Singapore, 10th December 2016 – Relief supplies such as food, drinking water, tents and blankets have been distributed quickly to quake survivors at various evacuation camps across Pidie Jaya over the last few days. Corporate Citizen Foundation (CCF) has been working swiftly alongside local government agencies and non-government organisations (NGO) in their efforts to meet immediate ground needs. Other critical aid included provision of medical supplies to support the few district’s hospitals with overwhelming concentration of patients.
Over 45,000 villagers have been displaced and living in temporary evacuation centres erected by the local government agencies or at designated community facilities. Current official count stands at a total of 101 lives lost and 850 people reported to have sustained minor to serious injuries. Almost 3,000 houses had been badly damaged while another 9,000 others had light damages. 300 aftershocks had been felt since the earthquake first shook the area on 7th December. As such, many people are still afraid to return to their homes in fear of worse aftermath indicated by the frequent aftershocks.
CCF’s 2-man team is in close liaison with the local government to assess scope of aid required, in particular with the Pidie Jaya’s Health Cluster Coordination Team. Its Head Coordinator had earlier highlighted serious concerns over the living condition in the evacuation centres due to the lack of attention on hygiene and sanitation issues. In its commitment to provide sound ground information, CCF had raised such important findings from their assessment to partners including the AHA Centre and SEED partner ChannelNews Asia.
Together with local NGO partners Yayasan PASKA Aceh (PASKA Aceh Foundation) and Yayasan Pusaka Indonesia (Pusaka Indonesia Foundation), the team has identified two community-led evacuation centres which have been set up informally by the villagers. The villagers living there mostly have partially destroyed homes within 3km from the evacuation centre or have abandoned their homes that are situated too near the sea. As more aftershocks continue and the fear of potential tsunami still persisting, these villagers had set up an evacuation centre and community kitchen near a mosque.
1,800 hygiene kits were procured with each containing towel, soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, detergent, mosquito repellent, female sanitary napkins and baby diapers. In addition, necessary food supplies catering to children and the elderly such as baby milk powder, green bean, sugar and biscuits were also distributed to the community kitchen at these evacuation centres.
CCF will continue to monitor and liaise with our local NGO partners for further development in Aceh.
