ACT Situation Report
Indonesia: West Sumatra Earthquake
21 October, 2009
Nearly three weeks after the 7.9 Richter Scale earthquake struck West Sumatra, ACT members Yayasan Tanggul Bencana di Indonesia (YTBI), Yakkum Emergency Unit (YEU), Church World Service (CWS), Lutheran World Relief (LWR) and the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC) continue to deliver assistance to affected areas. The death toll continues to stand at 1117, with 200,000 houses uninhabitable, and 968 schools and 26 health centers seriously damaged.
General Information
The primary need for earthquake survivors in West Sumatra continues to be shelter, but the supply pipeline has been blocked for several days meaning there has been a lull in provision of tents and tarpaulins. UN OCHA hopes to quickly resolve the issue and resume distribution within the next few days. There are 60 NGOs participating in the shelter cluster and planning to provide temporary shelter kits that include tools as well as building supplies which can be adapted for later use in permanent shelter construction. Padang Pariaman, with 83,500 of its houses damaged, has the highest number of organizations reporting plans to provide shelter, whereas the city of Padang itself, which has 76,045 damaged houses, is badly underserved.
All roads are now passable and all areas are reachable by land, but there continue to be reports of places unreached by any basic distribution services. Water supply is only reaching 20 percent of the population so the government is coordinating with various agencies, including CWS, to provide alternative sources of water. UN OCHA also notes that CWS has cleaned 40 wells in Pilubang.
In terms of health, the government reports the good news that there has been no major outbreak of disease. Nevertheless, 50% of health centers are not yet functioning and psychosocial support and mental health services are lacking.
Save The Children is partnering with local radio stations to broadcast public service messages about the dangers of child begging. Nearly all the roads of the Padang Pariaman district are now lined with children as young as three extending various boxes and containers into the busy streets asking for handouts.
Update on the ACT International response
ACT members are currently working on full appeal proposals to replace the current Preliminary Appeal. The ACT Coordinating Office expects to receive these by the end of this week.
Update on the response in country
The members of the ACT Indonesia Forum continue to work together in directly providing assistance or by working through local partners. Almost all activities are located in the district of Padang Pariaman, north of Padang City.
Any ACT member staff considering visiting the quake-affected areas are requested to contact ACT Forum focal point, Victor Rembeth (YTBI: victor.rembeth@ytbindonesia.org), or Rebecca Young (ACT Forum West Sumatra earthquake information and communications coordinator: Rebecca.Young@pcusa.org).
Members are maintaining coordination with the government, UN agencies, churches and other I/NGOs through cluster meetings and regular updates of their activities to UN OCHA.
Church World Service: water, tents and psychosocial care for children
CWS has set up nine large water bladders in five villages in the Sungai Limau sub-district and a smaller 1000-litre tank in Paninjauan village, providing access to clean water for 14 households. With the placement of more tanks hampered by poor road conditions, CWS is deploying a government water delivery truck with a 15,000 litre capacity to visit outlying villages, providing a steady supply. Access to water is essential. "People can live a week without food, but not a day without water," says Jopie Sinanu, CWS's water and sanitation specialist. CWS has also constructed four temporary latrines in villages of Padang Pariaman district, serving 150 people and a small village marketplace.
CWS handed out a total of 45 family tents, 35 baby kits, 58 boxes of kitchen utensils, 105 mosquito nets, and 18 buckets of relief kits in Paninjauan village on October 15, 2009. A team helped the community learn how to erect the family tents. CWS also provided four tents in Pasir Baru. CWS has set up Child Friendly Space tents in schools in the same villages where they are providing water and tents, serving approximately 190 children so far. Mothers accompany their children to the child friendly spaces and are happy to see their children taking part in the activities.
Yakkum Emergency Unit: Supporting Local Health Care
Since October 10, YEU has been coordinating a program wherein a women's catering cooperative from a mosque in the city of Pariaman has been cooking and packaging 400 meals a day for the families of patients in the city's central hospital. YEU's vehicle is used to transport the packages twice a day, at lunch and dinner, to the hospital where the kitchen staff distribute the food. According to Indonesian practice, when someone goes into the hospital, their family stays with them, sleeping on the floor. Many of the families now staying at the hospital had their homes destroyed in the earthquake, so the YEU meal provision is their only way of obtaining food for as long as their family member is in the hospital.
Since October 3, YEU has treated 1500 patients at Pasar Baru Sei Sirah (Pilubang) and Korong Pinanjauan. The most common diseases are upper respiratory tract infection, musculoskeletal disease, skin disease and dyspepsia (stomach problems). YEU has also continued to assess and monitor the health status of affected areas in four villages in the Sungai Limau area of Padang Pariaman.
In addition to providing food for patients' families, YEU has also provided linen and crutches to the Pariaman public hospital. The hospital services officer there is working with YEU to provide better health services at the community level with the community's participation. In addition to continuing the mobile health clinic, YEU also plans to collaborate with community health posts through the local government health services. Hospitals also lack suitable facilities for long-term wound care, therefore YEU is helping manage wound care and following up with outpatients who need further care and mobility devices.
Yayasan Tanggul Bencana di Indonesia: Distribution Continues
As of October 18, the YTBI-West Sumatra Regional Council of Churches distribution post has distributed food aid to a total of 32,600 people. In the city of Padang, they have provided 4554 packages of food and supplies to 14,960 people. In the district of Padang Pariaman, they distributed 11,178 packages to 33,590 people. In the city of Pariaman, they distributed 2157 packages to 7115 people. The packages include basic foods, tents, tarpaulins, ropes, emergency lamps, bathing and cleaning supplies, and supplies for women and babies. The total number of people served now stands at 55,665.
In the immediate future, YTBI will continue emergency distribution while also beginning to prepare to provide temporary shelters and psychosocial care for survivors, particularly children.
A team of YTBI information, project and church relations staff was deployed October 20 to Padang from Jakarta with medicines from the Association of Pharmaceutical Companies to the affected areas. In addition, staff from Medan (North Sumatra) are bringing a car load of food and non-food relief items. YTBI is working in partnership with the Protestant Christian Church of Mentawai in Padang.
Lutheran World Relief and Christian Reformed World Relief Committee
Lutheran World Relief is working with local partner Pusat Kajian dan Perlindungan Anak (Center for Child Protection and Study) to provide supplies and psychosocial services for children, while CRWRC is working with Yayasan SHEEP and Totalitas to provide non-food items and emergency medical care, with plans to build latrines. All activities are in the Padang Pariaman district.
ACT is a global alliance of churches and related agencies working to save lives and support communities in emergencies worldwide. The ACT Coordinating Office is based with the World Council of Churches (WCC) and The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in Switzerland.
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
A woman takes a rest after her cataract operation at Qadr hospital in Tangerang, Indonesia's Banten province, October 17, 2009. A total of 67 villagers received new lenses for their eyes ...
