Indonesia: Earthquake and Mt. Merapi Volcano OCHA Situation Report No. 25

Ref: OCHA/GVA - 2006/0200

OCHA Situation Report No. 25

INDONESIA EARTHQUAKE and Mt. MERAPI Volcano

This report is based on information received from the UN Resident/Humanitarian Coordinator's Office in Jakarta and the UN team in Yogyakarta.

UPDATE

Early Recovery:

Shelter and Reconstruction Cluster

- The Shelter and Reconstruction cluster and the Yogyakarta Province presented to the donor community on 28 September their joint cluster 'roof first' strategy and the provincial strategy for addressing the inadequate gap in shelter in the coming months.

- The cluster is developing a Training of Trainers manual for technical facilitation in the Provinces of Yogyakarta and Central Java. The manual will be finalized by mid October.

- The cluster, with support from the OCHA Information Management Unit, is analyzing the Inter-Cluster Survey data, which will serve as a comparative benchmark to government data. Final results are expected by mid October.

Yogyakarta Province

- The policy issued by the Yogyakarta Provincial Government states that all affected households (destroyed or heavily damaged houses) would be granted IDR 15 million; however, the first round of funding will only cover approximately 30% of households. The funds will be disbursed to community groups consisting of 10-15 households, who will then decide which are the most vulnerable families and should receive the money first. Community groups will receive the grants in two stages - 40% and 60%.

- The Provincial Government has started disbursing the money to community groups that have already submitted the required documents including a Memorandum of Understanding between the Head of Village and community groups, and a certification of an opening of a bank account.

- The Provincial Government has recruited 514 technical facilitators. In total, 725 facilitators are needed; meanwhile, no social facilitator and coordinator have been selected. Community facilitation teams (one technical facilitator, one social facilitator and one coordinator) will provide advice to local communities on housing reconstruction, planning and budgeting.

Central Java

- The Central Java Provincial Government plans to provide all 97,000 affected households with IDR 4.4 million in a first round of housing compensation planned for mid November. This will be followed by a second allocation of IDR 4 million per household in early 2007. The total assistance package will be IDR 8.4 million per household.

- The government has recruited 774 facilitators (258 each as senior, technical, and empowerment facilitators) and 682 junior facilitators. Each team consists of seven facilitators (one senior, one technical, one empowerment and four junior facilitators). Still, an additional 350 junior facilitators need to be recruited. The facilitators will be deployed to the villages shortly to assist community groups in developing proposals.

- Three management consultants have been recruited to facilitate trainings for facilitators.

Livelihoods Cluster

- On 28 September, the Livelihoods cluster and the Yogyakarta Province presented to donors their joint cluster and government strategies on livelihoods recovery. An estimated USD 483 million is required for livelihoods recovery; however, the government has only allocated USD 7.5 million and the cluster USD 2.9 million. The remaining gap stands at USD 473 million.

- Special attention needs to be paid to linkages between shelter and livelihoods rehabilitation. Shelter is a key issue for many people who lost working space for businesses.

Health:

- The second round of the Tetanus campaign in the Provinces of Yogyakarta and Central Java has been completed. The Klaten District targeted 422,515 persons and covered 46%. The Bantul District targeted 422,444 and temporary results indicate 29% coverage. The coverage of measles immunization in both Provinces also increased tremendously, with 88% of the targeted population in Klaten and 97% in Bantul vaccinated.

- On 23 September, WHO supported a workshop to strengthen the surveillance systems organized by the Field Epidemiology and Training Programme of Gadja Madah University in collaboration with the Public Health Office of the Provinces of Yogyakarta and Central Java. The workshop was attended by 100 policy makers from all districts in the two Provinces. Training for surveillance officers from all Puskesmas (Community Health Centers) in Bantul and Klaten followed the workshop.

- Eight hospitals, seven pharmacy warehouses in the Provinces of Yogyakarta and Central Java, the Food and Drug Administration (BPOM), and IFRC have submitted to WHO and the District Health Office (DHO) the list of drugs that need to be disposed. WHO and IOM will facilitate the necessary procedures and arrange for the transportation for drugs disposal..

- The Bantul DHO confirmed that all 93 destroyed and damaged health facilities have received support for rehabilitation and reconstruction.

The complete Cluster report can be obtained at http://ochaonline2.un.org/Default.aspx?tabid=8233.

Water and Sanitation (Watsan):

- 7,349 (74% of the cluster target) wells and 3,765 (38%) household latrines have been repaired or constructed. In addition, 1,017 communal toilets and 1,303 bathing facilities have been constructed.

