West Sumatra Earthquake (Indonesia) - six months on

It's hard to believe that the huge earthquake which struck West Sumatra last year, happened six months ago yesterday, the 30th of March. Since then we had the massive Haiti earthquake and an equally destructive one in Chile, and as a consequence, the West Sumatra quake has almost been forgotten.

My colleague Helena Rae wrote this story from Padang and it shows how far the Red Cross has come in helping the people of West Sumatra build back their lives. Thanks Helena for your story.

A completed transitional shelter built with support from the Red Cross. Sungai Karambia, Pesisir Selatan District, West Sumatra. Photo: Muhammad Fadli/IFRC


As neighbours put the finishing touches to her temporary shelter, Jusni and her seven children look on, smiling. “It’s still under construction but I’m really excited to have this new house”, she says proudly. Jusni lives in the village of Nagari Ketaping in Padang Pariaman district, West Sumatra. Her village was close to the epicentre of the devastating earthquake that struck the region on 30 September 2009, leaving 1,117 people dead and over 114,000 homes severely damaged.

Jusni, whose home was severely damaged by the earthquake, works with other members of her community to erect her transitional shelter. The shelter will provide a temporary home for Jusni and her family of seven children. Nagari Ketaping village, Padang Pariaman district, West Sumatra. Photo: Helena Rea/IFRC


The earthquake left large cracks in the walls of her home and gaping holes where large areas of the ceiling caved in. With nowhere else to stay, the living room of her damaged home became the only habitable space for Jusni and her large family. It’s a dire situation, especially for her granddaughter who is just learning how to walk. Even now, the mild aftershocks which continue to affect the region cause the family to run outside the house to sleep in the open yard.

Shelter – a critical need

Jusni is one of 2,500 people to have received a cash grant under the Indonesian Red Cross transitional shelter programme which is providing funding for 13,500 shelters to be built across the worst affected areas of West Sumatra. Her new home is a simple 18 square meter wooden house with cement pole foundation and sago palm roof. All of the materials are available locally and the earthquake resistant design is based on a model developed in cooperation with the local university – costing only 340 Swiss francs (318 US dollars or 237 euro).

“Shelter is a critical need after an earthquake. Getting people back into a home of their own makes a big psychological difference when recovering from such a disaster,” explains Jan Willem Wegdam, the IFRC’s Recovery Coordinator for West Sumatra Operation. Eligibility for the shelter programme depends on whether a house is severely damaged and not fit to live in. Priority is given to the elderly, the sick, families with young children and pregnant mothers, many of whom have been living in tents since the earthquake struck.

From tent to shelter – a community approach
The programme is community driven with affected families actively involved from the outset. Beneficiaries receive cash grants in instalments and procure the building materials themselves. Members of the community are encouraged to help each other in the building process and Red Cross volunteers are on hand to provide technical guidance.

One of Jusni’s neighbours, Jabarin, shares a similar story. The only room that survived in his house was the kitchen. He has been forced to live in a tent for the past six months with his wife and five children. “Living in the tent was difficult”, he says, “it was very humid in the rainy season and my asthma became very serious”. With the support from the men and women of the village it took Jabarin a few days to complete his shelter which was built on the foundation of the former living room of his old home. In the design he also used many salvaged materials like doors, windows and roof sheeting.

Jabarin stands outside his newly constructed temporary shelter built from windows salvaged from his old home and locally available materials bought with a cash grant from the Red Cross. For the past six months he has lived in a tent next to his severly damaged home. Nagari Ketaping village, Padang Pariaman district, West Sumatra. Photo: Helena Rea/IFRC

As the shelter programme continues; in May the local government is planning to start a cash stimulus program that aims to meet the permanent housing needs of earthquake survivors.

The Red Cross has also been working to improve or reconstruct water and sanitation systems in schools and communities as part of a wider community health and psychosocial support programme. So far, approximately 6 million Swiss francs (5.6 million US dollars or 4 million euro) has been spent on recovery efforts.

