Aceh Aid @ IDEP Update No6 - 1 January 2005
( An email was sent to me with this up-date on the great work Yayasan IDEP are doing. Thought it would be of interest to the BTF members)
"We're doing the best we can to relay accurate information, however the situation on the ground is changing by the hour. Our contacts on the ground are reporting back to us as quickly as possible, with the best available information".
'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 @ IDEP.'
BY LAND
INITIATIVES FROM MEDAN
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.
INITIATIVES FROM PADANG
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.
BY AIR
Reported by Lee via telephone : Sam from IDEP has flown over the coast together with AUSaid representative, report from them is that
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.
BY SEA
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.
Written by Chris just before he left Padang:
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.
How you can help
Online Donations by Credit Card Now Possible (Tax deductible in US) via PayPal.com
Many thanks to Keith Pleas in Seattle & Lauren @Tides Foundation and others
1. Go to www.paypal.com
2. If you do not have a PayPal account set up, click "Sign Up" or "Join Now".
3. Follow all of the instructions for signing up with PayPal (they are rather complicated, so be patient).
4. When you are signed up, you are ready to send money.
5. Click "Send Money".
6. Follow instructions to send money, to acehaid@tides.org
7. Note: When you try to make your first payment, you will see beside the "amount" line, that you need to click there to "Verify Credit Limit" first, before you can make a payment.
A funding channel for Aceh Aid has now been established through the Tides Foundation www.tides.org, enabling donors to use credit cards to make payments to us from 45 countries around the world (tax deductible in US as our channeling organization - Tides - is 501c3). Transactions will be possible via our website beginning tomorrow. Donations will be rapidly dispatched to us via Tides, with 100% of your funds reaching us here.
Donations via our Indonesian Bank Account:
Account Name : Yayasan IDEP
ACCOUNT NO : 034.001229576.003
Bank : BNI (Bank Negara Indonesia), Cabang Ubud, Bali
Bank Address : Jl. Raya Ubud, Bali - Indonesia
SWIFT Code : BNINIDJA DPS
Matching Funds from Microsoft
Today we received news from the USA that we have been approved for matching funds from Microsoft for donations made by Microsoft personnel in the USA (to be reconfirmed tomorrow. - Ed.).
Drop Offs / Donations can be made at:
Ubud: Ary's Warung, Jl Raya Ubud, Tutmak's & IDEP foundation office - Jl Hanoman No 44b, Ubud
Denpasar: JIKA- POSKO Bantuan Bencana Aceh - Jalan Tjok Tresna #49, Renon, Matamera Communications, and / or UNUD & Warmadewa Universities
Kuta: Surfer Girl
Legian : Aroma Café, Cyber Café, Dijon / Alam Boga
Seminyak: Asana Kopi & Teh (across from Made's Warung)
Our goal is to refine our cargo channels so that we can send stuff efficiently and reliably to our contacts on the ground and get the aid to the people who need it most as quickly as possible.
PRIORITY No1 Items (most important at this time)
EMERGENCY MEDICAL SUPPLIES OF ALL KINDS, TOOLS FOR TRIAGE & ON SITE OPERATIONS
Generators GENSET & pumps for pumping salt water out of wells
Nails, hammers and tarps to keep people from moving to refugee camps
Food (see list below)
COMMUNICATIONS
Cellphone 'pulsa' cards
Satellite phones & Walkie talkies
Solar chargers for hand phones and laptops
FAMILY ITEMS
BIG Pots that can be used for boiling water
Candles, lighters, gas lanterns, torches (flashlights) and batteries
Linens, Towels, bedding, hammocks, mosquito nets, large plastic bags & other containers
Any (if possible quick drying) clothing
Mosquito repellant (coils, creams & sprays)
Cooking & eating utensils, cook stoves
Empty large 20 Lt aqua bottles
Large buckets (the big black ones with sealable lids)
Kero 'Butterfly' Stoves (with tank hose and bicycle pumps)
WATER PURIFICATION & RECONSTRUCTION ITEMS
Shovels
Nails & hammers
Tents, tarpaulins and ropes
High quality pool chlorine
Hydrogen peroxide
Iodine (LOTS) the pure kind not betadine
Lye (Kapur used to mix with cement)
FIRST AID & SANITARY ITEMS - Note : wounds are infected because of contaminated water
As much Oralite rehydration salts as we can get our hands on
Soap, toothbrushes and toothpaste, talcum powder, sanitary napkins
First Aid medications & bandages, Betadine, Vitamins (especially for infants & children)
Medicines for diarrhea, Panadol for fever and pain, cold & cough medicines, antibiotic creams & antibiotic
women's sanitary napkins
cajeput oil and telon oils
FOOD ITEMS
canned fish
salted dry fish
peanuts/dried fish instead of noodles that have to be cooked & are low in protein
canned milk
cooking oil
other packaged / non perishable food items
Information for potential Field Volunteers:
We are coordinating volunteers to go to Sumatra. Please contact us at hp: 081-338-401653 for more info only if you are a skilled volunteer in any of the following categories (doctors, paramedics, peace-corps trained level volunteers) with Bahasa Indonesia skills, financial independence, vaccinated, valid visa, willing to commit to several weeks at least.
