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INDONESIA: Java quake survivors in dire need of shelter

09 Oct 2009 12:42:38 GMT
Source: IRIN

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JAKARTA, 9 October 2009 (IRIN) - As relief efforts are ramped up following the West Sumatra earthquake on 30 September http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=86413, aid groups have warned that thousands of survivors of an earlier quake on the Indonesian island of Java are facing health risks unless they receive adequate shelter.

Aid workers said some of the 196,000 people who have been sheltered in 24 camps for the displaced in West Java province after the 2 September quake have been exposed to extreme heat during the day and cold at night.

People are living in huts, family tents or under tarpaulins. Some are built on open fields, and others are near what remains of survivors' houses, said Tatang Husaini, programme officer for the Foundation for Disaster Control, an NGO that has been helping the displaced.

"It is extremely hot during the day and cold at night," Husaini said. "These extreme conditions make people, especially children, vulnerable to diseases such as respiratory problems."

Husaini said some survivors had begun rebuilding their own houses without waiting for government assistance, but most of the displaced were too poor to do that.

The mood was sombre in the camps when millions in the world's most populous Muslim country celebrated Eid al-Fitr late last month, said Nanang Kurniawan, whose house in the Pangalengan area was destroyed.

"It used to be very festive, with people gathering and families enjoying food," Kurniawan told IRIN by telephone. "But this time we have to live in these sad conditions. I feel sorry for the children."

Reconstruction funds

The 7.3 magnitude earthquake http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=85985 left 81 people dead, with 1,297 injured and 41 missing. About 100,000 homes, 3,000 schools and 500 office buildings were damaged, according to the latest figures made available by the National Agency for Disaster Management (BNPB) on 28 September.

Bakri Beck, the deputy in charge of reconstruction and rehabilitation at the BNPB, said a team of government agencies assisted by the World Bank and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) had completed an assessment of the damage.

They will submit a proposal for 1.5 trillion rupiah (US$159 million) in reconstruction funds to the finance ministry, he told IRIN on 9 October.

"Tomorrow [10 October] we will submit the result of the assessment. I think the process will be fast. Approval will probably take a day or two," Beck told IRIN.

Beck said the government had not formally requested international assistance in rebuilding West Java's quake-affected areas, but would welcome foreign aid such as tents, school rebuilding and clean water facilities.

BNPB spokesman Priyadi Kardono played down concern about the dire situation in the camps for the displaced, saying the health ministry had taken necessary measures to prevent outbreaks of disease and that aid had been distributed evenly in all affected areas.

"In an emergency situation like this, where there are camps for the displaced, there will always be health problems, but it has been anticipated by the Health Ministry and the Ministry of Social Affairs, so there are no problems," he told IRIN.

Losing out in remote areas

However, Action by Churches Together (ACT) International, a Geneva-based group, has reported that remote areas, which have not been properly assessed by authorities, were still in need of aid, and warned that conditions would deteriorate if nothing was done quickly.

"The risk to lives and health will [gradually increase] as people need to stay longer in tents or huts, especially for children under five, pregnant mothers and the elderly in cold conditions at night, as most of them are in mountainous areas," the Church World Service said in an ACT appeal for funding on 1 October.

In one of the worst-hit areas, the Pengalengan district of West Java, ACT International said it found 1,472 households with 3,436 people still living in the evacuation command post or in tents outside their damaged houses.

Families have been packed into tents at five or six households a tent, leading to conflict, said the group, which has provided blankets, tarpaulins and family tents for the displaced.

"Healthcare for people living in tents and under tarpaulins is inadequate. People who have contracted diseases in unhygienic conditions have to stand in long queues in the hope of receiving any medical care," ACT said in a report released on 22 September.

atp/ey/mw

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