Indonesia: Reuniting shattered families

She is only 25 years old, but Umi Alfiyah is already a veteran of major disasters. As a former volunteer with the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI), and now as a staff member, she responded after the 2004 tsunami in Aceh, the 2006 earthquake in Yogyakarta, and now, the earthquake in West Sumatra . Photo: Kathy Mueller


Yesterday morning Friday 23 Oct, I went for my first morning walk in 24 days. I felt like a school boy stealing from the teachers drawer. As guilty as sin. Should I not be writing appeals for help, negotiating for more helicopters and volunteers ? No, my body and brain need a rest.My legs were stiff and my back aching from sitting in front of a screen, jumping in and out of helicopters and walking across the uneven surface of landslides. It was the first time I have done something for myself. As I walked I thought of all those selfless people I have worked with since 30 September. Pak Irman head of the PMI operation whose grand daughter used to phone daily from Jakarta begging him to come back. Wayne our ops manager whose been working 24/7 handling a complex operation. Kathy Mueller from the Canadian Red Cross who has been out there daily listening and recording the stories of affected families, volunteers and staff. her latest article I paste below. Matteo from the Italian Red Cross who came with his team and erected 3 base camps for 200 volunteers so they could get some rest and a shower after attending to the dead with dignity, administering first aid, distributing relief items, counselling grieving children and reuniting families. Vera, Putu, Qasim. Jamie. Ian, Amara who work for me and John and Tucky the helicopter pilots. The list goes on and on. Their stories need to be told. Umi in one of my many PMI heroes.



She is only 25 years old, but Umi Alfiyah is already a veteran of major disasters. As a former volunteer with the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI), and now as a staff member, she responded after the 2004 tsunami in Aceh, the 2006 earthquake in Yogyakarta, and now, the earthquake in West Sumatra. When disaster strikes, it’s her job to reconnect people who have lost contact.

“We have had around 40 phone calls from people outside West Sumatra who haven’t been able to reach their families in Padang and Pariaman. People are scared. They don’t know what’s happened to their relatives,” she says.

Alfi, as she prefers to be called, is heading up the Restoring Family Links (RFL) unit as part of PMI’s emergency response to the earthquake. Their efforts to help people find each other include the launching of a national hotline. Friends and family across the country and overseas can call to learn the whereabouts of their loved ones. They will also take satellite phones into the more remote areas where cell phone service may not be reliable.

Kathy Mueller at work: Photo: Bob McKerrow

Missing person

When a call does come in, Alfi and her team head out to visit the missing person’s last known address. They will keep visiting until the person is located.

“We had one call from a man in Jakarta,” says Alfi. “He hadn’t been able to reach his brother in Padang City. He had been calling and calling for days but there wasn’t any answer. We took down as much detail as we could and then visited the brother’s house.

“He was there, but hadn’t been able to call out. We gave him a mobile phone and the two brothers talked. It was very emotional. They were both crying. Four days is a long time not to know if your brother is alive.”

Rebuilding lives

It reconfirms that for most people, insecurity is the worst situation to be in. Survivors of a disaster can better handle grief, losses and rebuilding their lives, once they know what has happened and what their options are.

Despite the challenges of working in a disaster zone, Alfi does not entertain any thoughts of giving it up. “It can be upsetting because a lot of people are buried under landslides and collapsed houses. We don’t always have good news for people. But I really enjoy the job, especially when we do reunite families. Other PMI programmes provide material goods. We look after people’s emotional needs. We find their family.”

Alfi has been coordinator of the RFL unit for the past three years, but her connection to PMI began years earlier in high school. During the big earthquake in Yogyakarta in 2006, her own house was damaged, yet she still came straight into work.

“We had more than 200 requests to find family members. We also worked with the government to help with the identification of bodies. It was a very emotional time, but it really showed how valuable a service this is. I have been with the Red Cross for so long now, I can’t imagine working anywhere else.” Thanks to Kathy Mueller of the Canadian Red Cross who wrote this article.

