On July 17, the country of Indonesia suffered another disaster - an earthquake and tsunami on the island of Java. While the death toll of about 500 people is lower than the May 2006 earthquake that struck Yogyakarta, leaving almost 6,000 people dead and destroying about 300,000 homes, the July 7.2 magnitude earthquake caused widespread damage of homes and a large number of displaced and traumatized people.
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance was immediately able to respond to this disaster because of the ongoing work of our partners and fellow members of the Action by Churches Together (ACT) International alliance, Yakkum Emergency Unit (YEU), the Christian Foundation for Public Health, Yayasan Tanggul Bencana Indonesia (YBTI), and Church World Service Indonesia. These partners have been actively responding to crises in Indonesia including the December 2004 tsunami and the May 2006 earthquake.
Basic supplies such as water, food and temporary shelters were immediately sent to the affected area, and medical teams were deployed to the camps set up for internally displaced persons (IDPs). In addition to the disaster survivors, some of people from the local population are residing in the IDP camps due to a fear of further earthquakes and tsunamis. It is estimated that many of the displaced families will remain in the temporary camps and shelters for a period of at least six months.
PDA is continuing its support of Indonesia following the earthquakes. To date, PDA and our partners have been able to rehabilitate clean water and sanitation for 5,875 families. More than 2,626 families in 12 villages received critical medical care, and approximately 100 children were given trauma counseling and medical care.