Earthquake Relief

Frenky’s driving van to the hospital. Location: Wates Public District Hospital (RSUD Wates)

Woke up early at Mas Pras’ house. After breakfast we went to GKJ Wates. I think it was about 9.30 in the morning when we arrived, and there were already a lot of people. Some were cooking food, wrapping food with papers while others were sorting logistics to be distributed that day. We were informed that some women relief workers from GKJ wanted to go to RSUD (Public District Hospital) Wates. They wanted to deliver food and needed transportation. We decided to drive them there since we wanted to know the situation. Even here in Wates, 20-30 kilometers from the area affected by the earthquake, the hospital were overwhelmed by the victims. They needed help from outside the hospital to feed patients, as well as volunteers helping hospital staffs. Since there weren’t enough room in the hospital, some patients had to be treated in hospital corridors and halls. Many people were treated for typical injuries caused by earthquake, like open wounds and broken bones. We were informed by Mbak Ririn that the hospital ran out of blood supply, and they were waiting for re-supply from PMI (Indonesian Red Cross) headquarter. We also met a doctor that informed us that there were some patients who already in condition to go back home, but couldn’t since their houses were destroyed. The hospital transfered these people to “rumah trans” Wates. Rumah trans, according to Mbak Ririn, were transit houses for transmigrants waiting to be located. Maybe since transmigration program weren’t that popular as it was to be back in the New Order era, these facilities were mostly vacant now.

Quake Victims. Location: Wates Public District Hospital (RSUD Wates)

After surveying the condition of the hospital, we went back to Posko GKJ Wates. There, people were already packing food and logistic to several cars. We helped load some of them to our van and soon we hit the street again, following Mas Hendro’s Panther. It was already noon, probably about 11.30 AM. There were four of us in the van, plus 2 young volunteers (Bekti and his girlfriend), Mbak Ririn and 2 middle aged ladies who wanted to join us because since day one they have done nothing but cooking in Posko. We drove to Dongkelan again. We were able to see the destruction caused by the quake in vivid details along the way. When we arrived at Dongkelan, we found out that Medical Team from Wates was already there, giving treatments to people. We surveyed the damage in this area again. This time we were warned by Mas Endro not to venture and took photograph too far from the medical post. He said that now there’s resentment towards people who came and only took pictures but didn’t bring any help. He was affraid if we venture too far inside the vilage we would be accused as “turis bencana” (disaster tourist).

Ibu Ninik diagnosing a patient. Location: Pundong, South of Batul

We left Dongkelan after the medical team finished their job. We went to another place in Pundong. Along the way we saw many cars, pick-up vans and trucks bearing volunteer stickers. They were from various oganization, national and international, such as PMI, BASARNAS, Walhi, PKS, Kutai-Kertanegara Regency Medical Team, South Kalimantan Volunteers, European Union, UNDP, and many others. One car really caught our attention, though. It got paper stuck to its front window saying “RELAWAN, MENENGOK KELUARGA” (VOLUNTEERS, VISITING FAMILY). We arrived to our second destination after half an hour drive. We didin’t spend to much time here, since we only gave out food. There were some arguments between Mas Endro and one of the lady from our van when we unload the food. He said that the food unloaded was enough while the lady said that we can unload some more. The argument stopped when Mas Endro finally backed off. After that we were introduced to a very old lady (Mbak Urip?) that survived the quake eventhough her house was flatten to the ground.

Mbah Urip Sumoharjo’s house was completely destroyed. Location: South of Bantul

The next village were located somewhere near Pundong, in the middle of a large sugar cane field. We found there a large medical post serviced by PMI (Indonesian Red Cross). The PMI tent were located near a cow pen and there was a very big cow inside it. Sheila was thrilled Our medical team were clearly not needed here so they decided to give medical treatment somewhere else. We stayed for a while here to give some food and clothing to several villagers. Mas Hendro expressed his point quite strongly here to another volunteer that every decisions in the field about distribution of logistics and food had to be from him. It was clear that he was still upset because of the argument that happened between him and the lady at the last village.

Indonesian Red Cross. Location: South of Bantul

We went into two other place in Pundong to distribute help. The first was located near an old funeral site. When we were sorting the logistic for distribution, a phone call to Bekti came from the medical team. They needed the van to take a girl with a broken leg to hospital. Just as Marlo went to pick the girl up at another hamlet, an ambulance from Bethesda hospital passed us. After we informed him about the girl he went to pick her up. The ambulance driver also gave us information about several villages in Bantul Selatan that haven’t been receiving any help until that day. After we gave food and logistics to the villagers, we went to our last dropping point. It was the same place we visited on our first night. There we found that our medical team were already busy giving medical treatment. We surveyed the big house belong to the rich man there. By the time we finished surveying, the day were already turn to dusk. We realized that we haven’t had any lunch and all of us were very hungry. Fortunately there were some nasi bungkus left undistribute in Mas Hendro’s car, so we had lunch with food prepared for the quake victim (sorry…). During our lunch some volunteers from Wates felt a small earthquake, but strangely the four of us from Jakarta didn’t feel a thing. After the medical team finished their job, we left the village.

A broken leg girl, with no help for 5 days. Location: Pundong, South of Bantul

We went to Bantul city to survey the condition of the field hospital there. When we arrived in Bantul, it was already night and many parts of the city were pitch dark because there were no street lights. We surveyed the Japanese field hospital there, then we decided to split up with Mas Hendro. Mas Hendro went back to Wates while we in the van went to Jogja to get medical supplies from Posko Metro TV. We were quite concern about Mas Hendro driving then because it was like he was doing slalom test. Marlo and I offered our help to drive his car but he politely reject.

When we arrived in Jogja we found out that it was already back to normal day to day life, eventhough there were visible damage on many building here too. There were many stores and restaurants already opened. After a quick dinner, we went looking for Posko Metro TV at jalan Cendrawasih No 8. Following the map, we found the place but it was a small and old hotel. A quick check to the SMS message revealed that it was actually Jalan Cendana, instead of Cendrawasih. I didn’t really know how the information got messed up, but we found the right location anyway. It was actually Jalan Cendana No 18… Sheila and Mbak Ririn went inside Posko Metro while the others stayed outside. There were a lot of people moving back and forth from the Posko. We saw a large pile of cardboard boxes at its front yard and there were trucks unloading more logistics. After quite a while Sheila and Mbak Ririn got out of the Posko. They were given information from the Posko Metro staffs about the procedure to get medical and logistical help. We discussed about that on our way back to Wates. It was about 10.00 PM when we arrived in Wates. All of us were very exhausted. Sheila and Marlo left for a while to Mas Pras’ house while Gleno and I stayed in Posko. They went back to Posko after a while and we discussed our plan for tommorow with Mas Hendro, Mbak Ririn and Mas Pras. After that we went back to Mas Pras to get some rest.