Laughing with traumatised children

Providing water to three schools and neighbouring villages in Padang and celebrating Global handwashing day. Photo: Bob McKerrow

17 November 2009

The last few days have been frantic. With most major earthquake relief operations, days 14 – 21 are the ones where the the relief pipeline is fully open and bulk supplies flow with an intensity into ports, airports and warehouses. Today we have a group of helicopter pilots checking out the remote mountain villages he and fellow pilots will be flying relief supplies in to during the following weeks. We have one super Puma helicopter and four smaller ones. One of the small choppers is used for the medical teams who are flown daily to remote location and picked up later in the day. The reports I get from the health coordinator, Dr. Eka, show a deteriorating health situation as most clinics and hospitals have been destroyed. Today Dr. Eka and his team landed in two villages, Dunsun Koto Tanduang and Dusun Sariak Laweh, and this was the first contact they had with the outside world since the quake struck 18 days away. The people were living off fruit and vegetables and delighted that outside help had arrived in this remote hilly area. We will keep this Red Cross 'flying doctor' service going for at least another two weeks. Villagers in Padang getting water from the Indonesian Red Cross Tanker. Photo: Bob Celebrating World Handwasing day at a school in Padang. Photo: Bob McKerrow

My role in Padang at the operation centre of the Red Cross operation, is supporting Pak Irman the Operations manager for the Indonesian Red Cross.
Our day starts around 6 a.m. Irman and I have a breakfast meeting. I had a great sleep last night, a full five hours, the first long one since day one. Pak Irman and I are declaring a day off for certain staff and volunteers tomorrow. Most of them have been working 18 hours a day for 17 days. People look burnt out. With an airlift starting with 5 helicopters tomorrow, essential staff and volunteers need to be on duty, but the bulk will be able to ‘chill out.’ Wayne the ops manager is enjoying a long weekend with his family and deserves that break. He has done a marvellous job.

The Italian Red Cross team who are putting up self-contained camps for over 120 volunteers here and in the field. Photo: Bob McKerrow

The Italians, all eleven of them, are here in force. They will set up an 80 bed camp for volunteers with toilets, showers, recreation room and kitchen. Another 40 bed camp will be set up in Kota Pariaman. This is crucial for volunteer morale.

They have invited me back tonight to their boat. The boat was the only accommodation they could find as a large number of hotels were destroyed. They tell me they have found a shop that sells red wine so I have invited myself round for dinner.


Many schools in Padang have been destroyed and children now are taught in tents. Photo: Bob McKerrow

This morning the district branch celebrated Global handwashing day. Kathy, Patrick and The Co-Chairman attended. Pupils from 3 destroyed school were in two large tents outdoor doing their schooling when we arrived. Every child got a hygiene kit with soap, toothpaste and tooth brush, face clothes, mini towel and nail clippers. We took the children outside the tents to the tap stand (20 taps), where water is brought in by PMI tanker twice a day. Here we gave demonstrations on hand washing. We had clowns and large animals and soon we were all laughing and we had lots of fun together. The children were delighted to get outside of the hot tents and play and laugh. It was a relief for me to get away from the office and meetings.

I talked to the PMI PSP (psychosocial counselling) leader and she said “ It is very sad dealing with the children for they are badly traumatised, and wake up frequently at night in fear of another earthquake and their family being wiped out.”

The PMI, supported by the Irish Red Cross, has set up a mobile service to help the communities affected by the west Sumatra earthquakes to exchange necessary and appropriate information. By texting information to a central collating service (SMS Gateway), people can share their earthquake related concerns, ask questions, solicit information, ask for help.

The PMI supported by the Irish Red Cross has made a firm commitment to building a beneficiary communication model where information flows in TWO directions, from providers to people in need, and from those beneficiaries back to the providers. Through such an interactive exchange, resources can move efficiently and effectively to the individuals and communities most capable of benefiting from support. Later, during recovery, planning can incorporate the insights and priorities that come from local groups and individual citizens. The IRCS has the technology to communicate and disseminate this information exchange, in short to sustain a communication bridge from those most in need to those most capable of providing assistance.

