Bonn. Welthungerhilfe plans to support the people in outlying villages around the town of Padang . After the earthquake on the island of Sumatra, many small villages have been cut off from the outside world and can only be reached on foot and with difficulty . Welthungerhilfe workers have been travelling through mountains in the districts of Sungai, Limau and Pariaman over the past few days in order to put together an initial picture of the areas which have so far received no aid.
"Whole villages have been destroyed by the landslide, the roads no longer exist and the paddy fields are covered in a thick layer of mud," reports Jürgen Mika, a member of the emergency aid team, from the earthquake zone. The people are rescuing the most essential items from the ruins of the houses in order to build small emergency shelters to protect them from the rain. Therefore, over the coming days, Welthungerhilfe plans to distribute construction materials such as corrugated iron, plans and tools to the people whose houses were destroyed in the landslide. The aid materials will be bought at local markets.
"The willingness of the local people to help one another is enormous," says Jürgen Mika. "Cars and motorbikes are driving about all over the place, helping to give food and water at least to the victims along the drivable roads. This makes it all the more important that we, too, help these people who have lost everything." Welthungerhilfe will carry out the immediate aid plans with members of Alliance 2015, an alliance of seven major European aid agencies which was co-founded by Welthungerhilfe.
On request we can provide an interview partner on the ground.
Further information at www.welthungerhilfe.de
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
A man prays outside his mudslide destroyed house in the earthquake ravaged village of Tandikat, Indonesia's West Sumatra province October 5, 2009. REUTERS/Dylan Martinez (INDONESIA ENVIRONMENT SOCIETY DISASTER) ...
