Background

On the 27th of May 2006 at 06:00am WIB a strong earthquake occurred in the Yogyakarta and Klaten areas of Java. According to the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency on the 28th of May, there were 752 aftershocks with the largest intensity recorded at 6.2 on Richter scale. On the 8th of June 2006, the death toll stood at 5,722 and the number of injuries at 37,924. 1,5 million were left people homeless and 122,301 homes were completely destroyed. 415,169 additional houses have suffered earthquake damage.

IDEP’s response

The aim of IDEP’s emergency response was to assist victims of the earthquake who were not being reached by other organizations.

Objectives were to:

1. Procure and distribute supplies to people in remote areas who were not receiving aid from other organizations, and to assist them to continue to live in their own communities;
2. Support and strengthen local organizations’ and networks’ abilities to effectively search for and evacuate people, while addressing emergency needs for shelter, food, public health, education of children, first aid and post trauma follow up.

Activities to achieve these objectives were:

• Procurement and distribution of aid, through IDEP’s local partners.
• Procurement and distribution of emergency response fact booklets that explained actions that can be taken to minimise and manage commonly found problems following a disaster.
• To cooperate with and support local partners with tools, material and assistance to help them to undertake their relief work.

IDEP’s Implementation Partners

IDEP’s rapid assessment teams quickly identified a number of useful partners in the region.

HIKESPI (Indonesian Caving Association) and its foundation arm, Yayasan Bahari, which is based locally in the Yogyakarta area. Because of this organizations caving activities, its members have intimate knowledge of the environment and communities in the mountainous regions of Bantul. They have approximately 30 staff and volunteers, of which about 40 percent are women, and 4 off road vehicles for delivering aid. They also have extensive experience in search and rescue using navigation aids, GPS, and radios. Combining intimate knowledge of the region and transect analysis of the area, HIKESPI/Yayasan Bahari identified communities in need who were not being assisted by other organizations.

In consultation with these communities, HIKESPI/Yayasan Bahari located 5 drop off points that could be reached on foot by community members. They commenced weekly drops of food and whatever other items they had been able to obtain. The group was also involved in reopening schools and transporting volunteer teachers to and from the schools so children could resume their studies. The HIKESPI/Yayasan Bahari team was enthusiastic about adding the family buckets to support and complement their comprehensive activities, while also assisted with the distribution of the emergency fact booklets.

The UPN-V (Universitas Pembangunan Nasional - Veteran) Disaster Management Study Team (Pusat Studi Bencana) under the leadership of Eko Teguh (a member of Indonesia’s disaster management society MPBI (Masyarakat Penangulangan Bencana Indonesia) and lecturer at UPN-V) based in Yogyakarta. The UPN-V team worked together with volunteers from the Bali Crisis Centre who were distributing rice and food supplies. These groups were identified as suitable partners because of their knowledge and work in the region, particularly the sub unit DREAM that was operating mobile medical clinics. The UPN-V Team also assisted in the distribution of the emergency fact booklets. Two local NGOs, Kapalla and KPB, worked with UPN-V and assisted in the distribution of the emergency fact booklets.

Bali Crisis Centre Volunteers, under the leadership of Ms Adhe Jane Lumy who IDEP have worked with before during the 2005 Bali Bomb and in Aceh were also identified as partners for distribution. They had over 20 staff/volunteers on site and were operating a small POSKO (emergency coordination centre) near Klaten, which were assisting local communities with food and medical supplies. This group also assisted with the distribution of the emergency fact booklets.

Locations of activities

The rapid assessment conducted indicated that the worst affected people were those living in the small agricultural communities in the districts of Bantul and Klaten. Many people in these rural communities had their houses destroyed and lost all of their possessions. There was an urgent need for body removal and injured rescue, emergency medical care, tarpaulins and food.

The people in these areas live in dispersed hamlets and are poor subsistence farmers who cultivate vegetables, cassava, corn and small areas of upland rain-fed rice. Some of their houses are made of wood or woven bamboo, which are more able to withstand earth tremors, but many homes were also built from bricks hand quarried from local stone. It was predominantly these stone houses that were demolished in the quake and its aftershocks as many were not built properly and didn’t use proper concrete or reinforcing.

Project logistics

The Bahari team concentrated its effort Pleret Kecamatan/sub district. As a lot of aid was already reaching the most accessible villages, the Bahari team focused its efforts on villages in the most remote areas that only have off road vehicle access.

The main base camp was set up in Desa Bawuran, Kecamatan Pleret, Bantul. The main facility was housed in a 6 x 6m tent. 3 teams of 20 volunteers each (60 people) were organized: one medical team, one tarpaulins and food distribution team and one search and rescue team. After the third day, a second base camp was set up in Desa Sampang, Klaten to cover the remote villages in the mountains.

To communicate between the 3 teams and the base camps, VHF radios were installed (one in the base camp and one in each of the organization’s three 4 wheel drive cars) and 3 handy talky were deployed in the field. The frequency used was SARDA (Official Yogyakarta Rescue team) frequency, 14.816 Mz.