The PMI has started the broadcast of PSAs advertising the SMS two way information system. Local Radio services Radio Republic Indonesia RRI, Radio Dahra in Pariaman, Radio Elsi in Bukit Tinngi, and Gita Radio in Agam currently broadcast public service announcements five times a day on their respective radio outlets. The network of radio stations cover all disaster affected areas in West Sumatra. In addition, the PMI will give weekly updates on television service TVRI- Padang as well as Radio Republic Indonesia in Padang City.

Indonesian Red Cross PSP (psycho-social counselling teams) work the children through their trauma and uncertainties. Photo:Bob McKerrow

Pak Irman (right) and i have at least 20 meetings a day which are necessary to keep the operation moving ahead fast. Here Irman briefs helicopter pilots. Photo: Bob McKerrow

Most nights our technical working groups meet to review the days work and plan for the next. Then later in the evening, we have our full Red Cross coordination meeting. The days are long, the sleeps short, but we are having a huge impact in delivering clean water, selected foods, tents, tarpaulins, tool kits, clothing. blankets, kitchen utensils, plastic buckets, pots and pans, hygiene kits and providing medical and PSP (psycho-social counselling teams), and blood to hospitals . It's late evening and we have just finished our Red Cross coordination meeting and our planning is very much into early recovery and temporary or T - Shelter as we call it.

I am off for dinner with the British Red Cross logistics team to have a meal, and maybe a cold beer.

A major airlift of Red Cross supplies starts today.

Indonesian Red Cross volunteers arrive in remote villages preparing for the big air lift today.

It's 6 a.m. on Monday morning. The big airlift is about to start. Yesterday we dropped Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) volunteers into remote mountainous villages in West Sumatra. It is a place where Sumatran tigers prowl with freedom. I have just been talking to Wayne Ulrich our ops manager. He says volunteers working alongside US Navy personnel are currently loading seven helicopters: Pumas, Black Hawks and Stallions. The Red Cross has been given priority by the US Navy. This will save us heaps of money as they are doing it free. We will be getting out noodles, hi-protein biscuits, tarpaulins, tents, family kits, hygiene kits, blankets and clothes.
I will keep you posted on this air lift. Meanwhile our 6 water purification units are pumping out 700,000 litres of clean water daily, the blood bank continues to give blood to hospital, the psychological counselling teams are moving through villages with puppet shows to help children cope with grief and stress, and medical teams are providing health services throughout the area.

Pak Irman from the PMI and Wayne Ulrich are doing a fantastic job and seem to survive easily on 4 hours sleep a night. these guys are pros and have collectively seen more disasters than many of you have had hot dinners.Searching for loved ones
I will keep you posted

Searching for loved ones
My colleagues Kathy Mueller, Canadian Red Cross, in Padang , wrote this really good story I would like to share:
They grab their gear - dark blue vests indicating they are volunteers for the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI), face masks and long, pink rubber gloves to protect them from the scene they are about to enter. Theirs is not an easy job. They are part of the search and rescue teams, mobilized several times a day to try to find victims of last week’s earthquakes.

“It’s very rewarding and fulfilling to be part of this,” says one team member. “When we pull someone alive from the debris we are all very happy. We know we are making many families very happy.”

On this day, the team heads back to the site of a collapsed three-storey office building in the city of Padang. Dozens of people gather around, silently watching the very delicate excavation work. They’re looking for a woman, known to be buried among the rubble.



They grab their gear - dark blue vests indicating they are volunteers for the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI), face masks and long, pink rubber gloves to protect them from the scene they are about to enter. Theirs is not an easy job

Pieces of debris

The big claw of the excavator rips away large pieces of debris, when rescue crews suddenly yell “stop”. They had found her, a young woman believed to be in her mid-20’s. Digging with their hands and small shovels, rescue crews - including volunteers from PMI - gently remove this earthquake victim and return her to her family.

