surfaid 20 Sep 2007No Comments 181 views Print Email

  Green, surf

Vital Aid Reaches Isolated Mentawai Communities
SurfAid International today began distributing urgent aid items to earthquake-affected communities on Pagai Utara Island in the south of the Mentawai Islands.

The distribution to Silabu village, the village nearest the famous Macaronis surf break, marked the start of a targeted campaign that will provide shelter, construction tools and hygiene items to thousands of Mentawaians displaced by the twin earthquakes on 12 and 13 September.

The sub-village of West Silabu was one of the worst hit by the vicious Thursday 13 September morning quake, which was timed on film captured by SurfAid E-Prep staff member, Surya Ramli.

“I came down from the community evacuation site after the previous night’s earthquake to document the damage when the second earthquake hit,” Ramli said. “It was a strong shake that went for 1 minute 50 seconds. The community was actually lucky that they evacuated the night before. Many could have been in bed or in their houses at the time.”

About 90 per cent of the sub-village was destroyed and the villagers are now living under plastic and banana leaf roofs in temporary shelters. Today the SurfAid Emergency Response team trekked up river to the community to deliver 107 shelter kits and 103 building kits to affected families.

The SurfAid team has been assisted by the Mentawai surfing community
The first batch of supplies arrived in the southern capital of Sikakap aboard the surf charter boat Budyadahri while today’s distribution was assisted by the Macaronis Resort boat crew.

The distribution team also included John and Ainsley Ocean, part owners of the Kandui Resort who run a permaculture garden program for communities in South Siberut, and the head of the local government Tourism Department.

Emergency Field Coordinator Ray Mathias said the team was now packing a larger local boat for distributions to Betumonga, an area also badly affected by the September earthquakes.

SurfAid International now has four mobile emergency assessment and aid distribution teams ready to launch its earthquake response throughout the south of the Mentawais and into isolated regions of Siberut to the north. The worst hit regions will be prioritized including Malakopa, a town of 600 families which was reduced to rubble by the earthquakes.

The second batch of supplies arrives early tomorrow morning (Thursday 20 September) and includes shelter kits, building kits, medical supplies and family hygiene kits.

The mobile emergency teams will use charter boats and small tender boats to access isolated communities using GPS coordinates gathered during the recent SurfAid Malaria Free Mentawai mosquito net distribution and education program. The teams include doctors, nurses, health program staff and emergency preparedness program staff. During early aid distributions, the teams will conduct rapid assessments and health assessments of the displaced populations.

SurfAid has also assisted the local government to create a series of command posts throughout the island chain. Lack of communication and poor transport has hampered response to the affected communities. The compilation of accurate and constantly updated data on the destruction and the situation of the displaced populations is vital for targeted distribution.
- Update by Jason Brown, SurfAid International Emergency Preparedness (E-Prep) Manager

Joseph Viandrito, Asst. Program Manager for SurfAid E-Prep reports on Siberut Island:

An update follows from Wawan Budianto, Emergency Preparedness Team Leader in Siberut Island, where we have established a disaster response post.

Where the E-Prep program has been operating in Siberut this year, people were ready and prepared for the earthquakes. Early assessments show that no one has been killed in the sub-villages that we have reached so far on the island.

So far assessments at 10 sub-villages in Siberut Selatan have found:
Minor injuries: 3 people
Heavily damaged houses: 752
Minor damaged houses: 679
Catholic churches - heavily damaged: 10; minor damage: 6
Protestant churches - heavily damaged: 4; minor damage: 6
Mosques - heavily damaged: 6
Schools - heavily damaged: 17; minor damage: 6

Need:
Tents = 752 units
Tarpaulins = 679 units
Hygiene kits = 1,431 units
Drinking water (aqua medium) = 1,431 units
Indomie = 1,431 units
Sardines = 716 units

Wawan and his team are now are busy doing intensive assessments across the island.

7.30pm Indonesian Television Media Arrive In The Mentawai Islands
SurfAid E-Prep Mentawai Manager, Stephen Ray reports that the Indonesian Navy ship KRI Teluk Cirebon has landed in Sikakap with emergency supplies and TV crews from SCTV, Global TV, TVRI and TV Padang.
SurfAid has provided information and images to the media crews. Hopefully their images will soon be broadcast worldwide so that people realize the gravity of the situation facing the Mentawai Islanders.

10.30pm Emergency Supply Ferry D’bora Leaves Padang For Tuapejat and Sikakap

SurfAid’s second emergency supply boat, the chartered ferry D’bora, departed Padang tonight after a frantic few days buying and loading basic building and shelter kits, medical supplies and family hygiene kits.

It was a clear, calm evening as the boat set sail for the 10-hour voyage to its first stop at Tuapejat, the regional capital of the Mentawai, where it will arrive at dawn today.

Some supplies will be offloaded at Tuapejat, and emergency SurfAid staff will board to steam south tonight to the town of Sikakap, where they will begin emergency supply drops, using smaller boats to reach the isolated villages on the hard-hit west coast of Pagai Selatan. The D-bora will be the mother ship for a six-day operation to cover the whole west coast of the island.

The crew on board included SurfAid Doctor Adit, who is training SurfAid staff in health assessments of the displaced Mentawai population, and Joseph Viandrito, the Assistant Program Manager for SurfAid E-Prep.

Further SurfAid supply boats are being prepared, with the next boat due to leave Padang on Friday evening. Latest reports from Siberut Island show an urgent need to reach those communities.

SurfAid is estimating it will need to run a US$1 million, three-month operation to help the islanders in the first stage of rebuilding their lives.

Funds are urgently needed so please join our appeal. From the people of the Mentawai - “surat sabeu” - and SurfAid staff - “thank you very much” to everyone worldwide who has supported our efforts so far.

- Kirk Willcox, SurfAid International Communications Director
Email: kirk@surfaidinternational.org

All updates are posted on our website at: www.surfaidinternational.org