- With the existing capacity and available funds, cluster members will cover by the end of November 10% of the total water and sanitation damaged facilities, estimated at 155,000 wells and 155,000 latrines/bath. Some organizations plan to extend their assistance beyond November. Stakeholders will discuss at the coordination meetings how to address the large gap and further assistance by the government and organizations.

- Rehabilitation and reconstruction of water pipes in Bantul District is ongoing with the district budget of IDR 1.3 billion. The government has requested the Central and the Provincial Governments for IDR 19 billion for rehabilitation and reconstruction of water and sanitation facilities.

- Construction of latrines and water facilities has been competed in 130 schools (25% of the cluster target stated at 600) with an additional 211 in the pipeline. UNICEF also plans to support construction of water and sanitation facilities for 69 temporary schools to be constructed under its education programme.

- The coordination role has been transferred to the District governments. However, UNICEF continues to support the government in coordinating recovery and reconstruction efforts of the various stakeholders in water and sanitation.

Education:

- The result of a Rapid Assessment for Learning Space (RALS) indicates that 474 schools (approximately 370 are elementary schools) were destroyed or heavily damaged in Klaten and 654 schools (approximately 360 are elementary schools) in Bantul. The report highlights that school construction is a priority intervention. Psychosocial support and equipment distribution to students and teachers are also needed.

- Approximately 76% of the destroyed or damaged schools in Klaten and 78% in Bantul, have received assistance of either tents, temporary schools or permanent schools. Uncovered schools have been merged with neighboring schools. The government will soon make available detailed information for Klaten on the type of assistance and the construction status of each school.

- Six UNICEF implementing partners (AAI, AMURT, ASB, CARDI, Relief International, and Save the Children, UK) have started construction of temporary schools with locally available materials. They plan to construct 163 temporary schools by the end of November.

- A training of trainers for Psychosocial Support and Emergency Preparedness is being held in Bantul and Klaten with participation of forty local government education officers. By the end of October, 300 primary school teachers in both districts will have been trained as trainers.

- The cluster is planning its closure based on its progress made against the ERP targets. UNICEF will facilitate the hand-over process to a government led coordination mechanism.

The complete Cluster report can be obtained at http://ochaonline2.un.org/Default.aspx?tabid=8301.

Protection:

- The cluster phased down and its coordination role has been taken over by relevant government authorities, with UNICEF technical support. Most ongoing activities will be phased out by the end of November. Over the next two months, the main focus will be on capacity building of communities, local NGOs and local authorities in order to increase coverage and sustain protection efforts and mechanisms beyond the emergency phase.

Agriculture:

- Based on the results of a Rapid Livelihoods Assessment, the cluster is developing strategic plans to present them at a donor workshop seeking further funds for interventions over the next eighteen months.

- Remaining needs include repairing damaged irrigation systems, replacing livestock, and supplying agricultural machinery, tools, and capital to restart livelihoods businesses.

- FAO will distribute 793MT of NPK fertilizer, 396.7MT of Urea fertilizer and 99MT of rice seeds to 132 farmer groups (9,786 beneficiaries) in Bantul and Klaten, respectively covering 60% and 10% of the most affected farmers in each district. A first distribution will take place in October and a second one in November. Additional support is required for fertilizer and seeds distribution.

COORDINATION

- The Provincial Government of Yogyakarta, UNDP and OCHA facilitated a donor meeting on 28 September at the Bappeda Yogyakarta Office. Eight donor organizations participated in the meeting as well as five government and four UN agencies representatives. The shelter cluster coordinator gave a presentation on the shelter and reconstruction, and livelihoods, platforms. Donors are currently consolidating the information on damage and needs, and based on those results, will consider the feasibility of funding these two areas.

- No further UN Coordination Briefing will be held at the UN office in Yogyakarta due to a shift of the coordination mechanism to the government and the phasing out of several clusters. Future briefings will be convened on an ad hoc basis.

Tel.: +41-22-917 12 34
Fax: +41-22-917 0023
E-mail: ochagva@un.org

In case of emergency only: Tel. +41-22-917 20 10

Desk Officer:
(in GVA) Mr. Guido Galli, direct Tel. +41-22-917 3171
(in N.Y.) Ms. Kirsten Gelsdorf, direct Tel. +1-917-367 3599

Press contact:
(in GVA) Ms. Elizabeth Byrs, direct Tel. +41-22-917 2653
(in N.Y.) Ms. Stephanie Bunker, direct Tel. + 1-917 367 5126