Three months after the 9.0 earthquake that triggered the massive tsunami that devastated costal communities in several South Asian countries — including Indonesia — an earthquake close in intensity struck the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. Most affected was the island of Nias, a remote and predominately Christian area.

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) and members of the ACT (Action by Churches Together) International alliance were actively responding to tsunami survivors in the area and extended its response to earthquake survivors. PDA mission specialist Rebecca Young is serving in Indonesia as part of the tsunami response. She is fluent in the local language and has been appointed interim regional coordinator for the ACT Medan, Indonesia office.

ACT members and PDA partners in the Indonesia response include: Yayasan Tanggul Bencana (YTB), YAKKUM Emergency Unit (YEU), and Church World Service (CWS) Indonesia. CWS has been concentrating primarily on providing non-food items (from stocks), YEU on health and local volunteers, and YTB on foods and volunteers. $500,000 has been provided for response to this recent disaster.

Situational Report

Nias Island, North Sumatera (population: 699,592)

• Estimated casualties: 1,500 (1,300 in Nias district and 200 in South Nias district); excavated and buried: 653 (505 in Nias district, 114 in South Nias district)
• Estimated injured: 5,000
• Estimated IDPs: 70,815
• Damage: 80% (Gunungsitoli), 90% (Lahewa), 80% (Sirombu), 75% (Telukdalam)
• Harbor: Gunungsitoli OK; Lahewa damaged but usable; Airport: damaged but usable for small planes
• Suspected cases of measles in Telukdalam
• Markets start to open but the price is 2 or 3 times higher than usual
• Hundreds of people flee from Nias everyday to Sibolga to avoid hunger, uncertainty and aftermath earthquake

Simeulue Island, Aceh (population: 78,000)

• Estimated Casualties: 17; excavated and buried: 17
• Estimated Injured: 117
• Estimated IDPs: 50,000
• Damage: 80%
• Harbor: Sinabang OK; Airport: damaged, unusable. To reach Sinabang the only transportation is by ferry or small boat from Sibolga (12 hours trip).
• No medical doctor in the island; it is estimated that food supply will last until April 7, 2005.
• Increase in diarrhea diseases

Singkil District, Aceh (population: 142,375)

• Estimated Casualties: 15; excavated and buried: 11
• Estimated Injured: 22
• Estimated IDPs: 2,000

Other Areas (Aceh and North Sumatera)

Response Activity

Church World Service (CWS)

• Upon the arrival of their two trucks, CWS distributed 100 packages of non-food items, 30 blankets, 29 boxes of medicines, one generator set, and five boxes of gloves in Gunungsitoli on April 5, 2005.
• Additional two trucks (containing 125 family tents, 25 baby kits, 38 packages of BP-5 biscuit [a nutritional supplement], 25 health kits) were scheduled to arrive in Gunungsitoli April 6, 2005.

• CWS/NCA assessment team of three staff members arrived in Gunungsitoli April 5, 2005, bringing with them one water purification unit from the CWS/NCA water and sanitation project in Meulaboh, one 4-wheel drive Mercedes Jeep, one Mercedes truck and one motorcycle.

YAKKUM Emergency Unit (YEU)

• YEU medical team has reached Sirombu and started to provide medical services in the yard of Tetesua Community Health Building.
• YEU Mobile clinic led by Dr. Zega (using an ambulance from Indonesian Red Cross) provided medical services in two locations in Mudasa.
• YEU continued to provide medical helps in their emergency hospital in Gunungsitoli and with their mobile clinic in Lahewa. As the Singapore doctors left today, YEU will send more medical staff to the emergency hospital.
• YEU opened an IDP post in Masjid Agung (the Grand Mosque) and is operating a mobile clinic. A YEU water and sanitation team also installed a water tank and distributed hygiene kits there. YEU set up a big tent for 10 households. At the same location, in collaboration with PKPA and Oxfam, YEU set up several small tents.

PKPA (Center for Study and Child Protection) is based in Medan, in North Sumatra province, and belongs to the National Coalition for the Elimination of Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, an affiliate group of ECPAT. PKPA is focused on seeing that:

• School-aged child survivors now in refugee centers are re-enrolled in education programs and/or schools;
• Children are provided with emergency aid;
• Children are reunited with families where possible; and
• Children receive trauma counseling from skilled counselors.

Yayasan Tanggul Bencana (YTB)

• YTB's partners and volunteers opened an additional 50 public kitchens which serve 23,000 IDPs in four sub-districts: Gido, Siliduo, Gunungsitoli and Arwa'ai. As of now, YTB operates approximately 100 public kitchens and serve more than 39,000 IDPs in Nias.
• As of the writing of this update, YTB has organized 5 relief distributions: with a truck in Gunungsitoli, with a 40-ton boat to Lahewa, with 40-ton boats to Gunungsitoli and Afulu/Salonako, and today YTB distributed 30-40 tons of food items in Gunungsitoli.

Previous Nias response reports:

• Nias earthquake - April 1, 2005
• Nias earthquake - March 29, 2005
• Nias earthquake - Indonesia, March 28, 2005