Published: 8 October 2009
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has revised its preliminary emergency appeal upwards and is now seeking a total of 19 million Swiss francs (18.5 million US dollars/12.57 million euro) to assist 100,000 survivors of the devastating earthquakes in West Sumatra, Indonesia, over the next six months.
The launch of this revised appeal follows one week of simultaneous emergency relief work and assessment of the damage and needs of affected populations. The original, preliminary emergency appeal had sought 6.8 million Swiss francs. According to the latest reports, more than 700 people have died, some 2,400 are injured and hundreds are still missing. Nearly 800,000 people are believed to have been affected by the two earthquakes which struck West Sumatra on 30 September and 1 October.
“Staff and volunteers from Indonesia Red Cross were among the first on the scene, and since then they have been working tirelessly providing emergency relief and medical care to survivors,” says Bob McKerrow, head of the IFRC country office in Indonesia.
“We have tried to get a better overview of the destruction through aerial assessments, done in a grid pattern with all damage being logged with satellite positioning. This will considerably improve our assessment data and allow us to reach the affected populations more efficiently and with more appropriate assistance,” he says. “We are especially concerned about getting aid to remote villages.”
The focus of this operation, led by the Indonesia Red Cross (Palang Merah Indonesia/PMI), will be on relief, temporary shelter, restoring water and sanitation facilities and providing medical care as well as psychological support. Nearly 200,000 homes have been destroyed or damaged. The worst-affected areas are Padang and Padang Pariaman. Two aerial assessments conducted by the IFRC and PMI report the overall radius of damage of greatest impact is approximately 80 kilometres.
Whereas some normalcy has returned to the main city of Padang, there are reports of villagers blocking the roads to stop relief trucks. The normal delivery of goods to commercial markets in rural areas has been disrupted.