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Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) is working with our local partners in Indonesia to help families affected by the earthquake. All of our partners are members of ACT (Action by Churches Together) International and are participating in the coordinated response effort. The Reverend Rebecca (Becca) Young, a PC(USA) Mission co-worker, has been seconded to ACT to help with the coordination of the response.
ACT partner YTB distributes food items. Photo: ACT International In the middle of a noisy and crowded church hall in Padang, ACT International members are drawing up an appeal for international assistance. It is not an easy work environment for them. The hall doubles as the major relief distribution center. Sitting on plastic chairs around two tables, six people with laptops are sharing information, competing for space and the chance to be heard.
“People are constantly coming past us with packages, picking things up and dropping things off,” PC(USA)'s mission co-worker Rebecca Young reports from the center.
Near them, a family is helping remove empty noodle boxes, including a child of about four years doing her bit to flatten boxes. This meeting place has been transformed into a distribution center, the walls covered with diagrams and maps of the region, charts, U.N. meeting lists, lists of partners, when the distributions are to go out and what goes into each blue plastic bag of relief goods.
More than 1,000 people have died since the 7.6 earthquake struck on September 30, 2009, and thousands more are thought to be missing.
U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator in Indonesia, El-Mostafa Benlamlih, has reported to the media that an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 people are still trapped or buried under the rubble. Food, shelter and clean water are urgently needed in and around the worst-hit cities of Padang and Pariaman.
Amidst the pressure of ACT International’s work, the hard-working team drawing up the appeal takes a moment to relax. “When a truck full of boxes of instant noodles arrived, we played a relay game passing the boxes from one person to another, so at least we are having a little fun.”
But the group is constantly reminded of the grim nature of work that is still being carried out. Adjacent to the church is a large market whose roof collapsed during the earthquake. The bodies of people remain trapped inside, and the smell of rotting meat from chickens, meat and eggs is unbearable.
While survivors are no longer being found alive under rubble, the challenge facing recovery teams and the hope of families with missing relatives is that the bodies be returned home intact.
On the morning of Tuesday, October 6, ACT International was able to make its first distribution of rice to Padang in a week. Indonesians eat rice three times a day. To go a day without this staple food is rare. “People say that if you haven’t eaten rice yet today, you haven’t eaten.” Young says.
As well as distributing water, noodles, rice, cooking oil and relief goods, ACT International is working on a project to fill large water bladders for distribution. The challenge is finding a clean water source away from water sources already being drawn on by towns or villages. ACT’s mobile health clinics continue to treat people with injuries or illnesses related to the earthquake, and ACT is also working closely with six churches in Padang.
Around West Sumatra, infrastructure continues to be very poor, with many residents and relief centers relying on diesel generators to provide their power needs. Water supplies in Padang still do not function in some areas. However, telecommunications have improved. Mobile phone connections are still difficult for ACT staff in the affected areas, but internet connections have been established. Fuel distribution returned to normal in Padang after the road to the fuel depot was cleared. ACT International has also identified the need for greater earthquake preparedness in the communities.
Information provided by ACT International. ACT members working in Indonesia and responding to the West Sumatra earthquake are:
- Church World Service
- Yakkum Emergency Unit
- Yayasan Tanggul Bencana de Indonesia
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