Activities conducted

A. IDEP Procurement of appropriate aid items

150 family aid buckets (click here to see a list of bucket contents) were procured by IDEP at a total cost of Rp 75,000,000. These were purchased and packed in Bali by a local company, which specializes in rapid and effective aid package delivery, CV Saraswati (CVS). This delivery was transported by truck to Central Java. IDEP chose to work with CVS because is allowed better control by IDEP of the quality of materials in the buckets, and also to avoid inflated prices and difficulties in obtaining limited supplies in the devastated region.

10,000 copies of the emergency fact booklet were printed at a cost of Rp 20,000,000. The emergency fact booklets were (a) included in each the family buckets and (b) distributed directly to other people in disaster areas, and in areas at high risk for disaster. The booklets explain the signs and effects of earthquakes and tsunamis (to reduce unnecessary panic), how to plan and prepare for such events, and how to best manage health and sanitation after a disaster has occurred. (Click here to see a sample booklet)

2 large water tanks were also purchased for Rp 4,000,000 and distributed by Yayasan Bahari to needy communities in Pleret. One of these tanks was placed for general community water access while the other was set up at a local school where Yayasan Bahari had rehabilitated toilets. The tank provided necessary water storage for the bathing and toilet facilities, which were used by students and the surrounding community.

B. IDEP’s partners’ activities on the ground

a. Search and rescue
A total of 120 volunteers from caving, climbing, rafting, off roaders and trekking clubs, most of them trained by Cahyo Alkantana on first emergency response and high risk rescue were deployed. During the first 7 days, the team evacuated 120 dead bodies and gave medical assistance to 5000 people. 7 helicopters from Basarnas, were used to evacuate the injured people and to distribute goods to the remote area.

b. Shelter and reconstruction tools
During the project’s 4 months of operations, the Bahari team distributed 1.150 tarpaulins and 500 blankets. 300 Reconstruction Tool Kits which consisted of 1 wheel barrow, shovels, nails, hammers, rope, wire, construction buckets, crow bar, axe and hand saw were distributed to community members so that they could be empowered to initiate their own reconstruction activities.

c. Water and sanitation
In the first week, 5 fiberglass water tanks of 3,000 liters each were installed in 5 different villages. PDAM water trucks delivered water, each day to the area, for the duration of the project. One sanitation facility (latrines/MCK) was rebuilt in Bawuran School. 14 others were rehabilitated in schools in Bantul area. 250 Personal Hygiene Kits were also distributed to local communities. Each kit consisted of 5 bars of soap, 2 tooth brushes, 1 tooth paste tube, 250g of washing powder, 1 10 liters bucket, 1 water scope, 1 packet sanitary napkins, 1 plastic matt, 10 m of rope, 5 women and 5 men’s underwear, 2 sarongs, scissor and a knife.

d. Medical care
Bahari’s medical teams included 10 professional medical volunteers. In each of the project’s 5 Posko (Emergency Coordination Centres), a medical team with medicines was on stand by to deliver medical care to people who came to the centre for assistance. 2 mobile clinics also conducted outreach support to treat the people directly in their areas. During the first 10 days, a total of 2,000 people were treated for heavy wounds (surgery). After this emergency period, an average of 250 people per day were treated by the medical team (in Poskos and / or mobile clinics). The main diseases treated, after injuries, were diarrhoea, skin and eye infections.

In the Sampang, Klaten camp, 200 people suffered from serious food poisoning after eating lunch provided by a local restaurant. As there were no medicines to treat this specific problem, the people were asked to drink young coconut water and milk. Through using this traditional treatment system only 5 people required hospitalization and the remainder were recovered.

Funding was also provided to the UPN-V Eko Teguh team of DREAM to rent a mobile health clinic vehicle and pay drivers for one month to supplement their existing mobile health clinic / ambulance activities.

e. Food and kitchens sets
During the first 10 days, public kitchens were set up in the 5 base camps. 3 times a day full meals consisting of rice, vegetables and proteins (primarily eggs) were distributed to 200 people per base camp. Rice and noodles were also distributed for people who were able to cook for themselves. Special milk for children and elderly was given - 250g per person per week for a period of 3 weeks. Beside this, 900 babies received special infant milk the first 10 days of the project. One packet of high proteins biscuits (energetic food) was given to 900 families per week for 3 weeks. After the people started returning home, a 3 weeks supply of rice, noodles, cooking oil, biscuits and kerosene were distributed to 1,000 families.

To support the quick recovery of families in the area, 300 Kitchen Sets were distributed. 1 set consisted of: 1 stove, 2 x 20 liters jerry cans, 3 cooking pots (for rice cooking, water boiling and frying pan), 5 plates and spoons, 5 glasses and 2 liters of cooking oil.

d. Formal education
15 tents were set up as emergency schools. Volunteers from Bali’s expatriate community and from IKIP Tuban assisting the local teachers at the schools. A total of 4,000 children attended school lessons everyday as well as activities developed for them in the afternoon. Notebooks, pencils and games were given to the children as well as meals.

e. Public education
IDEP’s emergency response fact booklets and remaining stocks of Comic books with fact sheets about earthquakes were widely distributed throughout the affected areas by all of IDEP’s implementation partners in the field.

f. Psychological support
A psychological trauma support team of 15 people (3 expatriates and 12 locals), which consisted of expert counsellors for trauma and stress relief followed the education team and mobile clinics to identify stressed or traumatized people and administer treatment. During the implementation of the project, 5,000 cases were found and treated.

