FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CHURCH WORLD SERVICE INDONESIA TEAM DELIVERING EMERGENCY SHELTER IN SUMATRA QUAKE REGION
Aid Workers Assessing Injuries, Damage, Further Relief Needs
Jakarta - Thurs. Sept. 13, 2007 -- A Church World Service Indonesia team is now in the Bengkulu, Sumatra, area assessing damage and needs and delivering an initial supply of tarpaulins for shelter to those affected by three major earthquakes and continuing aftershocks that have rocked southern Sumatra since Wednesday (September 12).
Some reports, including the Associated Press, are saying at least ten people were killed in the Sumatra quakes.
A fourth quake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.2 struck underwater, northeast of Sulawesi, Indonesia, today, according to CNN reports from the U.S. Geological Survey.
According to CWS Indonesia/Timor Leste Regional Director Maurice Bloem, speaking from management meetings today at the global humanitarian agencyÂs headquarters in New York, "Our assessment team is delivering an initial supply of tarpaulins to aid in emergency shelter. Our partner Yakkum Emergency Unit (YEU) reports that many of the injured and affected survivors are staying outdoor because of damage to their homes and due to fear of more quakes."
More than 40 aftershocks in a 24-hour period continued to threaten the region following the first 8.4 Richter Scale earthquake on Wednesday. . CWS is coordinating its response with YEU and YTBI (Yayasan Tanggul Bencana Indonesia), members of the Action By Churches Together (ACT) international forum in Indonesia.
On Wednesday at CWS Indonesia offices in Nias and Meulaboh, CWS staff reported initial panic there, although the quake had struck the more southern part of the island of Sumatra.
"People initially panicked and fled to higher ground, remembering not only other quakes we had experienced in the past three years," Bloem said, "but the devastation of the 2004 tsunami. They were simply responding to what they had learned.
"From earlier Sumatran quake damage, CWS Indonesia had assisted in rebuilding homes, Bloem said, Âthat were well built and intended to be earthquake resistant. We are encouraged so far to see that those homes have held."
Bloem said earlier quake and tsunami traumas are restimulated with new disasters. "But everyone has learned. We go outside and donÂt stand close to houses. You relive those moments of what happened before."
Those devastated by the massive 2004 tsunami and subsequent earthquakes in the volatile region have a strong life spirit, says Bloem, and, with help, have reclaimed their lives and homes. During a visit to Java and the Aceh region of Indonesia last month, Church World Service Director of International Emergency Response Donna J. Derr reported seeing "life returning to normal. There was a vibrancy in the communities and in the marketplaces that was so encouraging to see."
But the scars and fears remain. "Some people have better coping mechanisms than others," Bloem said. He recalled recently meeting with an older couple who had gotten a new, more quake-resistant house built for them by a church organization following one of the recent major quakes.
"The woman had been injured in the quake. CWS built a special toilet adjacent to the new house for her. When we visited the family recently, we saw that the younger family members were in the new house, but the elder woman and her husband were still living in a shack beside the house. They were afraid that the new house would fall on them in another quake," he said. "Sometimes itÂs hard to let go of the fears."
To contribute to Church World Service relief and recovery efforts in Sumatra, visit www.churchworldservice.org or call Church World Service toll free at (800) 297-1516.
Media Contacts: Lesley Crosson(212) 870-2676,
lcrosson@churchworldservice.org Jan Dragin - 24/7- (781) 925 1526; jdragin@gis.net