Sari reporting from Yogya & Klaten -31st May
Here is Sari's report - slightly condensed - translated by Ann Pryosusilo.
After the devastating earthquake on 27 May in the Yogyakarta area, friends from Klinik Kerabat Kota and the Non-Government Organisation Dian Desa quickly organised distribution of ready-to-eat food, as in this crisis situation government aid was difficult to access. Relief is coordinated by Priali Utami (Tami), a community development worker with Dian Desa Yogyakarta, focusing on the villages of Delingo, Karang Semut and Dusun Dukuh, all in the Imogiri administrative area of Yogyakarta. Delingo has been hardest to reach, accessible only via a steep winding road. Government medical help reached it only yesterday (30 May).
These 3 villages in the Imogiri area have been devastated, with 80% -90% of buildings destroyed. People are sheltering under flimsy makeshift tents. In addition to ready-to-eat food, Dian Desa is helping to provide basic essentials -rice, sugar, oil,tea, soap, instant noodles, water, tarpaulins and hygiene kits. Folding matresses, blankets, and kerosene lamps have just been obtained and will be distributed. The scarcity of food has made people anxious about their belongings, and there have been several reports of theft.
In addition to distributing supplies, Dian Desa has been working with Klinik Kerabat Kota whose coordinator, Dr Agus Ramli immediately after the quake organised emergency medical aid, and has acted as overall relief coordinator. He has been busy enlisting support from other doctors, both within and outside of Yogyakarta. Dian Desa and Klinik Kerabat Kota cover the same districts of Yogyakarta in co-operation with Catholic RElief Services and UNICEF. In this crisis they have been using their personal funds and donations from friends. Yesterday evening a
group of doctors from Jakarta joined them.
Today they have been joined by Godeliva D. Sari (Sari), co-ordinator of Subur Gemi Nastiti, a small community development organisation from Sekaralas in the district of Ngawi, East Java, and have begun to provide medical assistance and food to the Klaten area, the second most devestated region after Bantul. Here 1800 people died, and thousands are injured. Aid will now be able to be extended to this area so that many villages, such as Kragilan where all homes were totally destroyed, will not have to wait for government aid which has been concentrated in the city of Yogyakarta.
Sari writes that she became involved when she heard of the destruction of almost all the homes in the villages of Becak, Ngunut and Brangkel in the district of Wedhi, Klaten, where many of her family live. Homes of her grandparents and uncle were destroyed, and 2 of her family were killed, while others are still missing. She travelled to Yogyakarta by bus, taking 100Kg. of rice. In cooperation with Dian Desa half of this was immediately cooked and distributed in the Imogiri area, the remainder to be distributed with other supplies.
Sari reports:' Yesterday (30May) we tried to reach several villages in the Wedhi and Gantiwarno administrative districts of Klaten. Exact information is hard to come by because the government requires village officials to report and request aid in person. So people who have the information are hard to meet.
In the absence of government aid, to date all assistance has been from private donors. In addition to setting up a distribution centre, we will act as a bridge for people who want to donate directly and will continue to provide up -to-date information. We are setting up a network with people who can be relied upon to channel donations.
Yesterday we visited five villages in 2 administrative areas of Klaten, and met with people recommended by their communities to act as coordinators. We saw people all along the way , holding out boxes, buckets, requesting help from every vehicle which passed. In two of the villages there is not a building left standing. People are now wanting to return after spending days in the open.
At Kragilan a bridge was destroyed, cutting it off from its neighbours. Up till now, aid which should have been delivered has been intercepted by other victims along the road. According to one official, Of the hundreds of people in this village, thirty have returned to start cleaning up the debris of their homes. One old woman, Nenek Rukiyem, was collecting stones. Her husband and child were killed and she does not know the whereabouts of her 4 grandchildren. "I followed the ambulance, but I do not know where my grandchildren are," she said.
In these villages around Klaten people are living in the open under makeshift tents, sleeping on plastic or old rice sacks. It is wet, and there are lots of mosquitos. Numbers of children are suffering from respiratory ailments.
In one part of Kragilan, of about 60 people, 20 were killed, and many suffered various degrees of injury. Many commented on the force of the quake. Instead of a slight rocking from side to side or to and fro, this one was like an explosion from the foundations of the earth, as if the earth wanted to toss everything on its surface up into the air. Homes were pushed upwards, then collapsed. Buildings are sticking up in the air, as if they have been pulled up by the roots.
These people say that tarpaulins, mats, lighting (e.g. hurricane lamps), kerosene and medicines are what they need most urgently.