Monitoring and evaluation

Monitoring and evaluation of project needs and results was an on going process throughout the program’s implementation. Process, progress, quality and beneficiary satisfaction were monitored at various levels, formally and informally resulting in both qualitative and quantitative data.

Community response to the overall assistance provided was overwhelming, with some people in remote areas being moved to tears by the feeling that they had been remembered and that supplies were being delivered to help them to resume their lives. The emergency fact booklets delivered at the same time, were also very well received by local communities.

Gender responsiveness

The family aid bucket contains items for use by all members of the family such as toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo, soap, torches, towels and blankets. It also contains items specific to the needs of women’s menstruation and men’s shaving. The bucket includes cooking utensils and cleaning products, which would mainly be used by women and girls.

The emergency fact booklet contains health and sanitation information relevant to the needs of women, men, girls and boys. It specifically emphasises the important role of women in an emergency and gives guidance on maintaining breastfeeding of infants in a disaster situation instead of feeding them with formula from potentially unclean water.

Project Donors

IDEP wishes to express its sincere thanks to this project’s donors:

• Trocaire (Irish Catholic Relief) Euro 20,000 (IDR 233,406,745) for family and community re-construction and cleanup kits
• OXFAM Australia AUD 15,000 (IDR 137,380,000) for 150 family aid buckets, 10,000 emergency information booklets and 2 water storage tanks
• TIDES Foundation US$5,000 (IDR 44,977,500) for medicine, aid supplies and distribution logistics
• British Community Committee (BCC) IDR 40,000,000 for aid supplies and distribution logistics
• Indonesia Australia Language Foundation (IALF) Bali IDR 20,000,000 for aid supplies and distribution logistics
• Other private donors IDR 537,529,660 for aid supplies and distribution logistics
  
  
  

Constraints and Recommendations

Most of the people living near the road had good access to support, however those living in the more rural areas did not. These were the people that were identified as those most in need of assistance. Access to these more isolated communities was very difficult. One of the strengths of the Bahari team is the 4-wheel drive vehicles that are owned by the organization’s voluntary members which are able to function on difficult terrain.

Helicopters were found to be relatively ineffective for supplying the large amount of food needed because they only have a capacity of 300kg loads each at any given time. However they were very useful to support evacuation of injured people to the Basarnas hospital.

As local hospitals were vastly overloaded with injured, the Bahari team strived to treat as many people as possible directly in the field and only evacuated the worst cases that they were not able to treat. The Operational Funds that Yayasan IDEP was able to supply were only able to cover about 5% of the total project’s operational costs. Additional funding and in-kind / volunteer donation were ascertained to run this project. 

Yayasan IDEP’s key emergency response implementation partner Bahari is an exceptional local organization, which is able to have a dramatic impact on saving lives and reducing suffering in acute emergency situations. However the organization finds that it is very difficult to obtain funds while also addressing the many challenges and responsibilities that arise during the rescue phases. It would be much more efficient if some operational cash was already held in reserve before emergencies occur and that these funds would be released / available within the first few hours of any agreed initiative.

From IDEP’s perspective the major problem in implementation was the time lag in receiving needs assessments from partners in the field to IDEP and translating that into funded proposals and the provision of the urgently needed aid. Sending IDEP staff and volunteers to the field to assist partners in reporting and to speed up the flow of information back to IDEP’s HQ office reduced this problem somewhat. While there, IDEP’s staff and volunteers were also able to help liaise between partners and International NGO’s to help facilitate the provision of supplies already available in the area, and to increase coordination with other initiatives.

IDEP sees a clear need to ascertain the necessary support to expand (a) our in-house disaster response and assessment team and (b) our emergency response reserve funds; so that in the future IDEP will be able to (a) meet urgent needs on the ground in a more timely manner and (b) IDEP representatives can assist in more timely project documentation and reporting. Now that firm partnerships are being established with our emergency response partners in the field such as Yayasan Bahari, better systems, tools and support for clearer flow of information and related actions would greatly enhance IDEP ability for timely emergency response. Also being able to afford a qualified fulltime emergency response coordinator to assist with project management, documentation and reporting would relieve the workload on IDEP’s DM coordinator who’s job is to also coordinate non-emergency response activities in IDEP’s busy DM department.

IDEP also hopes to be able to establish working relationships and agreements with International NGO’s and Donors so that we can be assured of a greater amount of emergency funds and / or stores of emergency supplies that would be available immediately after a disaster occurs.  Currently IDEP’s emergency reserve fund is US$10,000, which is used each time IDEP chooses to respond to an emergency situation. Increasing the reserve would greatly reduce the lead-time on distribution of aid to communities when they need the help the most (i.e. the first hours / days after a disaster strikes).

Better field communications equipment such as a multi band base station at the IDEP office and / or mobile units for the field teams and partners would speed the flow of critical information.