[Kabar-indonesia] Yogya quake's emergency phase officially over [+Kalimantan & Sulawesi floods]

[Joyo at aol.com]

4 articles: 

- Yogya quake's emergency phase over
- Quake brings out survivors' creativity
- Kalimantan flood victims suffer diarrhea, skin rashes
- Sinjai mudslide survivors wait for promised assistance

The Jakarta Post 
Saturday, July 1, 2006

Yogya quake's emergency phase over

Slamet Susanto, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

Emergency operations following the May 27 earthquake in Yogyakarta and 
Central Java officially ended Friday, marked by the distribution of cash and rice 
assistance to survivors.

With the end of emergency phase, which was originally scheduled to come to a 
close June 22, more than Rp 148 billion (US$15.7 million) in cash and 16.4 
million kilograms of rice have been distributed to the more than 1.6 million 
people affected by the quake.

The event was marked by the distribution of Rp 2 million in cash to the 
families of the 5,773 people who died in the temblor, as well as Rp 15 billion in 
medical assistance and another Rp 10 billion for public works.

"This emergency assistance from the government is meant to help quake victims 
get back on their feet," Budi Atmadi, the deputy head of the Disaster 
Prevention National Coordination Body, said Friday in Yogyakarta.

With the end of the emergency phase, the focus will now shift to the work of 
reconstruction.

The official reconstruction plan for affected areas is due to be unveiled by 
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Klaten, Central Java.

Responding to questions about confusion over who was eligible for government 
assistance, Budi Atmadi said the criteria for eligibility remained the same as 
it was in the immediate aftermath of the quake, which left over 200,000 
people homeless.

He said that according to Vice President Jusuf Kalla, who heads the disaster 
body, anyone living in a shelter or whose home was damaged or destroyed in the 
disaster was entitled to living costs.

"But we have to realize that all the money channeled by the government for 
quake victims comes from taxes paid by people. The government has to be 
responsible for this money and channel it according to regulations," Budi said.

He said that though the emergency phase of the operation was officially over, 
the disaster body would continue monitoring the situation to make sure all 
quake survivors received the assistance to which they were entitled.

However, the end of the emergency phase was also met with protests by 
residents upset over what they said was the unequal distribution of monthly cash 
assistance from the government. The assistance amounts to Rp 90,000 per person, 
per month.

In Berbah district, Sleman regency, the protest turned violent when some 300 
residents from the district's three hamlets broke windows and destroyed office 
equipment at the district office.

"Of 350 quake victims listed by the village office and reported to the 
district office, only 50 have received assistance ...," said Sumarsono, a resident 
of Sendangtirto hamlet.

The protesters were received by Berbah district head Bambang Chondro, who 
said the complaint had been passed on to regency officials.

This, however, failed to appease the residents, who only dispersed when 
police arrived at the scene. 

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The Jakarta Post 
Saturday, July 1, 2006

Quake brings out survivors' creativity

Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

Survivors of the earthquake that jolted the island of Java and devastated 
parts of Yogyakarta and Central Java have been compelled to be creative in 
reorganizing their lives.

Take, for example, Sumarah, 21, from Payak Cilik hamlet in Bantul, who 
completed building his temporary house on Monday. Sumarah used material he had 
salvaged from the rubble, to the wonderment not only of his neighbors but of relief 
agencies.

"It's amazing looking at what the survivors can do to help themselves get on 
their feet again," said special emergency coordinator of the Sydney-based 
humanitarian aid and development organization, Austcare, Nickola Krey.

"We are pleased to know that what we give is really helpful to this 
resourceful community," said visitor Peter O'Neill. He is representing the Wollongong 
community in New South Wales, Australia, which donated funds for quake 
survivors through Austcare.

The May 27 earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale toppled Sumarah's 
house to the ground. Nonetheless, he was able to reuse remnants from the 
building, such as the wooden door and window frames, as well as the roof tiles.

So, when Austcare provided assistance in the form of nails, tools and woven 
bamboo sheets for walls, Sumarah immediately took the opportunity to build a 
temporary home.

The assistance was distributed through Austcare's local partner, the 
Yogyakarta-based Institute for Rural Empowerment and Global Studies at the Cindelaras 
Paritrana Foundation.

Helped by his elder brother Ponijo, 32, Sumarah cleared the rubble and built 
the temporary house on the place where his old house once stood, so that he 
could make use of its cement flooring.

"There happen to be a lot of bamboo plants in our backyard, so there's no 
need for us to buy any building material," said Sumarah's wife, Supriyati, 20.

They started building the house in the middle of June and finished it in two 
weeks. The four-by-six-meter house appears tiny amid the debris from the 
earthquake.

The color scheme of natural green and yellow from the plaited bamboo and 
bright orange from the wooden frame gives the impression that this is not just any 
temporary house.

The woven bamboo wall sheets provided by Austcare are used for the back part 
and kitchen, while the middle part of the house uses woven bamboo walls made 
by Ponijo. The top half of the front wall is made from woven bamboo and the 
other half from the orange wooden frames from the old house.

Bamboo and timber are used for supporting pillars, and cupboards acts as 
dividers. Even though one has to sit on mats on the floor because the furniture 
was damaged in the quake, the interior of the house has a nice, homey atmosphere.