She is one of 28 people pulled from the wreckage at this site alone.

Yopi Rizki knew he had to do something to help after surviving the quake. The 18-year-old from an area north of Padang, a region where the destruction is particularly bad. Those who have beds have moved them outside, seeking shelter under leaky tents and plastic sheets. Landslides have made some villages inaccessible. Massive fissures in the road show where the earth has literally been ripped apart.


Yopi Rizki knew he had to do something to help after surviving the quake. The 18-year-old from an area north of Padang, a region where the destruction is particularly bad.

Completely buried

So Yopi became a member of the search and rescue/recovery team, and we join him on his fifth evacuation. It’s to a small rural village that until a day earlier had been blocked off by a massive landslide. One house remains completely buried. Inside is a family of three - mother, father, and their 17-year-old son.

Yopi sits on the side of a hill, wearing a face mask, and watching as an excavator claws its way through the dirt. When asked to reflect on the fact that a boy very close to his age lies buried just metres away from where he now sits, Yopi chokes up. It’s a subject he says he just cannot discuss; it hits too close to home.

Helping people

But it’s precisely because it hit so close to home that Yopi chose to join this team.

“I feel it inside my heart,” he says, quietly. “Yes, I am scared to see the victims. It makes me sad. But I know I am helping people and that makes me happy.”

With the recovery phase of the relief effort now switching to reconstruction, this team will not be as busy in the coming days. But Yopi says he will stay involved with the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.

This was the largest earthquake of his young life. He knows he will experience more. He wants to be better prepared to help both before and after a disaster. And he knows the Indonesian Red Cross can help him get there.

Nine days after the earthquake in Sumatra

Yesterday we flew into remote villages for distribution and further assessment. Here Iyang Sukandar, secretary general of Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) talks to Rumalit whose house hangs over a precipice behind.Photo: Bob McKerrow

When I woke up Thursday morning, 8 October, I remembered it was four years ago that the huge earthquake struck near the border of Kashmir and killed 80,000 people in Pakistan and some thousands in India, I will never forget the smell of death, mainly from decomposing bodies that seeped into my clothes and skin and remained with me for days after. Coincidentally I am flying in to Padang with Vincent Nicod, Head of the ICRC in Indonesia, who worked with me throughout the Pakistan earthquake. On Thursday night coming home from a restaurant, I passed the hotel where diggers were dismantling the building in front of hundreds of grieving relatives hoping the bodies of their loved ones will be found. Some wildly hoped their child of relative will be brought out alive.

As I walked past the hotel, the evening breeze carried the smell of death and evoked sad memories of earthquakes I have worked in Afghanistan, Tonga, New Zealand, Tajikistan, Krygyztsta, India. Sri Lanka, Maldives, Uzbekistan and Pakistan on relief and recovery operations, and each has its own lasting characteristics. The West Sumatra quake is different for its high destruction and low death rate. Why that has happened, I am still at a loss to explain but perhaps it is the preparedness done since the last big quake here two years ago.

Curious villagers in Selegan Tinqqi, the last village that had not had contact with the outside world, throng around the helicopter. Photo: Bob McKerrow
I’ve been on the road for two days and have seen over fifty thousand severely damaged houses, hospitals, schools, hotels and buildings. The scarred landscape is strewn with rubble and the crumpled buildings look as if they have been scattered by the hand of a destructive giant. On Thursday I travelled by road with Irman and Rukman from the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) and yesterday I went by helicopter to badly affected mountainous regions.

