Earthquake Relief

That night we went straight to work. After we dropped our personal belongings at Mas Pras’ house, we went back to Posko for a meeting. The meeting was held at 8.00 PM and was attended by volunteers from GKJ Wates and also the medical team from Puskesmas Wates. We were introduced by Mas Hendro to other volunteers at the meeting and Sheila was given the oportunity to explain about Bemal and our purpose here. The meeting also evaluate the volunteers recent work and planing for their task that night.

Mas ‘Endro introduced Bemal members in their regular evaluation/distribution late night meeting. Location: Wates, Kulon Progo.

After the meeting, the volunteers were split into several teams, to deliver logistics and food to several places. There were 8 cars available for transport that night, including our van. After a quick dinner, we hit the road at around 10.00 PM. Mas Andri from Posko acted as navigator, and there were also 4 other volunteers in our van.

After about 20 minutes drive, the scenery along the road started to change. As soon as we entered Bantul regency, we saw the effect of the earthquake along the road. Damaged building, make shift tents and people roaming the street. In many parts of the area, there are no light except from the car’s lamp. It was eerie.

We arrived at our first destination after 30 minutes drive. The place was called Dongkelan. We dropped logistics and food at this post and then we went to survey the damage in this place. It was horrible. Many houses were completely destroyed here while some that still stand were too unstable and dangerous to live in. We were informed that there were several casualties in that area, but their bodies are already evacuated and buried. We met a man who was able to rescue himself and his two children from his collapsing house. He told the story of his survival in front of the ruin of his house. When the earthquake hit, they were inside the house and were trapped under the ruin. The man was able to crawl out of the rubble while clenching both of his children in his arms. They suffered only minor injury. The man’s wife also survived the earthquake. She suffered light wound at the back of his head.

Pitch-dark, no electricity. People were still afraid to get near their houses. They’re still traumatized. Location: Dongkelan, South Bantul.

At Dongkelan we also heard story about thieves that started prowling the area. The thieves target is motorcycle, and sometime they disguise themselves as relief workers. The constant alertness of people was felt by us. On our way from Dongkelan to another area called Pundong, we witnessed people pursuing thieves who ran away to the middle of rice field. Many motorcycles were pointing their headlight towards the field to locate the thieves. Marlo helped too with the van headlight but after a while we left the area. We didn’t know if the thieves got caught or not. We also started to notice that many people in the street were armed with sword, clubs etc. It was quite unnerving.

The second place we visited that night was a village in Pundong. We also dropped logistics there. Here we saw a brand new two-story house which completely destroyed by the earthquake. We met a man whose big house was destroyed. He was a wealthy batik entrepreneur. He told us that all he could save from his house were some batik. His motorcycles, furniture, electronic equipments were buried under the ruin of his house. He looked very miserable and depressed. Marlo said that psychologically, people who were used to comfortable living like this man were most likely suffered more than poor people who only have little in their life. I agree with him.

Two-story house owned by a wealthy batik entrepreneur was demolished in seconds. Her daughter (a police woman) was stuck under ruins during the earthquake but managed to survive. Location: Pundong, South Bantul.

We left Pundong and went back to Wates. Four of us were quite exhausted as a result of our trip from Jakarta and the night trip to Bantul. It was already 2.00 AM when we finally arrived in Wates. We went back to Mas Pras’ house to get some rest.