefiting some 2,400 students, while also supplying them with school uniforms and shoes.
Through World Vision support, 315 families have rebuilt their houses and communities have rebuilt six permanent schools and four buildings for the Child Friendly Space activities.
The program is preparing to close by the end of the month, as Earthquake response team leader Yacobus Runtuwene expressed his hope that people would continue what World Vision has started in their communities.
Yuli, a mother of two children in Bantul district, saw her house completely destroyed in the shock of the earthquake. Her family is one of 315 who have received assistance to rebuild a permanent, safe home.
"I cannot describe how happy I am to receive the house," she says. "Thank you very much. I cannot pay back the kindness."
World Vision provided materials and paid workers to help 315 families in Bantul and Klaten districts to rebuild their houses, which were destroyed by the devastating quake.
When the earthquake hit, Yuli's husband Priyanto was showered with rubble while rescuing his sleeping two-year-old son. He was severely injured and remained in hospital for several days. He could not walk for three months.
"I trained him to walk like training a baby to walk," remembers Yuli.
For those three months, the family were sheltering with relatives or in plastic tents. Later they built a makeshift shelter near the tents.
"Living under a plastic tent was miserable, " Yuli recalls. "We used to get wet when it was raining. Therefore, we set up a simple makeshift shelter using used materials to make our life more comfortable."
WV's support to build a permanent house, therefore, was greatly welcome by Priyanto and Yuli because they now could live in much more decent and comfortable place.
Priyanto was a craftsman, a job demanding physical fitness. So when he could not go to work, the family relied on the kindness of others to live. As there was no money available, Yuli often brought her husband to doctors who offered free service to victims of the quake.
"I started going to work early this year, but still I cannot work normally. My upper thigh bone which was cracked is often painful when I work too hard," says Priyanto, who is paid 30,000 (slightly over US$3) a day when he is able to work.
"If we had not received assistance," explains Priyanto, "we may have waited for five years to be able to rebuild a permanent house."
For more information, interviews or photos please contact either:
Hendro Suwito, World Vision Indonesia on hendro_suwito@wvi.org, cell: +62 811 997762
Or
Andrea Russell, World Vision Asia Pacific on +91 9989238 223, email: andrea_russell@wvi.org
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
