[Kabar-indonesia] Don't short-change Java earthquake victims [+VP: 'Victims should help recovery']

[Joyo at aol.com]

also: VP in Sulawesi: 'Victims should help recovery'

The Jakarta Post 
Sunday, June 25, 2006

Don't short-change Java earthquake victims

Michael Kocher, Contributor, Yogyakarta

Six thousand dead and 600,000 homeless. Maybe another 400,000 sleeping 
outdoors because they're afraid to go inside. The earthquake in Central Java should 
be receiving more attention, including greater international assistance. Why 
isn't this happening?

Youdy doesn't know.

Looking at the ruins of his home in Sleman district, he shrugged and smiled.

"The government has not been here yet, and neither have any aid agencies 
until now. We do not know what will happen to us," he said on June 10, a full two 
weeks after the disaster.

Youdy gently kicked the fragments of a broken plate as his wife and four 
children crowded around him, the owner of a rice, noodle and dried foods warung 
that collapsed in seconds as the sun rose and the earth shook.

Nearby, men from this devastated village 30 minutes east of Yogyakarta worked 
with their hands and the few tools available to begin clearing another 
property just as badly hit. They plan to work communally, brick by brick and house 
by house, for however long it takes.

And it will take a long time. It is a scene common throughout Central Java 
following the May 27 earthquake, which left hundreds of thousands living in 
makeshift tents in front of rubble that was once a house.

The tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, the Kashmir earthquake. For the last 18 
months, there has been extensive coverage of these colossal disasters and their 
devastating consequences. The response has been impressive, with governments, 
corporations and private individuals opening their hearts and wallets, raising 
hundreds of millions of dollars for relief and reconstruction efforts.

And now Central Java. The 6.3-magnitude quake lasted mere minutes and was 
felt more than 100 miles away.

Seventy thousand are injured, many seriously. Over 180,000 homes are 
destroyed and 440,000 more have been badly damaged. One hundred fifty schools are 
gone, with 400 damaged. Basic infrastructure -- water and sanitation -- at the 
village level is decimated.

Despite the massive destruction and displacement, international funding to 
assist the people of Central Java has been paltry.

The United Nations first estimated a patently low US$100 million was needed 
over the next six months for emergency needs. Less than half of this has been 
pledged by the donor community, with a fraction of that programmed for 
essential services.

Incredibly, some governments sent assessment teams that stayed only a few 
days, barely getting outside of Yogyakarta and never leaving the paved roads to 
see those areas worst hit.

The Indonesian government, finally asking for help, estimates $3 billion is 
needed for reconstruction. Where this will come from is altogether uncertain. 
Yet by their actions, international governments and multilateral donors still 
seem to feel the situation is under control, with minimal need for outside aid.

They are wrong.

Many villages, those off the paved roads, have received little to no 
assistance. In Bantul, Sleman and Kletan, the three most affected districts, entire 
communities are without access to sustainable supplies of water, toilets and 
bathing facilities. People turn instead to brackish rivers. The potential for the 
outbreak of diseases, even epidemics, is high and will increase as sanitation 
conditions worsen.

Donors see the government's plan to give cash aid, allowing families to 
rebuild homes, as justification for their disinterest. It's a good idea, and avoids 
the mistake in Aceh of putting people into "temporary" shelters that 
inevitably become something else.

But in Central Java, this money will take time to disperse, while it will not 
reach everyone it should nor do anything to address immediate problems. 
Disease may not wait.

And experience, plus current conditions, shows that the ability of the 
government alone to provide key services should not be overestimated.

Emergency supplies like tarpaulins, tents and hygiene products are far short 
of what is required to meet even basic needs, much less answer public health 
concerns. That Mt. Merapi could erupt any day strains local capacity further 
still.

Aid agencies -- local, national and international -- are ready to respond but 
need resources to do so. There's the rub.

News coverage is necessary to drive private giving, but this story has 
disappeared. After the tsunami, the Java earthquake somehow seems minor. What is the 
lesson here?

