Earthquake Relief

We watched the video that started off with shots of donations dropped to the office. That was Tuesday nite’s footages. Followed by some shots of sunrise on the road, then … Here they are…. Unloading half of the truck load in Batukaras. Residents of Batukaras already organized themselves with a proper POSKO with a proper management system. They were quite eager when choosing what they needed, left behind in the truck what they adequately had.

After distributing the aid, our friends left for Bulak Benda, another village next to Batukaras. The village was also blessed by a good size surfable surfing point. I remember we went to that village by taking a half an hour boat from Batukaras. It takes longer time to get there if you travel by land vehicle from Batukaras. Bulak Benda is considerably quite remote. You cant find what other typical tropical tourist beaches usually offer. Here you can feel that the nature is much much larger than you. You are only a single particle..

Many houses at the frontier were destroyed. Causalities were also higher. The boys told us, upon their arrival…. people in the temporary shelters stood up and walked toward the truck. Happiness was shining from their faces. So eager they all wanted to help to unload the truck. I saw on the video tape, an old man hugging a sack of rice on the ground. He knew… tonite he would eat rice… They knew some good hearted people were with them, all the way.

What I heard from the boys… Batukaras and Bulak Benda, and all other villages that were affected by tsunami were not as bad as Ulhee Lhee or Lhok Nga… some areas that were hit pretty bad in Aceh tsunami of 2004. However, the emotional effects must be the same. Counseling is needed immediately to bring them back to the norm. Sanitation and clean water is urgently needed. They might eat 3 times a day of ransom, but they wanted to be able to cook. They need cooking utilities. They also need helps to rebuild their homes and boats. I am sure some of you may have access to attend these issues.

PS: I will update this post with some facts and figures of lost and causalities.

Full version: http://pitydog.blogspot.com/

No Comments »

Wasnt a long time ago when tsunami struck Aceh. This time the horrible news came from a place not far away from Jakarta. The communities along the coast line of southern west java were hit by tidal waves following a six point something ritcher scale on 17^th July 2006.
Water can be such a terrifying beast. It swapped away everything it could to unleash its power. Everything. Including house of someone we might know. Including some husband of a young wife who might had been out fishing in the ocean. Including some kids who played football on a sunny afternoon pretending they are the next Christiano Ronaldo. The beast didn’t take anything for granted. That’s for sure.
As soon as the rumor became a headline news, reflections of nice view, friendly waves and people, the smell of not so cold beer and the taste of fingerlickin’ sea food emerged to my mind. It was Batukaras Village, in Ciamis, West Java… a place where we had 1 of the best shooting locations back in 2003. It was Batukaras.. that we all had in mind.
The place has been well known as one of the best secret spots for surfing in West Java. If you happened to ever visited Batukaras, you would know what I mean.. Nothing more than surf, sand, sun, sleep, then surf again before we got too hungry to play.
Waiting if we could read the name of the village on “ticker news” became unbearable. A phone call from a good friend who got there 2 days after the tsunami explained everything. We have to help.
After plenty of phone calls and text messages, donations started to pour in. We had a great amount of support from BENGKEL AMAL, a circle of good people who were in the position of helping those in needs. There are also some other individuals and organizations that have played an important role in this mission. Its probably something that is not even close enough to what the victims feel… But its another form of saying… Brothers, we care!
Tonite, 25 July 2006 at 11.00pm, Fictionary will send the donations and (is it still..?) humanitarian aids to Batukaras, accompanied by Sobar and Zwingly. Its great to be able to help. We shall wait their report when they come back.
Thank you all…
Sakti Parantean

No Comments »

We went early in the morning to Jogja to pick Inuy up from Adisucipto airport. She brought another large box of logistics with her, full of used clothes, blankets, under garments and adult diapers.

That morning we wanted to survey the medical team at work, so we went to Patuk, Gunung Kidul area, where they planned to give medical aid. Along the way we found out that there were two teams departed from Wates, the other went to Pundong. Because of some reasons, both team left Wates very late from their schedule, so we arrived at the area much earlier than them.

After we waited for about an hour, the medical team finally came. We went with them up a windy and narrow road, and after several back track, we arrived at our destination. We were shocked to find out that most of the medicine needed for the treatment were misplaced to another car that went to Pundong, so we couldn’t give any medical treatment there. We were more upset on seeing the reaction (or rather, the over reaction) of Ibu Ninik to the situation. She lashed out her anger openly in front of a small group of villagers who at that time were already gathering around our cars. It wasn’t very professional, but fortunately the villagers didn’t complain. We left after we gave milk and baby food to the locals.

Gleno distributed milk and baby food. Location: Patuk, Gunung Kidul.

We went back to Jogja in the afternoon. Marlo, Sheila, Gleno and Mas Dono went to visit Mbak Lidia, a businesswoman from Jogja who wanted to give some contribution for the quake victim through us. Me, Inuy and Dianti waited for them at Keris Mas.

We spent the evening at Air Putih again, Sheila and Inuy updated the blog while the others coordinate with Jakarta. We received information from Wates that evening that 11 box of logistics sent by Haryo had arrived there.

