Al-Imdaad Foundation relief teams from South Africa and the United Kingdom have been on the ground in Indonesia responding to the needs of displaced victims of recent earthquakes on the Island of Lombok.
The teams from South Africa and the UK arrived on August 13 and spent a week engaging in relief activities in the worst affected parts in the north of the island.
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This delegation followed on the back of continued relief activities that were initiated by the Al-Imdaad Foundation’s Indonesian teams, that were on the ground just four hours after the main earthquake on August 5.
In late July and the first weeks of August, a series of moderate and strong earthquakes rocked the Indonesian Island of Lombok in the West Nusa Tenggara province. The three strongest tremors included a M7.0 earthquake on August 5, a M6.4 on July 29 and a M6.2 on August 9. Additionally, up to 500 smaller tremors had affected the island over this period.
According to the National Disaster Management Authority, by Monday, August 13, the death toll had risen to 436 with over 1 353 injuries and more than 352 000 people displaced. More than 67 000 homes had been damaged as well as six bridges, 606 schools, three hospitals and 20 office buildings.
Each series of earthquakes and aftershocks caused even more damage until destruction had reached up to 90 percent in some of the worst affected parts of the island.
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The earthquake’s greatest impact was felt in the northern district of Lombok Island, which is also home to some of the poorest families and has a prevalent poverty rate of up over 34 percent. According to Al-Imdaad Foundation’s Indonesian Project Co-ordinator Pa Reza, the houses in this area are made of cheap, poor-quality materials, making them more vulnerable to the earthquake’s destruction.
Aadam Badrudeen, one of the South African team members on the mission, described the buildings in the northern district as follows: “It looked like all the houses had been flattened.” He went on to describe the trauma of the victims saying: “Every time the ground shakes, even if it’s just a motor bike driving passed, they hold on for their lives because of what they’ve been through”.
The teams from South Africa and the UK started their activities for these victims in the village of Sembalun, in north-east Lombok where they distributed food supplies in the form of rice and dried fish, before bedding down in tents due to the damage to surrounding physical buildings and the threat of aftershocks.
On August 15, the teams headed further into the worst affected areas of the northern district.
They were witness to the widespread destruction in the Beyen sub-district which was the site of the earthquake’s epicenter.
The teams also conducted a needs assessment in the badly affected village of Gumantar in the Kayangan sub-district where they returned the next day for food aid distributions. Further distributions were also undertaken in an area called Terjun, which team members described as being ‘completely flattened’.
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The Al-Imdaad Foundation is committed to addressing the needs of victims and is looking at ways to further assist affected communities going forward. For more information or to support the Al-Imdaad Foundation’s emergency relief activities please visit www.alimdaad.com or call 086 178 6243.
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