But such is the news, and private donations are not coming in.

So public sector donors are all the more important, but they too act numbed 
by the scale of recent natural disasters. This sets quite a precedent.

Exactly what death count is now required for the international community to 
respond?

I saw first-hand the level of international commitment to the people of Aceh 
and the difference it can make, especially in avoiding public health problems 
like infectious, water-borne and respiratory diseases. The contrasting level 
of support in Java is shameful.

Keep this in mind too -- it's in no one's interest that so many people in 
Central Java now live in degrading conditions, unable to work, getting angry and 
with very uncertain prospects for the future.

It is vital that the international community provides adequate funds now to 
assist Indonesians in Central Java as they begin to rebuild their lives.

Youdy, his family and their neighbors deserve no less.

The writer is an aid worker for the International Rescue Committee and 
Secretariat for the Consortium for Assistance and Recovery toward Development in 
Indonesia (CARDI), and has written this piece in his professional capacity. 

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The Jakarta Post 
Sunday, June 25, 2006

'Victims should help recovery'

Andi Hajramurni, The Jakarta Post, Sinjai

Vice President Jusuf Kalla visited victims of flashfloods and landslides in 
Sinjai regency, South Sulawesi on Saturday, promising assistance and urging 
victims to remain patient.

The death toll from Tuesday's disasters, which struck the province's five 
regencies, has risen to 215, with 205 of the deceased found in the hardest-hit 
regency, Sinjai. The disaster has also left at least 3,700 people homeless and 
destroyed more than 2,600 houses.

Accompanied by Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie, 
Social Services Minister Bachtiar Chamsyah and Transportation Minister Hatta 
Radjasa, Kalla said the government would assist in rehabilitation and 
reconstruction programs and was struggling to get aid to those in need.

However, he said the government would not fully compensate people for their 
losses.

He encouraged all victims to take part in the rehabilitation and 
reconstruction process following the disasters instead of only hoping for the government's 
assistance.

"The house damage here is not similar to the scale of destruction in Aceh and 
Yogyakarta ... In South Sulawesi, like in Sinjai, many of the houses can be 
repaired," Kalla said.

He was referring to the May 27 quake which struck Yogyakarta and Central 
Java, flattening thousands of houses, leaving at least 6,000 people dead and more 
than 200,000 others homeless, and the December 2004 tsunami which killed at 
least 130,000 people.

During Saturday's visit, Kalla handed over another Rp 1 billion (US$105,263) 
in cash assistance to the province, raising the overall amount of assistance 
distributed to Rp 2 billion.

Kalla also said families of the deceased would receive Rp 2 million for each 
victim and those whose houses were damaged in the disasters would receive 
standard assistance. The government will take full responsibility for repairing 
damaged public facilities and infrastructure.

South Sulawesi Governor Amin Syam said the five regencies had suffered over 
Rp 460 billion in losses in the disasters, with the hardest-hit Sinjai 
recording over Rp 312 billion in financial losses.

The death toll is predicted to rise in the coming days as five villages in 
five districts are still isolated. Roads leading to Gantarang in Central Sinjal 
district, Puncak in South Sinjai, Bonto Katute in Sinjai Borong, Mannanti in 
Tally Limpoe and Passimarannu in East Sinjai are blocked by debris or have 
collapsed, making search and rescue efforts difficult.

The fate of at least 300 families, or 1,500 people, living in the five 
villages was still unknown Saturday.

"We are going to airlift workers to these villages because they badly need 
food and medicine," Aris, a relief official, told AFP on Saturday.

On Saturday, search and rescue team has started distributing food aid by 
helicopters but rough weather slowed the distribution process.

The UN children's agency UNICEF said earlier that one-third of the victims 
were children. The agency also said it was airlifting emergency supplies of 
hygiene equipment and water containers to the affected areas.

Navy teams have also been scouring the sea off Sinjai's coast, where many 
bodies are thought to have been swept. 

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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