After the devastating earthquake on 27 May in the Yogyakarta area, friends from Klinik Kerabat Kota and the Non-Government Organisation Dian Desa quickly organised distribution of ready-to-eat food, as in this crisis situation government aid was difficult to access. Relief is coordinated by Priali Utami (Tami), a community development worker with Dian Desa Yogyakarta, focusing on the villages of Delingo, Karang Semut and Dusun Dukuh, all in the Imogiri administrative area of Yogyakarta. Delingo has been hardest to reach, accessible only via a steep winding road. Government medical help reached it only yesterday (30 May).
These 3 villages in the Imogiri area have been devastated, with 80% -90% of buildings destroyed. People are sheltering under flimsy makeshift tents. In addition to ready-to-eat food, Dian Desa is helping to provide basic essentials -rice, sugar, oil,tea, soap, instant noodles, water, tarpaulins and hygiene kits. Folding matresses, blankets, and kerosene lamps have just been obtained and will be distributed. The scarcity of food has made people anxious about their belongings, and there have been several reports of theft.
In addition to distributing supplies, Dian Desa has been working with Klinik Kerabat Kota whose coordinator, Dr Agus Ramli immediately after the quake organised emergency medical aid, and has acted as overall relief coordinator. He has been busy enlisting support from other doctors, both within and outside of Yogyakarta. Dian Desa and Klinik Kerabat Kota cover the same districts of Yogyakarta in co-operation with Catholic RElief Services and UNICEF. In this crisis they have been using their personal funds and donations from friends. Yesterday evening a
group of doctors from Jakarta joined them.
Today they have been joined by Godeliva D. Sari (Sari), co-ordinator of Subur Gemi Nastiti, a small community development organisation from Sekaralas in the district of Ngawi, East Java, and have begun to provide medical assistance and food to the Klaten area, the second most devestated region after Bantul. Here 1800 people died, and thousands are injured. Aid will now be able to be extended to this area so that many villages, such as Kragilan where all homes were totally destroyed, will not have to wait for government aid which has been concentrated in the city of Yogyakarta.
Sari writes that she became involved when she heard of the destruction of almost all the homes in the villages of Becak, Ngunut and Brangkel in the district of Wedhi, Klaten, where many of her family live. Homes of her grandparents and uncle were destroyed, and 2 of her family were killed, while others are still missing. She travelled to Yogyakarta by bus, taking 100Kg. of rice. In cooperation with Dian Desa half of this was immediately cooked and distributed in the Imogiri area, the remainder to be distributed with other supplies.
Sari reports:' Yesterday (30May) we tried to reach several villages in the Wedhi and Gantiwarno administrative districts of Klaten. Exact information is hard to come by because the government requires village officials to report and request aid in person. So people who have the information are hard to meet.
In the absence of government aid, to date all assistance has been from private donors. In addition to setting up a distribution centre, we will act as a bridge for people who want to donate directly and will continue to provide up -to-date information. We are setting up a network with people who can be relied upon to channel donations.
Yesterday we visited five villages in 2 administrative areas of Klaten, and met with people recommended by their communities to act as coordinators. We saw people all along the way , holding out boxes, buckets, requesting help from every vehicle which passed. In two of the villages there is not a building left standing. People are now wanting to return after spending days in the open.
At Kragilan a bridge was destroyed, cutting it off from its neighbours. Up till now, aid which should have been delivered has been intercepted by other victims along the road. According to one official, Of the hundreds of people in this village, thirty have returned to start cleaning up the debris of their homes. One old woman, Nenek Rukiyem, was collecting stones. Her husband and child were killed and she does not know the whereabouts of her 4 grandchildren. "I followed the ambulance, but I do not know where my grandchildren are," she said.
In these villages around Klaten people are living in the open under makeshift tents, sleeping on plastic or old rice sacks. It is wet, and there are lots of mosquitos. Numbers of children are suffering from respiratory ailments.
In one part of Kragilan, of about 60 people, 20 were killed, and many suffered various degrees of injury. Many commented on the force of the quake. Instead of a slight rocking from side to side or to and fro, this one was like an explosion from the foundations of the earth, as if the earth wanted to toss everything on its surface up into the air. Homes were pushed upwards, then collapsed. Buildings are sticking up in the air, as if they have been pulled up by the roots.
These people say that tarpaulins, mats, lighting (e.g. hurricane lamps), kerosene and medicines are what they need most urgently.
posted by Anonymous at Thursday, June 01, 2006
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