"I suppose this house can stand for several years before my brother builds 
another house that's more permanent," said Ponijo. 

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The Jakarta Post 
Saturday, July 1, 2006

Kalimantan flood victims suffer diarrhea, skin rashes

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Flood victims in South Kalimantan, mostly children, have started to suffer 
from skin rashes and diarrhea, forcing some of them to skip school.

Badriansyah, a resident of East Satui district in Banjarmasin, said the 
schoolchildren whose classes were suspended after floods hit the area in the past 
week, were reportedly suffering from diarrhea and skin rashes.

"They should have come back to school Friday because the floods have subsided 
and they are to receive their school report Saturday but many have diarrhea 
and have skipped school," he told Antara.

The floods, however, did not completely disrupt classes in flood-hit areas 
although some schools were inundated by floodwater.

According to head of the province's education office, Humaidi Syukeri, the 
flooding occurred after schoolchildren had completed the national examination 
and other tests.

But he said his office would examine the impact of the floods on schools in 
the affected areas.

"We're still in the process of conducting a field investigation and making an 
inventory of the damage to school facilities. An initial report issued a 
couple of days ago noted that there was no massive physical damage to the 
schools," he said.

However, he promised that there would be speedy repair work if the floods had 
affected school buildings to ensure the disaster did not disrupt the new 
school term.

Flooding had subsided Friday in many parts of the province, allowing some 
residents to return home to clean up, but in other parts, like in Martapura, the 
water was still one-meter high.

Visiting South Kalimantan Provincial Council members urged the administration 
to pay serious attention as local residents still needed food and medical 
assistance as well as clean water.

"We have noted that they're badly in need of clean water," said councilor Nur 
Izatil Hasanah.

The climatology station at the province's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency 
has forecast heavy rain in 12 regencies.

The station's chief, Sucantika Budi, said six regencies -- Kotabaru, Tanah 
Bumbu, Tanah Laut, Tapid and Balangan -- were prone to flooding.

Meanwhile, floods have started to subside in Gorontalo city and Bone Bolango 
regency in Gorontalo province Friday, with residents starting to return home 
Friday to clean up the mud in their houses left by the floods.

Antara reported that of the more than 12,000 residents, who fled to the 60 
shelters set up following three days of flooding which started Sunday, only 700 
of them were still living in the makeshift posts.

Floods which hit Bolaang Mongondow regency in North Sulawesi had left two 
dams badly damaged after being hit by massive logs rushing down from nearby 
forests.

"The two big dams were badly damaged and will take time to repair," head of 
the province's water resources office, Jost Tambajong, told Antara. 

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The Jakarta Post 
Saturday, July 1, 2006

Sinjai mudslide survivors wait for promised assistance

Andi Hajramurni, The Jakarta Post, Sinjai

The government is being urged to meet its earlier pledge to provide 
compensation to victims of landslides and flash floods in Sinjai, South Sulawesi.

Sinjai Regent Andi Rudyanto Asapa called on Social Services Minister Bachtiar 
Chamsyah to meet the promise to provide Rp 2 million (US$212) for each of the 
families of the deceased and Rp 3,000 per day for displaced people.

"What happened to the central government's promise to provide assistance for 
the disaster victims? They have not delivered on any of the promises yet," he 
was quoted by Antara in Sinjai on Friday.

He said apart from dealing with victims who had lost their homes in the 
disaster, the administration was currently repairing damaged infrastructure, such 
as roads, bridges, dams and irrigation networks, to facilitate the resumption 
of economic activities.

The repair work, he said, would leave the administration with little 
financial resources.

A preliminary listing conducted by the administration showed that the flash 
floods and landslides had damaged 58 bridges while many rivers had widened from 
a previous 40 meters to 100 meters, necessitating the construction of new 
bridges.

The enormity of the repair work, he said, made it difficult for the 
administration to compensate the victims due to the limited budget.

Only the compensation promised by the central government, he said, would be 
able to ease the victims' burden. "We will try to revise the 2006 provincial 
budget, shifting the budget for nonessential programs to reconstruction efforts 
to assist the victims," Rudyanto said.

Meanwhile, secretary to the provincial administration, Andi Muallim, said in 
Makassar earlier that the Rp 2 million compensation would be distributed 
starting July 7.

He said the fund to compensate the victims had been prepared but the social 
services office was still registering victims entitled to receive the 
compensation. The registration is expected to be completed on July 5.

"If the registration is not completed by July 5, then the fund's distribution 
will be based on temporary data that is available," he told Antara.

The death toll from the disaster has climbed past the 200 mark with over 50 
still listed as missing. More than 3,400 people were displaced in five 
regencies.

In Makassar, forestry expert Muhammad Restu from Hasanuddin University blamed 
the disaster on the conversion of forested areas in West Sinjai, Central 
Sinjai and Borong Sinjai districts.

He told The Jakarta Post that a satellite image showed that from 18,000 
hectares of forest in Sinjai regency, only 25 percent remained, while the rest had 
been turned into plantations, lowering the water absorption capacity in the 
areas.

He blamed the situation on poor spatial planning, by allowing green areas to 
be turned into residential areas.

"This situation causes flash floods and landslides in those areas during the 
rainy season," he said. 

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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