IOM's response to the 28 Mar 2005 Nias earthquake - update Mar 2006

BACKGROUND
IOM's emergency relief services were called into action when a powerful 8.7- magnitude earthquake struck off the northern coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra on 28 March 2005. The initial quake combined with eight major aftershocks within the next 24 hours caused panic in the region which only three months early was devastated by a massive earthquake and tsunami. Nias island, which lies about 125 km off the west coast of Sumatra in the Indian Ocean, along with neighbouring Simeulue island and coastal areas in Aceh and North Sumatra provinces bore the brunt of the March earthquake which killed roughly 1,300 people and left tens of thousands homeless.

Extensive damage to infrastructure including the destruction of ports, bridges and roads hampered relief efforts to the islands. In addition, further delays were caused by a lack of storage facilities, power outages and insufficient inland transportation and distribution mechanisms.

The disaster also destroyed a number of community health clinics (puskesmas and pustus), and seriously damaged the main hospital in Gunung Sitoli, the capital of Nias, severely affecting the ability of local physicians and nurses to assist the most seriously injured.

EMERGENCY RESPONSE

As the first details about the scope of the damage began to trickle in, IOM's logistics centre for the three-monthold tsunami response located in Medan, North Sumatra, prepared to dramatically expand its operations.

IOM's emergency operations in the wake of the Nias earthquake and virtually all its continuing recovery activities there are funded through a Euro 4.5 million contribution from the Humanitarian Aid Department of the European Commission (ECHO).

In response to a request from the Governor of North Sumatra, Rizal Nurdin, IOM, in coordination with UN partners delivered urgently needed food and non-food items and facilitated the transportation and distribution of relief supplies. In Nias, the Organization provided its truck fleet to transport relief items from the airport and main harbour to warehouses around the island. This service was supplemented later by the arrival of a landing craft leased by IOM. IOM also played a key role in tracking and monitoring relief activities in the region. Acting on the request of the North Sumatra Government, it established a POSKO (emergency control post) to coordinate aid distribution points on the west coast of Sumatra at Sibolga and in Gunung Sitoli.

The Organization in partnership with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the UN Humanitarian Air Service and the UN Joint Logistics Centre also opened a "front desk" at the POSKO in Medan to provide information to NGOs on shipments of relief items to Nias.

An IOM medical team joined the operations/logistics team in Nias shortly after the earthquake and provided emergency medical assistance with support from the North Sumatra Provincial Health Office, World Health Organization, the French Red Cross, the US Navy, the Australian Navy and various relief organizations.

Tapping expertise acquired in Iraq and the Balkans, IOM was well positioned to assist in medical evacuations and consequently, helped return 595 earthquake victims and their family escorts to their homes on Nias. The victims received treatment at hospitals in Medan or on the US Navy medical ship, the USS Mercy.

Hundreds of lives were saved in the emergency response as international organizations such as IOM banded together with NGOs, government agencies and a team of multinational forces from the US, Australia, and Singapore to coordinate relief activities. However, tragedy hit the relief effort in April when a helicopter from the Australian navy's amphibious transport ship HMAS Kanimbla crashed on Nias, killing a medical team of seven men and two women sent to help quake victims.

FROM EMERGENCY TO RECOVERY

As people were fed and a supply chain created, the relief effort shifted into the recovery stage. IOM consolidated the land- and sea-bridge by bringing on its landing craft, launching livelihood projects, expanding road and bridge repair works and implementing programs to track internally displaced persons (IDP) and provide disaster preparedness training. IOM's recovery activities included a quick impact community infrastructure repair program involving the reconstruction of markets in six Nias subdistricts and a pilot project on community-based disaster risk management for thousands of people who fearing another earthquake, fled Nias and temporarily settled on the west. IOM also registered and returned these displaced residents to their homes on the island. IOM has repaired eleven bridges across Nias and more will be fixed in coming weeks. The labourers for the repair work are from local communities. This project has directly benefited over 100,000 villagers that live, work and go to schools in the target areas. Various IDP communities across Nias have participated in successful livelihood recovery training courses in fishing, agriculture and microenterprise activities. The participants have also received the necessary tools and start-up supplies depending on their livelihood. IOM, in collaboration with the Indonesian Institute for Disaster Preparedness (IIDP), is carrying out a comprehensive program on disaster mitigation and community preparedness as well as distributing information materials to help communities better respond to natural disasters, particularly earthquakes and tsunamis. The program has trained over 100 district and subdistrict government officials and 1,000 IDP community leaders.

An IDP monitoring system was set up to support the UN Office of the Resident Coordinator. In the first round of monitoring, 43,409 people were identified as being affected by the dual natural disasters.

All of the above recovery efforts are ECHO-funded.

Displaced residents are also benefiting from the donation of 150 First Response Building modular units from Dow Chemical Company. So far, 40 have been erected as single 20 sq/m or double, 40sq/m living units, a temporary solution pending the construction of permanent housing. Later, the "Dow Shelters" can be used as schools, clinics or other public buildings based on the needs of the community. Since the earthquake, IOM has dispatched 131 convoys with 2,282 trucks from Medan to Nias and Simeulue islands, distributing 14,106MT of relief aid on Nias (6 Mar). These activities are supported by a leased landing craft that began operations in June, capable of ferrying up to two dozen trucks at a time between the port of Sibolga on the mainland and Nias. The Organization will continue to provide transportation and logistics support due to the strong demand for such services from NGOs, Badan Rekonstruksi dan Rehabilitasi (BRR), the Government of Indonesia and UN agencies.

IOM is committed to the recovery and rebuilding of Nias. In January 2006, the Organization, with funding from UBS, Switzerland's largest bank, initiated a six-month program to provide training and livelihood support as well as disseminate information on humantrafficking to vulnerable groups.

Other projects in the pipeline for 2006 include more construction activities, the building of 75 temporary schools together with UNICEF, child centres and possibly houses. IOM is also looking to undertake addition relief projects pending donor support.