Discounted vaccinations are available for volunteers via IDEP Aceh Aid initiative that are going to Sumatra from the International SOS clinic in Bali.
Media inquiries
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We now have a 24-hour Press Contact Hotline: (from overseas) +62 81338 846 8073 / (within Indonesia) 081 338 468073
Please direct legitimate press inquiries to this number.
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Extract from a direct field report reproduced by kind permission from
Ian Singleton scientific Director of Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program (SOCP)
30TH December 2004, Medan, Sumatra.
The most heavily destroyed areas are all in Aceh and the islands off the west and northern coasts (including Nias, Simelue, the Pulau Banyak islands and Pulau Weh). Some low lying islands have actually disappeared. There was small scale damage (in other circumstances it might be regarded as major) and a scattering of deaths along the east coast of Sumatra as far north as Lohksumawae and Blangpidie on the west coast of Aceh, but north of these major towns the picture is truly mind numbing.
Meulaboh on the west is 80% gone, along with 80% or more of its population (estimated ca 15,000 deaths on the 29th). We were lucky enough to see some of the very first aerial photos from this area (courtesy of the Leuser International Foundation). Around 20 or 30 people could be seen in the central part of Meulaboh. Further north from Meulaboh there was nothing except 4 tiny buildings around a telephone mast on a hill, with about 10 or 20 people, in what used to be Calang. I have travelled these roads in the past and they used to have shops, houses and large villages on both roadsides pretty much continuously all the way to Banda Aceh. Now all that remains is the occasional white square where the concrete floor of a house can still be made out. What surprised me most was that there isn't even any debris! Pictures from Banda Aceh and other big towns show tons and tons of timber, cars, corrugated iron roofs etc littering the landscape. There is none of this up there on the west coast. It really has ALL gone, and all of the people with it. Even the road has gone. The occasional 100m stretch of road you can find is either buried in mud, no longer has asphalt on it or has disappeared under the sea. Once we saw these pictures we knew immediately that the estimates of deaths and missing being circulated by the press and media at the time were tragically underestimating the scale of the damage and losses in Aceh. After returning home late that night on the 27th and putting on the TV, seeing the rows of dead young kids (jaws tied up with string to keep the flies out of their mouths) being stacked up in Banda Aceh (with my own young kid soundly asleep in the next room) and realising that only a handful of people had watched this video just 20 minutes ago, I found tears trickling down my cheeks. Sadly, the rest of you are only just now gradually waking up to what those few people in that room knew then.
The reasons why the scale was so badly underestimated are basically twofold I think. Firstly, there were virtually no foreigners in the province at the time and overseas media naturally showed greatest interest in Thailand and Sri Lanka where most of the tourists were. The second reason is because there really was zero information out of Aceh on the 26th and most of the 27th. Communications were blacked out throughout the province (no electricity so no telephones, including mobile phones) and the only news we had was from anyone who had managed to drive out. There was therefore, genuinely just a trickle of information reaching Medan passed on by distraught people.
The relief effort has been slow to get started. International aid was hampered in the first 48 hours by the legal status of the land. Aceh has been in civil war for several years now and for the last 18 months no foreigners have been allowed in without special government permission. Unbelievably, this was still legally the case on the 26th, 27th and most of the 28th as far as I could tell. Only yesterday did I see in the papers that the border controls on foreigners had been officially lifted (though naturally, anyone trying to get in does not seemed to have been told they couldn't before that date). I think this problem did hamper overseas military teams getting in for a day or two though, including US Marines among others.
Now it seems anyone can get in. Road access is fortunately still possible along the east coast road all the way up to Banda Aceh itself. On the west coast, however, there is one bridge down in Bakongan, so even people in the relatively unaffected areas of Tapktuan and Kota Fajar are now cut off from regular food supplies. I am ecstatic to tell you that all my former assistants and friends near my old research site at Suaq Balimbing (near Kota Fajar) appear to be fine. Incidentally, one of them, Azhar, normally lives on the island of Simelue now but was visiting me in Medan on the 26th.....fortunate.
So what is happening now? Basically Aid work. Everyone throughout the country is doing whatever they can from what I believe but I doubt it is enough. On the 28th communications via mobile phones became possible, the airport was reopened, and the message went out that clean drinking water was unavailable and lots of people were beginning to get very sick. The number of trucks, food drops and other transports went up on the 29th as people had by then established what are called ‘POSKO' or coordination posts to gather aid items and get hold of vehicles to transport them. There are now many of these all around Medan and I suspect throughout the rest of the world by now (I hope so)! We have one here too, our office has been taken over by boxes and bags and people!!
