ACEH AID at IDEP
TSUNAMI DISASTER RELIEF UPDATE
Vol. 1, No. 8 - January 5, 2005
Aceh Aid at IDEP is a two-pronged initiative to bring appropriate aid directly to affected communities in Sumatra. IDEP, in cooperation with Sumatran Orangutan Society (SOS) / Orangutan Information Centre (OIC), is helping mobilize emergency supplies in Medan for delivery in Aceh Province. In cooperation with the Indonesian surfing community, IDEP is mobilizing and delivering aid to the hard-hit, remote islands south and west of Padang.
On January 4, a fully loaded 200 ton cargo vessel leased by AUSaid and supplied by AAAI departed Padang. It is offloading carefully selected supplies including specially packed buckets designed to help survivors build simple shelters and stay in their communities. The boat also carries equipment to make communities self sufficient in water supplies. These supplies are being offloaded to smaller craft and then handed directly to the survivors of small, isolated communities. As of January 5, AAAI has channelled about Rp 600,000,000 in donor funding into this initiative. Financial specialists on the ground in Medan and Bali are consolidating data to ensure full transparency. The Ferry is now at the island of Nias networking with smaller vessels to ferry aid and technical support back and forth to the areas in most need. In many coastal fishing towns, most of the men were killed while working on the beach or on their boats; only women and children survive. Needs on the ground change on a daily basis. Severe nutritional deficiency is already an issue after 10 days.
Very special thanks and Kudos to Chris & Christina who have opened up their home / hotel as the hub for relief aid activities in the area. Chris has been the chief scout and guide for the expedition to date. See : http://www.sumatransurfariis.com/quakeupdatesnew1230.html for details and photos.
Now we are responding to reports of serious nutritional deficiencies, and AAAI is focusing on buying fresh fruit and vegetables for rapid delivery to affected communities on the Sumatra coast and islands. Lee our Project Coordinator, is leaving Padang on the 7th and working together with IDEP’s community programs coordinator Samantha Sinclair who cut her Christmas vacation short and has arrived from Australia to take over his coordinative role on the ground in Padang. Robert Wilson from Rip Curl is arriving in Padang today to assist with coordinating the flow of support and activities as well.
Aid is being delivered as follows : Each family bucket contains essential food, health, sanitation, emergency shelter, and personal care items. These are branded goods which local people are familiar with, and can put to use immediately without any intermediation whatsoever. They were purchased in local shops by our volunteers and supporters in the community, locally, and are therefore labeled in the Indonesian language.
One in every five buckets is a “leader pack,” and its contents include a one-inch chisel, a hatchet/hammer, a shovel, a handsaw, a crowbar, nails, and other supplies.
One in every ten buckets is a “heavy leader pack,” which also includes a two-man saw and a sledge hammer.
The aid vessel is also carrying hundreds of 20 liter jerry cans.
The boat is also carrying two complete kits for drilling wells, and all the equipment need to pump-clear and restore existing wells which are tainted with sea water from the tsunami. These sets of equipment, which include powered and hand pumps, and piping, are are being used in local villages to repair and complete wells. Once the A.A.A.I. volunteers have demonstrated the process to members of stricken communities in this way, they will be able to make hundreds of wells themselves. Standard 350 liter water tanks for storage and treatment have been delivered, along with 50 kilos of chlorine. The team is still short of the certain types of water treatment chemicals, which we were not able to arrange to deliver from Singapore, due to depletion of funds and priority allocations as described above.
MORE NEWS IN BRIEF
Our most immediate priorities at this moment are delivery of urgently needed food, supplies, tools, and knowledge to affected areas of Sumatra, through reliable channels, to reliable people, and supporting the efforts of our volunteers and partner organizations in the field. Therefore, we are no longer able to publish these updates on a daily basis during this critical phase of the disaster relief process.
World Neighbors, an international NGO with a focus on sustainable development, has elected to channel its funding through IDEP for people in need in Sumatra.
AID DELIVERED FROM MEDAN IN COOPERATION WITH THE SUMATRAN ORANGUTAN SOCIETY/ORANGUTAN INFORMATION CENTRE The third convoy of trucks Christine and Ade, Logistics Consultants on the ground in Medan since January 4, report that all aid in government warehouses in Medan is bottlenecked. This highlights the importance of the role of NGOs in delivering aid. In spite of tremendous obstacles, SOS-OIC continues to deliver AAAI aid directly to survivors in Banda Aceh and towns en route. Two convoys of trucks have already arrived in Banda Aceh another AAAI truck is now en route and due to arrive tomorrow. Because of the rapidly changing situation on the ground, SOS-OIC is not currently working in association with the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) as previously reported.
VOLUNTEERS TO SUMATRA TO DATE
Bali AAAI Headquarters is working hard to match a flood of international volunteer applications with stated needs from the field.
On our last update (no7) there was a typographical error in the names of one of the volunteers : Stefan Wodicka - Medic, Padang, should have read Stefan Zawada (apologies).
Christine and Ade our logistics and coordination team has now landed in Medan and has begun assisting with coordination and brought some new energy to the team on the ground, who are truly exhausted. More purchasing of much needed supplies is planned for tomorrow.
Our volunteers coordination desk in Ubud is accepting applications for skilled field volunteers -- doctors, triage specialists, SAR techs, engineers, sanitation experts, and others – for possible postings in the field in Sumatra. Contact volunteer@idepfoundation.org.
COMMUNITY-BASED CRISIS RESPONSE KIT
Following the Bali bombing, USAid funded IDEP to develop a fully integrated community-based crisis response response kit. This includes a workbook covering all stages of disaster management from an Indonesian grassroots perspective such as mitigation, response and short-term recovery.
Draft copies of this book have been sent to Medan and Padang where they have been immediately integrated into AAAI intiatives. In Padang, a program of training of trainers for public sanitation based on the manual is already underway. In Medan, components of the manual are being distributed.
How you can help Aceh Aid at IDEP
Online Donations by Credit Card
(Tax deductible in US, thanks to the cooperation ofTides Foundation)
Click on the donation link at www.idepfoundation.org
Or go directly to www.paypal.com
Special thanks to Keith Pleas in Seattle, Lauren at Tides Foundation Julie Lerman at Data Farm in Vermont, and others for their help with this.
1. Go to www.paypal.com
2. If you do not have a PayPal account set up, click "Sign Up" or "Join Now".
3. Follow all of the instructions for signing up with PayPal (they are rather complicated, so be patient).
4. When you are signed up, you are ready to send money.
5. Click "Send Money".
6. Follow instructions to send money, to acehaid@tides.org
7. Note: When you try to make your first payment, you will see beside the "amount" line, that you need to click there to "Verify Credit Limit" first, before you can make a payment.
Wire Transfers to Indonesian Bank Account:
Account Name : Yayasan IDEP
ACCOUNT NO : 034.001229576.003
Bank : BNI (Bank Negara Indonesia), Cabang Ubud, Bali
Bank Address : Jl. Raya Ubud, Bali - Indonesia
SWIFT Code : BNINIDJA DPS
Donations can also be made at the IDEP Foundation office, Jalan Hanoman No 44b, Ubud, and other locations in Bali.
The information provided here was accurate to the best of our knowledge at the time of writing. Conditions change rapidly.
We will provide as much information as we can, as often as we can.
24 HOUR PRESS ENQUIRY LINE
(IN INDONESIA) 08133 8468073
OUTSIDE OF INDONESIA +62 8123 665 669
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