A woman and her children show us what is left of her house. Photo: Bob McKerrow
My heart bleeds for those stoic survivors. What dignity they show. Yesterday when we flew into Selegan Tinqqi, the last village that had not had contact with the outside world, the people were surviving on fruit and vegetables. Their request was for ‘rice and chillies.” Here 300 people live. Only five people died but virtually every house is flattened. But their quiet dignity and orderliness was impressive. Two hundred people thronged around the chopper, but showed no demands or anger towards a world that had forgotten them. They were grateful and gave us gifts of coconuts. Pak Iyang the Secretary General of the PMI lifted a young girl up and let her play ‘in the bird that dropped out of the sky.’ We spent 45 minutes here preparing a heli pad for the large US Navy helicopters to land with bulk supplies in the coming days. At least 1,000 landslide spots in the Gunung Tigo highlands, where we spent 4 hours surveying yesterday, is located between Padang Pariaman and Agam districts. In at least three locations large scale landslides occurred destroying entire villages and agricultural land.
The mountain top village of Ambroang Gadang. The road slipped away and the village is cut off. Photo: Bob McKerrow

The worst site I visited was a mountain top village of Ambroang Gadang where a huge land slide carried away ten houses killing over 50 people. While I was there Government rescue teams recovered two more dead. I spent considerable time there with Pak Iyang, Pak Irman and Ebu Asweeth from PMI discussing needs and preparing another helipad for the big airlift starting tomorrow. My colleagues in the PMI are [providing exceptional leadership and take every opportunity to get out and innspire the 400 plus volunteers who are working round the clock.

Rescue workers toil away recovering bodies from the village of Ambroang Gadang that was buried by a land slide. Photo: Bob McKerrow

One of the best writersa in this earthquake is Thin Lei Win from Reuters Alert Net who gives her onservations:
I visited a remote village called Sungai Puar Tanjong Mutus in Pariaman District with the Red Cross on Monday. The road was not accessible the day before due to landslides.

Nestled among coconut trees, vegetation and paddy fields, the road to Sungai Puar Tanjong Mutus winds its way along numerous small villages, and there was destruction on both sides.


Indonesian students collect their books at their school on Oct 6, 2009 after it was damaged during an earthquake in Padang, West Sumatra. Photo: Reuters

One house was nothing but a pile of rubber, with bright coloured clothes in little bundles atop broken piles of wood and bricks. Landslides and earthquakes have left some places with fallen coconut trees, snapped power lines and flattened houses.

Then we got to the village, rather, to the road leading to the village. Landslides meant we had to walk through soft mud to what must have been a picturesque village surrounded by hills on one side and lush rice fields on the other.

Heavy machinery was at work, brought in not more than an hour ago, to clear an area where a house stood just a few days ago. The earthquake and subsequent landslide had buried the house and three family members - parents and their 17-year-old son.

People sat in front of their ruined houses - apparently almost all of the 150 houses were damaged - and under makeshift shelters watching the proceedings with a grim but matter-of-fact eye. Kids being kids, they were interested in the foreigners with gadgets and a gaggle of them followed us wherever we went.

There was also a young volunteer with Red Cross. He's 18 and he couldn't express his emotion and sorrow of the boy almost his age buried somewhere deep under the mud.

Soon after, the villagers got into the act, using shovels to get the dig while the machine moved to another area.

I left thinking of the boy in the mud and the boy outside waiting to evacuate his body. And of the grieving father who saw his two children swept away, the family at Cubadak Air village who were living under pieces of borrowed and ripped tarpaulin and the smiling Wati at Padang Karambia village whose attendance at a neighbour's wedding saved her life.

And of the villagers, who, despite living in one of the world's quake-prone areas and suffering a devastating disaster, remained cheerful and friendly. In every place we went, they offered us food, shared their stories and welcomed us with open arms.

This quake may not be as big as the one in Yogyakarta three and a half years ago or generate a tsunami in Indian Ocean like five years ago, but the loss and impact is no less painful. And it affects the rescuers, the rescued and the witnesses.

The relief operation will be scaled up in the coming days as more cargo flights arrive in Padang and a clearer picture of the situation appears through more comprehensive assessments. A USAID flight arrived in Padang with 45 tons of cargo last night and they have given it all to us. The PMI is currently distributing whatever relief stocks they have in Padang and family kits donated by AusAid.