Only yesterday did I see that the military and government had reached Meulaboh by helicopter and small Cessna (nothing else can land as the runway is badly damaged), and I believe the first doctors are being dropped there by helicopter as I write (30th). Aid items can only be delivered by air to this region since ships cannot get nearer than 700m from the shore and there are no small boats capable of unloading them. I also hear that a very large proportion of aid that is ‘literally' dropped, is exploding on impact and largely wasted. We are currently trying to arrange for a French disaster relief team (Pompiers sans Frontieres) to be dropped in Meulaboh on the 2nd. I still have no idea if those few people around the telephone tower in Calang have been contacted yet! We had a phone call from Asril yesterday in Banda Aceh. Please send medicines he said. When asked what kind he said medicine for amputees and people with fever (meaning Dystentry and Cholera are getting going) and severely infected wounds. I asked who had done the amputations and if they had any medicines at all and was told 'just anyone, basically, and we don't have anything'. No antibiotics, no sutures, no anaesthetics, nothing for cleaning or dressing wounds, just nothing at all, even in Banda Aceh.
People are now slowly beginning to send medicinal supplies but I suspect the overwhelming majority of aid from Indonesians is still food (rice, noodles), water and clothes being delivered by trucks. I was at the air-force base in Medan last night and they too are still sending out a lot of these items. True, they are certainly still needed, but we really need to increase the numbers of doctors, paramedics, nurses, medicines and equipment as soon as possible. Thankfully, I was told that priority is being given to doctors and others with medical expertise for any transports capable of conveying people to the worst areas, but it isn't enough yet. PanEco/YEL sent the first of many truckloads of aid this morning, complete with some intravenous saline drips and medicines for cholera, dysentery, and large rotting wounds. Disease is likely to kill a large number of the survivors and we must get these things to them as soon as humanly possible. Another problem I foresee is that the Indonesian general public's concepts of what constitutes important medicines and my own concepts differ somewhat. When they do start sending medicines we could easily see boxes and boxes of drugs to treat what are merely symptoms, and that will do very little to solve real problems, although they may be worth it if they make people at least feel better for a while after what they've been through. Asril himself asked for anti 'masuk angin' (basically wind or indigestion) and headache and eye medications.
So, please do whatever you can to help. You have never seen a disaster like this and you never will again. If, like me, you normally think that one person doesn't make a difference and everyone is contributing so I don't really need to, then wake up. One course of an antibiotic like tetracycline, ciproxin or ceftriaxone could save someone. Likewise, a few bags of saline solution and a drip. A few masks and gloves can prevent a doctor getting sick and unable to work. Trucks still have to be rented (alas, some people still get their profits out of these things) and although the military (both Indonesian and from abroad as well) are doing their utmost to get the most important people and things into the most desperate areas, they are woefully under achieving so far. I can't believe that there could be anyone out there that is not donating something but if there is, this really is the big one and your gonna' regret it for the rest of your life if you don't! So do SOMETHING!!
What about GAM?
GAM is the Indonesian acronym for the Acehnese separatist rebels who have been fighting a guerilla war for independence from the Indonesian government for some decades. In the late 1990's, after the fall of President Suharto from office, hostilities escalated. Thousands have been killed, largely civilians, in the last 8 years as a result of this war. One of my workmates and close friends in South Aceh, Idrusman, was killed by a machete on the throat in 1999, but we still don't really know if it was GAM or simply rogue bandits that were responsible. GAM's ability to endure lies in the fact that they are simply Acehnese people, able to blend in easily when in towns and villages. They also hole up in the forests, and are therefore not easy to locate and fight. Apparently a ceasefire was drawn up the other day but I already hear there were some members of the main Indonesian Electricity company kidnapped the day before yesterday in central Aceh (in the Ketambe region) and I hear unconfirmed reports of shootings already too. Such is daily life in Aceh these days.
What about animals?
I am getting more and more emails and calls asking about wildlife, animal welfare and conservation, so will put some information down here that I can then copy and paste into emails from now on, even if it may seem a bit ‘insensitive' after the above paragraphs. I am being asked, however, and these are issues that need to be addressed.
