01/11/2010
1930 hours
Location:
Yayasan Citra Mandir (YCM) office in Padang, West Sumatra.
150km from the Mentawai Islands (closest major port to Menatawai Islands)
YCM is an indigenous rights and advocacy NGO with operations based in the Mentawai Islands since 1996. The southern areas of Mentawai (Pagai Utara and Pagai Selatan) have a population of 27,000 people; 95% of which are Indigenous Mentawai.
Torrential rain and astounding weather are not the only issues that to hamper aid efforts to the Mentawai Islands 150km from us here in the Padang office. The reported death count continues to rise and great efforts to preserve the lives of survivors is ongoing.
The core team of Government and NGO Groups in the Mentawais are currently based in the capital of Mentawai, Sikakap. It is intended that aid leaves this location to be distributed in coastal areas where the tsunami struck last Monday.
Now stories are emerging of rice arriving soaked in sea water from the 10 hour crossing from Padang to Sikiakap.
The Jakarta Globe reported:
Seeing the drenched rice, a senior police officer overseeing the shipment called over residents waiting for passenger boats in the harbor.“These sacks of rice are soaked, it will rot before it even gets to the victims. Give it to these people here,” the officer told the workers.
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/indonesia/chaos-and-delays-plague-indonesia-tsunami-relief-operation/404267
YCM is focusing its continuing relief work in the southern most areas of Pagai Selatan (Pagai South) where it has been both closest to the epicenter of the earthquake. It is also the hardest for rescue efforts to reach and has highest proportion of indigenous Mentawians in Indonesia.
YCM today issued a press release urging the government to take one of its two navy vessels currently moored in Sikakap, 40 miles SW along the coast of Pagai Selatan, to act as a platform from which smaller boats will be able to transport aid to affected coastal villages. Limited supplies have already arrived but the situation is currently still dire.
If the Government is unable to respond to this request to conduct the role the it has the responsibility and equipment to perform YCM has current investigations into the charter of a vessel harbored in Padang.
Discussions with Frans Siahaan of YCM regarding the logistics of chartering a vessel suitable for the campaign to get more aid into the south urgently are continuing and we will continue to share information and logistic support with SurfAid and the Indonesian Red Cross. YCM Head of the Board Kortanius Sabeleake is in Sikakap now and is liasing with the Indonesian Government.
Reports are of four to five metre waves on the SW coast of Pagai Selatan. These have overturned at least two small vessels attempting to make the 40 mile voyage from Sikakap, without loss of life, to the southern coastal villages. The journey from Sikakap is not practical in the current conditions, however, with waves hitting the small vessels side-on while they are laden with supplies and attempting to make the trip parallel to the coast.
My experience working on boats (nine months including a two month campaign in the treacherous Southern Ocean) tells me that we can find a suitable vessel to act as the platform directly off the coast of the affected areas. Then we should be able to run smaller vessels directly in and out; shorter and safer trips than what are currently attempted.
The vessel we seek is in the range of 40m – 60m long and around 500 – 750 tonnes. We can load the vessel in Padang and transport the aid directly to the southern areas of Mentawai. Arriving on the SW coast of Pagai Selatan we can distribute the aid in short runs in the smaller boats that are already in place.
We can then continue to make runs from Sikakap to the small coastal towns that desperately need aid now.
Donations are needed to raise the A$12,000 to charter the ship. This is essential and urgent.
We already have A$4,000 raised which will be used for the essential supplies (water, kitchen equipment, food, hygiene kits, medical supplies, clothes, shelter and rainwater collection units) to be delivered. Any additional funds raised will be spent on the ongoing campaign to save the surviving people of Mentawai and restore stability in the affected communities as quickly and smoothly as possible.
The possibility exists if a single donor is able to sponsor this aspect of the campaign, ongoing donations can be returned to make up an agreed sum of the sponsorship.
To donate from within Indonesia:
YAYASAN CITRA MANDIRI MENTAWAI (YCMM)
Bank International Indonesia
Cabang Padang Bank Account: 2.032.21291.3
To donate from Australia:
I’ve established a holding account, where donations can be collected, and transferred in bulk to reduce bank fees
Commonwealth Bank of Australia
Account Name: Shayne McGrath
BSB: 067 000
Account Number: 1065 6406
Account description: YCM Mentawai
(all funds donated are going straight to YCM to assist with securing a ship for aid deliveries, and ongoing YCM aid work)
International Donations:
Can be arranged through Western Union Bank Transfer
to speak about donation, or for further information,
Shayne McGrath
[email protected]
+62 (0) 81237971180
• Yayasan Citra Mandir (YCM) have a established website, http://ycmmentawai.org/
And a regular Newspaper and online presence, http://www.puailiggoubat.com/
The latter is more regularly updated, and contains images and information from the tsunami, and following responce.
Both however, are in Bahasa Indonesian. As is life over here.
And,
NGOs blame government for sluggish relief operation
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/11/02/ngos-blame-government-sluggish-relief-operation.html
A coalition of NGOs has criticized what they perceive as a sluggish relief operation following last week’s deadly tsunami in Mentawai, West Sumatra.
The coalition includes the West Sumatra Forum for the Environment (Walhi) and the Padang Legal Aid Institute, which is affiliated with the Koalisi Lumbung Derma (KLD) charity coalition.
“We don’t see the weather as an excuse for slow aid distribution. The main reasons are weak coordination and the lack of alternatives for operations in the field during extreme weather,” KLD coordinator Khalid Saifullah told reporters on Monday.
Earlier, the local disaster mitigation agency blamed bad weather for the slow distribution of relief aid, citing 6-meter waves that hampered the operation.
“It is risky to travel to affected areas by boat or helicopter to reach victims,” West Sumatra Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) Emergency and Logistics Affairs head Ade Edward told The Jakarta Post in recent interview.
Ade complained about the pressure from the media and NGOs to distribute aid more quickly without considering the risks encountered by relief workers despite the warning of storms and high tides for Mentawai Islands and West Sumatra’s coastal areas issued by the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG).
“We are very concerned that it might be fatal if we’re forced to distribute aid during extreme weather conditions, especially since some of the boats have capsized while distributing aid. Fortunately the relief workers are safe,” said Ade.
Khalid said that the sluggish distribution of aid would have a serious effect on victims. He added that currently, relief aid from various groups was piling up at the Padang and Sikakap disaster command posts.
“According to law, the BPBD is the lead institution for disaster response. Seven days have already passed and the institution should have been able to take command and not depend on other parties,” said Khalid, who is Walhi’s West Sumatra chief.
He added that weak coordination and management had caused many boats and ships to back up in Sikakap.
“Relief coordination by the government is very poor and this is the dominant factor for sluggish distribution of aid to villages,” said the former Mentawai Islands regency council speaker.
He suggested that one of the solutions was assigning large ships operated by the Indonesian Military, the National Police, state-run shipping firm PT Pelni and the Transportation Ministry to immediately deliver aid to the waters nearest the affected villages, and then commandeer boats owned by local residents who were more adept in handling the surf in Mentawai.
On Monday, the island’s children returned to school, Antara reported, after classes were cancelled for a week after the tsunami killed 449 people.
Several students loitered under the terraces of their school, near helicopters ready to deliver supplies to affected areas.
First published: 2010-11-03 05:40 AM