Discussions are under way with the USS Denver from the United States Pacific Fleet to use their helicopters to airlift vital relief supplies to the communities affected in the three critical areas of V Koto KP Dalam, V Koto Timur and Sungai Geringging in Padang Pariaman who have received little or no relief aid so far due to their remoteness and inaccessibility. The three critical areas will be the focus of PMI’s airlift relief efforts over the next few days. Once the distribution plan is confirmed, the airlifts are expected to begin on 10 October. The USS Denver will also be assisting the Government of Indonesia as well as other NGOs who may need similar assistance.



An immediate challenge will be to get affected families into temporary shelters as soon as possible as part of the recovery process. Some villagers, unable or frightened to stay in their damaged homes, are living under plastic tarpaulins in front of their houses.


Red Cross has now distributed relief supplies to 2,200 families, that is over 10,000 people.

It is clear that the relief effort is largely being spear-headed by Red Cross, local NGOs, companies, religious organisations and individual well-wishers. Civil society plays an important and largely unrecognised role in filling the hunger gap in the first few days after any emergency.


The only problem was waiting half the day for the tide to come in so that the ship could rise high enough in the dock to be off-loaded.

Life goes on in remote mountain villages as people dry their spices and cocoa. Photo: Bob McKerrow

The Turkish Red Crescent are supporting the work of the MI in a village called Sikupa. It was chosen largely because no-one had been to help the 1,500 families that live there. Eighty per cent of the houses in the village had collapsed and about 20 families were camped out at the local mosque.

All the children of the village gathered with their mothers at the mosque and what followed was two hours of pure fun and laughter. The Red Cross team launched into a riotous puppet show that was interspersed with "follow the leader exercises". Punching the air stamping the ground and shouting the house down is a simple but effective way to help the children to let off steam.

The volunteers were giving special attention to some of the children in the audience. Widya Wiranti is a primary school teacher. Her school collapsed in the earthquake so she joined the Red Cross and now spends her time working with the PSP team.
The children suffer the worst and the Red Cross PSP programme slowly disolves their trauma. Photo: Bob McKerrow

She is a natural with children and is focusing on a little boy called Abi who is clearly suffering trauma. He clings to his mother as Wiranti goes into a role-play and gently coaxes him towards a picture book.

Abi's mother, Nelda, explains that he cries a lot and cannot sleep. Wiranti reassures her that this is normal behaviour after such as a traumatic event and encourages her to show him plenty of love and affection to help him cope.

It transpires that Abi's story has a bizarre twist. Exactly a week before the disaster he had a premonition that an earthquake was going to strike. His sixth sense predicted everything that subsequently happened with uncanny precision.

Abi with his Mum. Photo: Patrick Fuller
More good news. I learn that the Red Cross has now distributed relief supplies to 2,200 families, that is over 10,000 people.

Thanks to Patrick Fuller for support on this. I have gotta go. I hope this updates you on the complexities of a large relief operation

Sumatra quake: Aid worker's diary

Yesterday Tuesday 6 October, was a hectic day for all of us involved in this massive relief operation. I am now back in Jakarta for a few days working closely with my good friend Pak Iyang Sukandar,Secretary General of the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI). Pak Iyang is a veteran of of 30 years of disasters both man made and natural.

A young boy surveys all that is left of his house. Photo: IFRC

Yesterday we spent a lot of time discussing increasing the number of families we will be providing relief material to from 5,000 to 20,000. We will also target 20, 000 families which is approximately 100,000 people for tents and for transitional shelters which will see them through the next year or two until petrmanent houses can be rebuilt. That means our Appeal for help will increase from about US$6 million to US$17 million. A big part of Pak Iyang's and my job now is to raise that money so it entails a lot of meetings, lobbeying, report writing and negotiations. Today I got valuable assistance from Peder Danmm from the Danish Red Cross, Jean-Philippe Tizi, Canadian Red Cross, and Naomi from the German Red Cross. The way my colleagues from other national Red Cross societies pitch in and help so selflessly is something I have come to treasure in this organisation. Wayne Ulrich, our head of operations in West Sumatra is hanging in there strongly. We must of had ten phone conversations today, the first one at 6 a.m. on getting a second helicopter for today. I managed to get Colin Tuck in from his oil rig duties today and to fly food in to remote villages. To give a field perspective, I quote from Patrick Fuller, my communications coordinator on the ground and in the air in West Sumatra,
Patrick ravelled to remote villages close to the epicentre of last week's deadly quake in Indonesia and tells his story.

