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IDEP
Aceh Recovery Update #6
Sunday, January 2, 2005 10:31 AM |
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| The following is an excerpt from one
of our regular updates which were designed to enlist support and
increase the coordination of relief efforts for the survivors of
the Tsunami in Aceh & North Sumatra. |
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| Aceh Aid at IDEP |
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| “We have people in the air,
people on land, people on the seas all working at maximum capacity
to alleviate the crisis in Aceh” quote from Lucy
Wisdom Director Sumatran Orangutan Society (SOS) Foundation
a key team member at Aceh Aid at IDEP.” |
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| BY LAND |
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| INITIATIVES FROM MEDAN |
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| The second convoy of trucks has arrived in Banda Aceh. Plan is to stay in the area for about one week. They stopped in Lhoksemauwe where the team says there is in the area about 30,000 refugees that are being divided into five areas. Assistance for children, women, kitchen and health is desperately needed. They also looking for kerosene. Water is waist high and foul smelling. They are distributing aid to people on the ground. The Orangutan Information Centre (SOS-OIC) are now working in cooperation with the local Red Cross (PMI) in Medan their are two hanger of goods at the airport and at this stage no transport or way to ship the goods in. See detailed field report below.
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| INITIATIVES FROM PADANG |
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| Lee is at the base camp in a local Hotel which was kindly donated as the activities hub for activity in the region. With support from the local community, they have managed to obtain access an airplane to scout further up the coast, Sam & an AUSaid representative have gone out (see report below). Other members are strategizing in Padang. We are now in direct contact with Surf Aid International, who have an office in Padang which is being set up as a local coordination point. They are bringing in medical teams, see detailed report below. |
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| BY AIR |
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| Reported by Lee via telephone : Sam from IDEP has flown over the coast together with AUSaid representative, report from them is that |
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| The coast is in terrible condition and there seems to be no aid whatsoever on the ground. They touched down near the port of Sibolga, which they say has the mood of a pirate town. Its a bad scene, there are lots of people walking down at Singkil, refugee camps (tents) are being set up. People are walking down from the north, and have been evacuated from the islands to the west of this town. Tent cities are starting. Local people said that they were the first white people that have been seen in the area. There is talk of quarantining & spraying the whole area. Bodies are staked 3 high. Navy craft are around this is a military operation its like a war zone.
They are concentrating on the islands to off the west coast and liaising their information with what Chris will be learning from the boat trip. Current focus / plan is to keep people from leaving their homes as much as possible, and if generators and pumps can be obtained to start cleaning out the wells which are full of salt water. They need cooking pans, basic household needs, nails building materials etc to keep people from going to the camps.
IDEP has sent in a third team member to Padang, Oded Carmi, who is hand carrying much needed cash to the team on the ground as the banks are closed for the long weekend, he will land in padang at 10:30am with that as well as 80kgs of medical supplies. A medical volunteer named Dirk was collecting supplies in Sulawesi and will be in Padang by lunchtime today.
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| BY SEA |
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| Chris from ‘Sumatran Surfariis’ has set out on his boat – his 74 feet converted cargo surf vessel - to distribute assistance as needed. If needed they can re-supply the boat by commercial truck in Semilu. They are sharing information with AUSaid and another local surf / dive operator from Nias. |
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| Written by Chris just before he left Padang: |
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| Myself, my sister who has about 6 years medical training and a group of Indonesians are heading out tonight to the north of Siberut, Muara Sigep, we will relay info back from here and if this place is affected, it opens up possibilities that places more north facing south of this are also open to need, ie, Dua Mata, areas of Sipora, Pagai etc. From north Siberut, we will travel up the straight between the Tanah Bala and Tanah Masa islands in the Telo chain. There are many communities built here to help with the logging and as it is such protected waters, their places are built right on the waters edge, if the wave made this, it will have been compressed by the small shallow straight and will have affected the area. There are a few more north facing low lying villages I know of and want to visit also.
We will phone and radio in, info will go to the base camp in Padang. We have heard second hand reports that the main town of Telos is ok and unaffected, this has an airport, a hospital, and supplies, so it can be a good base if the Telos need help.
From here we will move north to Nias, we have confirmed fuel standing by in Teluk Dalam. From here we have heard all is ok, moving north is the areas we have heard are affected. We will move as fast as we can, but will also be stopping to give supplies to the villages that need it.We have an extensive range of medicine, tarps, water, containers, noodles, rice, mats, rope, shovels, and more.
I would like to get to Lahewa on the north west tip of Nias before making another call, as I hear ‘Electric Lamb’ is planning to go to the Banyaks. I have given him the number of the Wartel (ED. Local telecommunications office) there, plus my charts of the area, and have also organized someone to be on standby in Sibolga with a boat and fuel. He is meeting Sam of IDEP in Sibolga to take them around that area and survey it.
We also have 2 cargo boats on standby here, plus a local courier, if we get supplies, but it is probably worth waiting on info as to where to send them.
Another team member is here and says that Singkil is in need. There are many people moving south from the affected areas of mainland Aceh and they are running out of supplies and medical help in Singkil.
Strong southerly winds are blowing, reports from Teluk Dalam is that they are very strong and out of the ordinary too. It is very windy here in the hotel and this may blow us to the bottom of the Telos first, depending on how rough it is out there, and how much we need to go with it.
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