The forests and the Leuser Ecosystem have not really been touched. The only places where decent forest reaches the coast in the north of the island is the three swamp areas of Singkil, Kluet (including Suaq Balimbing) and Tripa (just south of Meulaboh). I imagine some sea water has spilled into at least the Tripa swamps but aerial footage shows they are very much still in tact. I would be very surprised if any wild orangutans or other large terrestrial species have really been affected at all (although there was a story in the Jakarta Post yesterday about some people being saved since they grabbed a python the size of a telegraph pole as it drifted past). Animal casualties will only include those that where in settlements or on pasture land or agricultural land within a few kilometers of the coast and those being kept as pets (cage birds mostly but including monkeys, gibbons and orangutans). We knew of one pet orangutan in Meulaboh that is almost certainly dead. Thus it will largely be domestic animals that have been killed or now lie suffering where they landed. These include cattle, buffalo, goats, sheep, chickens and cats and dogs. Domestic pigs are pretty much unheard of in Aceh. For those that have no idea, the typical coastline around much of northern Aceh comprised villages, blue sea, coconut palms, sandy beaches, some rice fields, oilpalm plantations and some coniferous tree-lined beachy areas, especially near the swamps. Mangrove areas weren't so common, though they do occur north and south of Medan.
>From a conservation standpoint, trying to look into the future a little. The notorious Ladia Galaska roads project must be on hold now. It would be expected that in the aftermath of this disaster priority is likely to be given to rebuilding roads that have gone, such as the coast road north of Meulaboh in the west. However, it could also be that the authorities decide that this disaster clearly illustrates a need for better overland access to the west coast from the east, since if that had been possible now things in Meulaboh at least, would have been much easier. My own feelings are that surely there will be a major review of all future development plans, and hopefully bodies such as the World Bank and IMF will have enough influence to be able to steer future developments away from dissecting critically important ecosystems, essential to the future well-being of the Acehnese themselves!
Another concern is the potential source of building materials. Aceh possesses some of the largest and most impressive forests in the world today and even within a country as biologically rich as Indonesia, the Leuser massif and the forests to the north along the Bukit Barisan mountain chain are among the very richest in biodiversity. Unfortunately, they are potentially also the easiest, quickest and cheapest source of timber for future development and housing needs. Recently, Aceh has led the way in reducing logging after a moratorium on all logging practices was imposed throughout the province a few years ago. Again, it has to be hoped that the government will choose the correct path, and not be easily persuaded to relinquish one of its greatest assets in the interests of a quick (but in the long run largely temporary) fix. The temptation could be great, however, so viable alternatives will certainly need to be sought!
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SurfAid International Responds with A Tsunami Disaster Relief Initiative - Nias Island, West Sumatra, Indonesia
SurfAid is now directly responding to the Tsunami Disaster in Western Sumatra on the island of Nias with an emergency medical relief team initially funded by Quiksilver Foundation and Indies Trader Company. 'SurfAid is focusing efforts on their core competencies and therefore targeting the outbreak of malaria, typhoid and cholera. Additionally, we will be providing water purification supplies and education,' says SurfAid International CEO Andrew Griffiths. SurfAid's team of doctors will be stationed in Nias to provide medical service and preventative treatment, while community facilitators will provide supplies and education on water purification. SurfAid's local Padang office will support logistics, administration and cross functional communication efforts.
SurfAid is calling out to corporations and individuals across the globe to provide support for SurfAid's disaster relief effort. SurfAid is now accepting donations directly towards much needed funding for their relief efforts.
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The Nias area has been badly hit by this natural disaster and has had no aid to date. Many know Nias as a place with great surf and warm and generous hospitality from the local community, but it is now a region wrought with death, destruction and a severe need for food, water and medical attention. Because the region is only accessible by boat, the Indies Trader II will serve as the medical relief team's mobile head quarters in the area.
SurfAid International has committed resources in response to emergency health and water needs in Nias and surrounding islands. Below is an outline of the response plan:
1. Provide disease prevention specifically targeting:
Malaria
Typhoid
Cholera
2. Water purification
3. Injury and illness treatment
Technical medical team of 11:
3 Expatriate doctors (with Indonesian language skills and 2-3 yrs experience working in the Mentawai Islands)
Orthopaedic surgeon
2 Expatriate nurses with language skills and experience in the area
Indonesian malaria project manager, a trained nurse with 25 years experience in the health sector
Microscopist for malaria diagnostics
2 Senior community facilitators
3 Experienced local facilitation staff
Medical relief support team of 10:
Disaster relief consultant with local area and language expertise
Communications director based in Jakarta with local area and language expertise
8 disaster relief staff members to handle logistics, supplies and communication
Medical resources
Up to 5,000 mosquito nets
Water purification supplies
Diagnostic equipment
Immunizations
Needles
General Medicines
Malaria Medicines
Surgical equipment
A 70-foot boat complete with:
Satellite communications
Accommodations for the team
Water Makers
SurfAid International is a health focused NGO which has been operating in the Mentawai Islands, off West Sumatra, for the past four years. The organisation has focussed principally on communicable disease prevention including malaria control and immunization through a direct implementation approach. SurfAid has established strong working relationships with local communities, local NGOs, regional, provincial and central Health Departments and the World Health Organisation (WHO). The organisation has strong links with local surfing communities, many of whom are well established in Nias Island, West Sumatra Province.