SurfAid International Releases Situation Report No. 2 for Mentawai Earthquakes
SURFAID LAUNCHES EMERGENCY RESPONSE
SurfAid International officially went into emergency response today to help the most needy villages in the Mentawai Islands.
SurfAid will have its first boat loaded with food, shelter (tarpaulins and tents), building supplies, household kits, sanitation supplies and a small medical team leaving Padang on Monday night, 17 September, for the town of Sikakap in the Mentawai Islands.
Another boat is scheduled to leave Wednesday evening, 19 September.
EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS (E-Prep) MANAGER, JASON BROWN, REPORTS:
SurfAid E-Prep (Emergency Preparedness) staff arrived late this afternoon at Sikakap. SurfAid staff have been working with the local government to establish a command post and will continue to gather data.
Mentawai community was prepared for earthquakes.
In the small Mentawai Island community of Silabu the population are thankful that they were prepared for disasters. Their houses may have toppled, but all in the village survived.
“Even though we lost our homes we thank SurfAid because nobody lost their life,” said Budi, head of the West Silabu sub-district.
West Silabu was worst affected by this week’s earthquakes with more than 90 per cent of houses destroyed or uninhabitable.
During an emergency assessment yesterday (Friday 14 September) the community said they were prepared for the earthquakes thanks to an AusAID-funded, community-based emergency program recently implemented in the village.
Emergency preparedness activities have been ongoing in the village over the past two months and the community had already erected signposts to an evacuation site, children had taken part in school earthquake simulation drills and SurfAid staff had encouraged families to prepare emergency bags with their important documents and useful emergency items.
“My children knew to get down under the table and cover their heads; they knew where to run,” said Pak Zulfan, a former village head.
Surfaid E-Prep program staff were in the village at the time of the earthquakes and assisted the community to evacuate to higher ground in case of a tsunami. They made sure children, pregnant women and the elderly were assisted. The staff set up an emergency post at the evacuation site and distributed limited supplies of food and water.
After the stronger second earthquake the following morning the community established a temporary camp at the evacuation site. Strong aftershocks continued in the Mentawai Islands with tremors still traumatising the community on Saturday morning (15 September).
The earthquakes completely destroyed parts of this village and overall more than 60 houses or 50 per cent of the village has been wrecked. Economic activities have stopped and the primary school is closed. Food stocks are limited and the community survives on rice and noodles and what they can gather from the forest. They have erected temporary shelter - tarpaulins, plastic sheets, corrugated iron, leaf roofs. It is the rain season and the community crowds together under these shelters as the downpour turns the evacuation site to mud. But still they manage to smile.
“Thanks to God for sending us the emergency preparedness program because we are still alive,” said Zulfan.
The SurfAid emergency assessment team has split up to access nearby villages, while another team has travelled to the South Mentawai capital of Sikakap.
Sikakap assessment
Early news from Sikakap and the southern islands of North and South Pagai is not good. Residents of Sikakap report a 3m wave striking 15 minutes after the first earthquake on Wednesday September 12. More than 5,500 people have evacuated to the hills behind the town and authorities are collecting data on the damage. The last stock of rice was distributed today and is expected to last a maximum three days.
The head of the sub-district is collecting information from the isolated villages in South Mentawai with initial estimates of up to 70 per cent of homes, churches, mosques, schools and public facilities damaged.
SurfAid Mentawai Program Manager, PRAEM POOBALAN, who is based in the Mentawai regional capital, Tuapejat, reports:
SurfAid staff visited villages near Tuapejat today. One community at Berimanua, up the river near the surf break of Telescopes, has suffered damage to 75 per cent of houses and the church and school have been destroyed. They are considering leaving the village permanently. The community was holding a meeting with the Kepala Dusun (head of the hamlet) today to decide their future.
There was flooding from a 1.5m tidal/tsunami surge as well as earthquake damage. And it’s been raining overnight and today so people are living in the mud. Two hundred villagers, a lot of them children and babies, are living in very dirty, cramped conditions. They have make temporary leaf shelters on wooden platforms to try to stay dry. Food is scarce and they need rice and tapioca. People have flus and fevers, and possibly malaria. There is a danger of a diarrhoea outbreak.
Another community at nearby Pukarakyat, on the coast near Telescopes, have evacuated from the 
village, where 25 per cent of houses were destroyed, and have moved 1.5km up onto a hill. They have erected temporary shelters and food is low. Again, there are cough and flu symptoms.
They need food, tents, building materials, wood and nails.
SurfAid is the only agency that has visited these villages, which was this morning.
All-up a very serious situation with high risk of disease and people not sleeping under mosquito nets due to damage to their houses.
You can donate to the Mentawai Earthquake Appeal through the SurfAid website at: www.surfaidinternational.org
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