Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Karo, North Sumatra
Volunteers from different organizations have started to visit Mount Sinabung evacuation centers in Karo regency, North Sumatra, to help evacuees deal with physiological problems and children prepare for school exams.
The chairman of the Indonesian Volunteers Community’s (MRI) Karo branch, Susanto Ginting, said they were concerned about evacuees moving from their houses to evacuation centers because of the recurring eruptions of Mt. Sinabung.
“This can affect their mental health to an extent that they need counseling to prevent them, especially children, from becoming depressed,” Susanto told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.
He said that currently 254 elementary school aged evacuees had been evacuated to Kabanjahe and Payung districts. Exams for elementary schools start Monday.
“Today we are giving trauma counseling to evacuees, especially children who will take the elementary school exams on Monday,” Susanto said.
He said trauma counseling was being carried out simultaneously in the four evacuation centers in Kabanjahe and Payung districts. The evacuees come from Gurukinayan, Berastepu, Tiga Pancur and Pintu Besi subdistricts.
During counseling, he added, a number of students were deemed stressed because of being taunted by schoolmates as refugee children. “For these children we provide special counseling to prevent them from being mentally affected,” Susanto said.
The move by the volunteers received a warm welcome from Gurukinayan subdistrict head Pelin Sembiring, who said he was glad that the volunteers cared about the evacuees, especially the children.
Appreciation was also expressed by Karo Regent Terkelin Brahmana, who called on the volunteers to build synergy with the regency administration in helping evacuees until the volcanic activity subsided.
He said his administration had declared a month-long emergency when Mt. Sinabung’s alert status was increased to its highest level from June 2 to July 7.
He vowed that the daily needs of the evacuees would be met. “We guarantee there will be sufficient supplies for evacuees. We do not want them to starve,” Terkelin said.
As many as 2,727 people or 677 families from the four subdistricts moved into the shelters on Wednesday, following a recommendation by the volcanology center to evacuate their villages.
The four subdistricts are located within a 7-kilometer radius from the crater, areas that have been declared hazardous.