|
Programmes and Operations
Present Programmes |
Indonesia
ICMC response to tsunami disaster
General overview
Contact:
Charles Davy
Regional Director
Response to earthquake off Sumatra
As a result of the massive earthquake that struck
just before midnight, local time, on Monday 28 March, off the
coast of Indonesia, around one thousand people on the island of
Nias are reported to have died. Just over 36 hours after the earthquake,
Leo MacGillivray, ICMC's Project Director for Aceh, flew by helicopter
to Nias to make an assessment of the situation. On his return
to Aceh, Leo filed this report:
I accompanied the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) assessment mission
to Nias on Wednesday. Joining us were Fr. Freitz of Caritas Medan,
two international journalists (one from Britain's Daily Telegraph
and the other from the New York Times), a number of medical personnel
from the International Medical Corps (IMC), and a representative
of Caritas Switzerland. We also took on board a supply of medical
equipment to assist with the wounded, as well as a diesel generator
to provide power in the absence of the regular electricity supply
on the island.
Our helicopter (Russian-made, and with Russian pilots) took off
from Medan at around 1230 hours; we landed on Nias just after
1400 hours. We split into small groups and went off in different
directions to assess the situation.
For the next two hours, two CRS people and I walked through the
center of Gunung Sitoli, the main town on Nias. Everyone we met
spoke of the lack of food (rice, sugar, cooking oil, vegetables,
etc.), water, and temporary shelter. Many people could be seen
huddling under the porches of their houses, afraid to go inside.
Others, whose homes had been completely destroyed, had taken up
residence at the local mosque or church.
There was no immediate evidence of tsunami damage, either from
the 26th December earthquake or this more recent one. Nor was
it possible to get a sense of the numbers of dead or injured.
No one knew what the situation was outside the main town because
communications links had been cut. The military could be seen
using a backhoe, which is an excavating machine fitted with a
hinged arm and bucket, as they attempted to recover bodies from
under a collapsed building. It was the only piece of heavy equipment
we saw. Distraught family members congregated in silence to observe
the gruesome excavation.
At one church that had been converted into a field hospital,
we came across an American building engineer who had arrived on
the island by chance immediately after the earthquake. He was
doing the best he could to attend to a dozen injured people. One
person had had one hand amputated while others were suffering
from fractures, cuts and miscellaneous other wounds. The brave
engineer was desperate for doctors and nurses to come and help,
as he was clearly out of his depth. We told the IMC staff of the
situation and they promised to go and help as soon as they could
later the same day.
The main damage to houses and property seemed concentrated along
the fault line that ran through the town. Buildings situated on
the fault line had all collapsed. However, one hundred meters
to either side of the line houses remained standing, although
we could see much structural damage. The town's market area had
been completely destroyed.
On the hillsides around the town, small groups of people, fearing
the arrival of a tsunami after the earthquake, had taken refuge
in makeshift shelters.
The inhabitants of Gunung Sitoli were anxious for assistance
to arrive from the government and international community. They
were delighted to have the opportunity to speak to a few foreigners,
who they felt could be counted on to carry their message to a
wider audience.
In addition to those who had flown out with us, we were able
to squeeze six injured people, three of whom were on stretchers,
into the helicopter for the return trip to the mainland. Ambulances
met us as we touched down at Medan airport.
As far as ICMC is concerned, the present emergency situation
requires skills and resources that we do not possess. Once conditions
have stabilized and people have been accommodated in temporary
shelters, it may be possible to send a small team from ICMC's
trauma recovery project to determine whether our services will
be required. For the moment, we continue to monitor the situation.
Further information
Following last December's devastating tsunami
in Indonesia, ICMC has been working in camps for displaced people
in Banda Aceh and Aceh Besar in Aceh province in northern Sumatra,
and is also preparing to begin work in the east coast area. Charles
Davy, Regional Director for Indonesia, has been monitoring developments
since the latest earthquake off the Sumatran coast.
While communication with our personnel in Aceh province was initially
not possible after the earthquake, we managed to establish contact
early on Tuesday morning with our offices in Banda Aceh and Medan.
All ICMC staff were reported to be safe, and back at work just
hours after the earthquake had struck.
There has been minimal additional structural damage in Banda
Aceh and Medan, and the earthquake generated no tsunami. Nevertheless,
many people in both cities, as well as in towns across the region,
were very frightened, and panicked to get to higher ground. The
fact that the power in Medan remained off for a long time after
the earthquake contributed to the fear. However, when I first
spoke to our program manager in Banda Aceh on Tuesday morning
she described her own experience as "nothing much out of
the ordinary. Big tremors have been a regular occurrence over
the past three months, with our personnel often having to flee
the office or staff house; this one was just a little stronger
and lasted a little longer than normal." Nevertheless, by
Tuesday morning, our trauma recovery teams were back out in the
camps around Banda Aceh to calm the residents and show support.
First reports from the island of Nias, the hardest hit area,
indicated that the loss of life was in the hundreds, and perhaps
in the thousands, and that many homes and buildings in and around
the main town of Gunung Sitole had been severely damaged. One
of our partners, Father Henry Winkler of the Diocese of Sibolga
is reported to have been seriously injured when the building in
which he was sleeping in Gunungsitole collapsed.
We also received reports that the office of our partners, Cordaid,
in Simeuleu, the island north of Nias, was destroyed or seriously
damaged but all three of Cordaid's staff were safe and accounted
for.
|
