Thousands of Families Displaced By Quake
Contrary to what you might expect, scenes of devastation do not greet you as you enter the city of Yogyakarta, the cultural heart of Indonesia. At first glance, things seem eerily normal — shops are open, people are crowding the streets, traffic is moving, there is food, hot water and hotels. As you go along the main streets, from time to time you do notice a building that is completely demolished, but the one right next to it is in perfect condition.
It is when you travel away from the city that you see signs of the havoc wreaked by the 6.3-magnitude earthquake that recently struck Yogyakarta and Central Java. Patients are scattered across the floors of already-overcrowded hospitals. Children beg for food and money on the streets. Families are living in tents without electricity and water outside houses that are now rubble. Estimates put the number killed by the quake at about 5,700 with some 200,000 people left homeless.
Ani, left, and Latifah in front of their shared tent at Seloharjo Camp.
Ani Nur Alimah, an 8-year-old whose house was destroyed in the earthquake, is one of thousands now living in camps for people displaced by the disaster. CRS is working in several such camps, including Ani's — Seloharjo in the Pundung subdistrict.
'I Still Can't Sleep at Night'
"The earthquake was so noisy, it sounded like a hammer. It scared me. I still can't sleep at night," says Ani, who injured her leg during the quake. "But things are getting better, we now have food, and medicines are making my leg better."
CRS has delivered much-needed transitional shelter, hygiene kits, clothing and blankets to the community living in Seloharjo camp. CRS is also working with a local partner to organize and deliver medical services for the injured in Seloharjo, as well as other camps around Yogyakarta. All told, CRS will help provide medical care to 10,000 people.
Within moments of the quake, CRS was on the ground distributing emergency supplies to 5,000 severely affected people and shelter to another 1,800. When the quake hit, CRS was already working in the region to prepare for the anticipated eruption of Mount Merapi, just over 16 miles from Yogyakarta City.
'What If It Falls on Me?'
Like thousands across Yogyakarta, many living in Seloharjo camp are still spending the night outside their homes for fear of another earthquake that may bury them in their sleep. "We still have a house, but I am scared to sleep in the house," says Latifah Diah Asyhari, a friend of Ani's. "What if it falls on me?"
Children eat their lunch in a makeshift school in Seloharjo Camp.
When a CRS team asked a group of children about the one thing they miss the most, the seven young girls and boys screamed out one word — "School!" CRS is collaborating with UNICEF to deliver recreational kits to the makeshift school at Seloharjo camp, and clean water for the community members.
CRS will continue responding to the immediate needs of the survivors in three of the hardest-hit areas — Kretek and Pundung in Bantul district, and Prambanan in Yogykarta district. In the long term, CRS plans to use an integrated approach — providing the tools that communities need for cleanup, reconstruction and hygiene. CRS reconstruction efforts will benefit approximately 10,000 survivors.