When we went back to Wates, it was already dark. We went to Posko GKJ Wates, where we found that some volunteers were already sorting the logistics sent by Haryo from Jakarta. Sheila, Dianti and Inuy discussed the medical team plan for the next day with Mbak Ririn and Ibu Ninik. We went back to Mas Pras after that to get some rest.

(For me, the day wasn’t actually over because I had to go back to Jogja again with Inuy to get my camera that was left accidentaly at Air Putih…)

No Comments »

Dianti and Marlo carrying supplies of medicine, blankets and feminine pads brought from Jakarta. Location: Yogyakarta.

Today we’ve got an additional member to our team. Dianti arrived from Jakarta. She came bringing more supplies from Jakarta, mostly medicine. We picked her up at Adisucipto Airport in the morning. After we had some breakfast (soto at Kridosono Sport Stadium), we went to Keris Mas in Jalan Laksamana Adisucipto, Jogja, to meet Mas Dono.

Keris Mas is a handcrafts supplier company runned by Mas Dono. It supplies handcrafts made by craftsmen from all around Jogjakarta city, including Bantul. After the earthquake, Mas Dono went overdrive transforming his office into coordination post for relief workers in one day. He gathered many volunteers; most of them are university students. He used his network of business associates to gather logistics, with amazing results. His office looked like a warehouse, full of piles of boxes of instant food, sacks of used clotes, sheets, storm lamps, bottled water etc.

Mas Dono ran a very sleek operation delivering this logistics. Every morning his crew went hunting with motorcycles to survey places that haven’t been receiving any logistics. They ran rapid needs assessment there, and came back in the afternoon with list of things that really needed in their area of survey. In the evening, Mas Dono will send the logistics by pick up cars, trucks and his old faithful VW Combi Van. His armada of logistics usually ran until late at night, sometimes until pass midnight. The next day they will do the same cycle again. It was an impressive operation.

Mas Dono had all the hard-to-access spots written up on board, with schedule of survey teams and amount of logistics needed to be delivered on each area. Location: Yogyakarta.

When we met Mas Dono, he informed us that what his crew were really lack of were medicines and paramedics. Sheila immediately got an idea to combine the superb system of survey and delivery of Mas Dono’s team with the medical expertise of GKJ Wates medical team. So that afternoon we set up a meeting between mas Dono and Ibu Ninik and her medical team from Wates. The meeting took place at Keris Mas. It didn’t take too much time to arrive to an agreement that the next day they will try to join force. Medical team from Wates will come to Keris Mas in the afternoon and with Mas Dono’s team together they will go to the planned destination. Mas Dono’s team will deliver logistics there, while medical team from Wates will give medical treatment. We were quite satisfied to be able to combine these two potentials.

After the meeting, we went to Yayasan Air Putih office in Jl. Ampel, Papringan, Jogja. Air Putih is an NGO who provided free Internet access through WI-FI hotspot for relief workers and journalist. We spent the whole evening there, Sheila updated the website and created the blog.

We were supposed to pick up Inuy, another member of our team coming from Jakarta, from the airport that evening. Unfortunately, she missed her flight because she was late (she arrived 20 minutes before the take-off schedule), but also because the flight took off 30 minutes BEFORE schedule. The airline (Adam Air) explained to many angry passengers who also missed the flight that the decision to depart the plane earlier was because of the increasing activity of Mount Merapi. Adisucipto Airport will be closed that night from any take off and landing activity.

All of us were quite frustrated and upset to hear this news, but we tried to help Inuy to find alternative flight. Inuy also sought every ticket counter in Cengkareng to find any other alternative flight. Ideas came in every ways, suggesting Inuy to take flight to Solo or Semarang. Marlo gave a contact number of his friend Roni, a travel agent. He eventually became the savior of our day. He managed to get one ticket for Inuy for flight to Jogja the next morning. All of us were very relieved (viva Kaka Roni!)

We had dinner that night with quite a relieve. We ate at a restaurant in front of Air Putih. The restaurant name is B2 Bie. It served nothing but several types of dishes, prepared from the meat of “very fatty and hornless goat” according to Dianti. All of us fancy this place very much (including Dianti, hehehe…)

We arrived in Wates around 10.00 PM. Me, Sheila and Dianti had a meeting with Posko GKJ Wates coordinators that night, to discuss the arrangement for the teaming of Mas Dono’s group and GKJ Wates medical team the next day. We agreed in that meeting that Bemal will support GKJ Wates medical team fuel expenses, medical supplies and meals for the staffs and volunteers for the next three days. After the meeting, we went back to Mas Pras’ house. That night there were power failure in Wates. Some of us who tried to get some work done were forced to stop by it. It was actually fine because we need to get up early the next day to pick up Inuy from Jogja.

Mbak Ririn, Sheila and Dianti planning for teaming up with Mas Dono’s crew the next day. Location: Wates, Kulon Progo.

No Comments »

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.

No Comments »

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.

No Comments »