After
a massive tsunami killed thousands of Indonesians on 26 December
2004, the East Timor Red Cross (CVTL) decided to assist old
friends and new neighbours in Indonesia. In April of this year,
the CVTL sent a water and sanitation team that represented the
first overseas mission for the Red Cross of the world’s
youngest country.
When CVTL water and sanitation technician João Pinto
Suarez was eight years old, the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) brought
food to his famine-struck village in East Timor.
“My heart was moved by the work of the PMI,” says
Suarez. “I promised myself that I would join the Red Cross
one day. “I wanted to help people just like the PMI did
for me and my family.”
Suarez joined the PMI 10 years ago and received specialist water
and sanitation and community hygiene training through its East
Timor branch. He took that experience with him to the CVTL when
it was established under the umbrella of the International Committee
of the Red Cross (ICRC) in 2000 - two years before the former
Portuguese colony became an official member of the United Nations.
After the earthquake and tsunami of 26 December and a massive
aftershock in March devastated parts of Indonesia, Suarez joined
the CVTL’s first mission beyond East Timor’s borders.
Suarez got his chance to apply what he learned from the PMI
to help his old friends and new neighbours, just as the PMI
had once helped his community.
In early April, Suarez, along with CVTL and Australian Red Cross
(ARC) colleagues, traveled with members of the PMI to the Indonesian
island of Simeulue to do a three-week assessment for future
water and sanitation projects and to begin passing water and
sanitation expertise on to PMI volunteers and local people.
The project is funded by ARC.
“When we arrived in Simeulue Island,” says Suarez,
“I felt so sad because everything was a mess.”
The team found the Simeulue PMI chapter office heavily damaged
by earthquakes, including the massive March 28th aftershock
whose epicentre was just southeast of the island. “We
stayed in a tent outside the building because it was safer,
the existing building had been damaged, and tremors were still
happening often.”
The team traveled to Simeulue on an International Federation
flight, but because of earthquake and tsunami damage to roads
and bridges, could only reach target villages by circumnavigating
the island by boat.
The boat captain had lost his home in the tsunami, which hit
the island of Simeulue as hard as any other part of Indonesia
but caused fewer than 10 deaths. The low casualty count is attributed
to villagers remembering and reacting to warning signs often
referred to in a bedtime story about a long-ago tsunami. The
damage to the island, however, was extensive.
The joint Red Cross team lived on a boat for 13 days while making
physical assessments on the island and meeting with people to
discuss their water and sanitation challenges and priority needs.
The team did assessments in 20 villages. Suarez said the water
quality in all 20 villages was very poor. “The water in
Simeulue was very dirty and not healthy to consume, because
the water sources were polluted following the earthquakes.”
The team identified six suitable water supply systems for establishing
simple, singular gravity systems. (In simple gravity systems,
water comes from springs through pipes, with no pumps or treatment.
Even where Red Cross projects treat water, users are encouraged
to continue the practice of boiling their drinking water.)
The team also identified three existing systems, badly damaged
by earthquake and neglect, to be rehabilitated.
Suarez says he wanted to be part of the project to share what
East Timor has learned with the people of Indonesia.
“We wanted to show (the volunteers and villagers) how
to build simple water supply systems, like we do in East Timor.
There, the community contributes from the beginning until finish.
By helping build it, people learn how the system works, so it
won’t be difficult for them to fix the system by themselves
when the water supply system is broken.”
Suarez is happy with what he was able to help the East Timor
Red Cross accomplish in a short time on its first mission abroad.
“Personally, I am glad to have helped…” says
Suarez, “because Indonesia is East Timor’s nearest
neighbour.”
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A
massive aftershock from the initial earthquake devastated
the already ravaged islands of Nias and Simeulue in March
2005. The East Timor Red Cross mobilized its first ever
international mission to lend a hand. Photo: International
Federation (p-IDN0423)
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Providing
clean, safe drinking water to the population of Simeulue
Island is the ultimate goal of the joint East Timor Red
Cross Australian Red Cross project. Photo: International
Federation (p12955)
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