Caritas England and Wales (CAFOD) and Aceh Peoples Forum deliver much needed food supplies to the remote community of Ilang Gadang, Sumatra, in the wake of the Padang Earthquake last week.
“Our only plan when the earthquake happens is to go to a flat area”, said Banjung from the remote village of Ilalang Gadang. Cafod (Caritas England and Wales) and their local partner Aceh People’s Forum are delivering food aid here in this badly affected area but this comment from Banjung illustrates the real reason they are working here.
Situated about two and a half hours drive from Padang where the Caritas emergency response is being coordinated, the main road from Padang to this small village is dotted with many blue tarpaulins which people are using as temporary shelter due to the earthquake that shook Padang and surrounds on 30th September.
As we drive to the village we pass Russian medical teams delivering medical assistance and vans and trucks loaded with aid supplies, yet not much assistance has got out this far, one week on from the quake.
Turning off the busy main road we head into rice paddies and whilst the impact of the earthquake appears indiscriminate in Padang where huge piles of debris are often book-ended by perfectly erect houses, out in this village virtually every house is seriously damaged.
Rebuilding starts with trust
Wancez Ridha of the Aceh People’s Forum is involved in coordinating this delivery of aid for the villagers today. He explains that the food aid is just a small part of their strategy in ensuring this village has the capacity to better plan for future disasters and thereby mitigate the impacts.
“Delivering the food aid is just the first step in our response here. By delivering the food parcels we are responding to an immediate need and building trust with the community. We are doing this because this community needs a lot of assistance to be able to plan for a better future. To be able to put its case to the Government for improved development and to work towards improving the life of the village as a whole”.
The fact that the community has no real plan in a disaster such as an earthquake, which are common in this area, is an indication of their need for this sort of capacity building. Fundamental to communities improving their situations together is a coherent structure and an awareness of the opportunities that they have as well as having a clear indication of what they are striving for. In many ways these are the building blocks of a prosperous community.
Women in charge
The truck manages to struggle up the rutted clay roads that line the paddy fields. Piled high with packages of local staple foods; rice, instant noodles, soy beans and cooking oil, the packages are supplemented with sanitary items where required. All the items were purchased locally in an effort to stimulate the local economy which can often suffer greatly when an influx of aid occurs, stifling local markets.
As we reach the Posko Gempa Bumi (Earthquake Community Centre) for Ilalang Gadang the villagers gather round, assessment teams who have been here in previous days, establishing a record of every household in the village and their names are called out and ticked off when they receive the package. This rigorous process is undertaken to ensure no one in the community is missing out and that each family is receiving the same allocation.
Interestingly all the names on the board are women and it is also the women who come forward to receive their food parcels. This is typical of local custom where they maintain a matriarchal culture firmly placing women at the head of the household.
Impacts live on
Bujang and his young daughter Riani are glad to receive the food and they load it onto their motor bike to head up the steep hill back to their damaged house. Bujang is a carpenter and with the extent of the damage there is likely to be a lot of work in the future with the scale of destruction.
Yet just one week after the earthquake things have been difficult. “We are glad for the food aid as for one week now everything has stopped here and we have no income in this time”.
“When the earthquake came we could hear it. It sounded like a rice mill” said Bujang emulating the sound with a low loud drone.
”We have experienced many earthquakes before but nothing like this one. It came in three waves”, says Sikar.
“The first shake was very sudden and abrupt and then it continued for about three minutes”, Bujang says emulating the violent shaking of the earth with his hands. “Not side to side” he says but “up and down”. The final wave was less intense, “it felt like shaking and we were all very scared”.
Standing behind the motorbike with her left arm across her chest cupped gingerly in her other hand is Bujang’s wife Sikar. The arm is badly swollen at the elbow and looks bruised and clearly is giving Sikar a lot of pain.
“When the earthquake came I was in the kitchen and I rushed outside but slipped down the narrow steps and fell badly landing on my arm”. Although the hospital is usually just a few kilometers from their house, access has been lost in that direction as a landslide swept the road away.
“We have to drive 15km’s to the hospital”, says Bujang pointing back the way we had come in “and take the long way to the medical centre”. It would certainly have been a very painful trip on the back of a motor bike. Unfortunately the queues were too long when they got there and they returned home without getting the arm seen too.
Although the relief team there encouraged Sikar to return to the hospital, she assured us that she had received attention from the traditional healer who had a very good record of setting bones.
Although no one in Ilalang Gadang was killed in the earthquake several people have injuries. Yet it is the psychological injuries that may be the most difficult to heal. “We are worried about it happening again but what can we do”, says Sikar obviously distressed.
First steps to recovery
According to Wancez, there is a lot that can be done. He said, “From our experience in working on the Aceh tsunami recovery and in community development in across Indonesia, there are a lot of steps that can be taken to mitigate the impacts of natural disasters. We can ensure buildings are safe, and we have a lot of experience amongst our partners in doing this from Aceh. We can ensure the community has a well prepared plan when an earthquake or other disaster occurs.
“There will always be earthquakes here we know that. Yet we can help this community get organized and reduce the impact of the earthquakes. The first step though in doing this work is building the trust of the community. We have taken the first steps today in starting the recovery with this community. How they fare in the next earthquake – in many ways, is really up to them”, concludes Wancez.