A good nights sleep at last! I was so exhausted I was oblivious to the mosquitoes and the snoring of my room-mate. Into the office by 7.30 to catch up with Wayne, who is co-ordinating our operation. He's concerned that there are still many settlements higher up in the hills where no help has reached.

I'm hoping to go up in our helicopter later but the heavens seem to be conspiring against me; it's been pouring with rain all morning. Not great for the soaking wet volunteers outside who are trying to load tarpaulins and blankets onto waiting trucks.

The weather means I can catch up on some correspondence. In these situations it's easy to forget that there are countless people on the other side of the world who are involved in the operation. Our headquarters in Geneva launched an emergency appeal to support 30,000 families over the next six months with food, clean water and shelter.

“ Every house below us has been flattened and villagers wave, not in greeting but in desperation ”

This means I need to work at making sure that the disaster remains high on the media agenda. I think we have a couple of days before they lose interest.

I talk to Wayne about the possibility of getting some journalists up in the chopper to visit our medical team at work. We agree that the team can be dropped and the pilot will make a double trip. I call the BBC to see if they can go at short notice; they're happy to but it's still pouring outside.

At midday I get word that the medical team has left and we should get down to the landing pad. I just manage to wolf down more cold rice and an incinerated fish (or was it chicken..?) before dashing to the helipad. Alistair Leithead, the BBC correspondent arrives with his cameraman DC and we're quickly in the air.

All of a sudden a whole new world opens up. Seeing the disaster scene from the air really brings home the scale of the damage as we fly northwest.

We fly over an ancient lava field. Over thousands of years the rivers of lava had turned into verdant green ridges, now scarred with brown gashes where the hillsides have simply slipped down into the valley below.

It's here that the damage is worst. Every house below us has been flattened and villagers wave, not in greeting but in desperation. We land in a paddy field to find the clinic. I was convinced the rotor blades were going to hit a palm tree but John the pilot, a cool-headed Kiwi, could clearly land on a sixpence.

No-one had reached the village because of numerous landslides which had blocked the road ahead and behind. When we arrived the team had just finished stitching up a long wound down the back of a three-year-old child who had been lucky to survive.

Back in the air we fly over a valley which looks like a war zone - bare hillsides with huge trees lying scattered at the bottom of the valley. We land where a large group of villagers are waving beneath us.

As they crowd around us, my colleague Hari from the Indonesian Red Cross asks them what help they need most.

As one they shout - 'RICE'. Their stocks have run out and they can't get out to the nearest town two hours away to buy more. The scene is interrupted by a comic-surreal moment as a dog-fight suddenly breaks out and Alastair goes flying in the melee.

Once we land back in Padang it's straight back to the office for a co-ordination meeting. A logistics Emergency Response Unit from the British Red Cross have arrived. Their job is to handle all the relief goods arriving by air and sea.

I recognise a couple of them - Jamie and Peter, veterans of countless disaster operations. We count the years since we last met. Despite the fact that we always meet in the worst places it's reassuring to know that the relief supplies are in good hands and will be quickly despatched to the field.

It's almost midnight, but I still have to share some photos I took from the helicopter with Reuters. Maybe tomorrow will be less hectic… somehow I doubt it.

"All of a sudden a whole new world opens up. Seeing the disaster scene from the air really brings home the scale of the damage as we fly northwest".
Photo: Bob McKerrow