wfn.org | UMNS# 051-Aid still has not reached some Indonesians after tsunami

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Aid still has not reached some Indonesians after tsunami

Jan. 21, 2005

NOTE: Photographs are available at http://umns.umc.org.

By Orla Clinton*

NIAS, Indonesia (ENI) - Almost a month after tidal waves engulfed
shorelines across continents, people are still stranded in parts of
Indonesia, and emergency helpers are battling to reach areas where
bridges and roads were swept away and helicopters cannot land.

International media attention has focused on flattened cities like Banda
Aceh and Meulaboh on Sumatra island, which have received an outpouring
of assistance. But on the west coast of Indonesia, people are still
stranded, despite efforts to reach them.

The effect has been equally catastrophic on communities in such remote
areas as Sirombu on Nias island, a Christian pocket isolated from
Indonesia in north Sumatra. Here, the tsunami killed 119 people and
displaced more than 4,000. It swept away five schools, five churches,
two mosques, two health centers and 111 bridges, and more than 400 homes
were destroyed.

Ama Aspirasi Gulo sat amid the ruins of what was once his home in
Sisarahili. The area is accessible only by foot or motorbike, three
kilometers from Sirombu.

"It was a peaceful life," recounted the 40-year-old father of four,
explaining how all the families had their own economic resources through
coconut farming and selling. "We enjoyed life, even if we were far away
from the city," he said, showing the flattened homes of his neighbors
who died.

He explained how the earthquake shook their homes, but no one fled as
they did not anticipate flooding. Then the waves rose and enveloped the
whole village.

"People were crying and shouting to God to come and help them. But God
didn't come - only more water," lamented Ama. He knows 68 people who
died, but his family escaped by climbing coconut trees.

Ama said he plans to rebuild his life away from the sea, away from where
his forefathers had lived for generations. "I have finished with this
place," he said, motioning to the ghost village that was his community.


Hundreds of thousands of people now have radically changed lives. The
U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization estimates that 800 fishing
canoes were destroyed on Nias. Most belonged to poor fishing and farming
communities. Local people say their lives might as well have ended as
they have lost everything.

Sirombu and Mandrehe are areas not known in many places and few
outsiders visit. Aid workers say lives are a cycle of poverty and
neglect in which women die in childbirth, most people are illiterate,
and where malaria and other diseases kill.

Surf Aid International, the only international medical organization
operating on Nias and the Mentawai islands, said the area faces a
serious risk of epidemics. Malaria is already prevalent, affecting 25
percent to 30 percent of the population.

"We need to get these whole communities under nets," said Dave Jenkins,
Surf Aid's medical director. He noted that malaria weakens the
population through chest infections and malnutrition as well as directly
killing people. Surf Aid is distributing mosquito nets, vaccinating
against measles and supplying micro-nutrients and vitamin A.

The United Methodist Committee on Relief is providing assistance to
tsunami victims in Indonesia and other parts of South Asia. Donations to
UMCOR's "South Asia Emergency" relief efforts can be placed in local
church offering plates or sent directly to UMCOR, 475 Riverside Drive,
Room 330, New York, NY 10115. Designate checks for UMCOR Advance #274305
and "South Asia Emergency." Online donations can be made at
www.methodistrelief.org. Those making credit-card donations can call
(800) 554-8583.

*Clinton is a writer for Ecumenical News International.

News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.

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United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org