Silver Spring, Maryland--The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) has dispatched emergency response teams to help meet the needs of families affected by the heavy flooding that swept through Jakarta, Indonesia, in the early morning hours of February 3, 2007.
Reports state that more than 300,000 people have been displaced and 36 killed in the flood-stricken capital city. Many of the displaced residents are currently taking refuge in schools, churches, mosques, and other public buildings. Damaged sanitation systems and contaminated water supplies throughout the city have increased the risk of diseases such as diarrhea, dysentery, and typhoid. Basic emergency needs include food, medicine, blankets, and shelter.
Immediately after the flooding started, ADRA formed a rapid assessment team to evaluate the needs of the survivors and provide for their most urgent concerns.
ADRA initiated its emergency response on Tuesday, February 6, as teams began distributing food packets to 200 families with food and necessary supplies. The ADRA network will also assist 900 families, or approximately 4,500 individuals, with bedding kits (blankets, mattresses, mosquito nets) and household kits including soap, buckets, towels, and hygiene items. In addition, a medical team will be dispatched to diagnose and treat illnesses resulting from this flood emergency.
Efforts are being targeted to assist families in the Kapuk section of West Jakarta already burdened by poor economic conditions, and will be expanded to include families in Kampung Melayu, one of the areas hardest-hit by the flooding in the eastern section of Jakarta.
ADRA is coordinating its response with the United Nations and local government authorities and will continue to meet the changing needs of flood survivors.
Further updates will be released as ADRA expands its relief response.
To assist in ADRA's response to the flooding in Indonesia, contact ADRA at 1.800.424.ADRA (2372), or donate online at www.adra.org.
ADRA has been a registered non-governmental organization (NGO) in Indonesia for more than twenty years, working primarily in the areas of basic health care, income generation, emergency response, and education.
ADRA is present in 125 countries, providing community development and emergency management without regard to political or religious association, age, gender, or ethnicity.
Additional information about ADRA can be found at www.adra.org.
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Media Contact:
Nadia McGill
ADRA International
12501 Old Columbia Pike
Silver Spring, MD 20904
Phone: 301.680.5145
E-mail: Media.Inquiries@adra.org
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
