Supporter: Juan Christie

The Mercy Corps Indonesia-sponsored Disaster Preparedness Camp was packed with 274 students and teachers from 12 schools from Padang City and Agam District. Photo: Juan Christie/Mercy Corps

Although the Mercy Corps West Sumatra (Indonesia) team's schedule is always packed with activities, this July has been particularly busy month for our team. We've held a series of events, all related with disaster preparedness and/ or disaster risk reduction (DRR) activities. The participants ranged from students to communities and government officials.

The first activity was a Disaster Preparedness Camp, held July 8-10 in Puncak Lawang, Agam District. The event was packed with 274 students and teachers from 12 schools from Padang City and Agam District. These schools has been receiving assistance from our PREPARE SumBar programme to establish the School Disaster Preparedness Team (SDPT). They've been receiving various trainings on DRR such as First Aid, Evacuation Planning and Hazard Assessment.

The participants spent three days and two nights in Puncak Lawang, which is located about 1260 meters (4,100 feet) above sea level. The generally cool weather and usual afternoon fog proved to be no barrier for the participants to participate in various competitions: First Aid Responder, Disaster Preparedness Campaign and various quizzes. Additional skills that participants learned included fire training and camp management.

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The mixed participants of the training. Photo: Juan Christie

I travelled three hours from my home base in Padang, Indonesia to the city of Solok to check out the facilitator training for the Disaster Preparedness Teams (DPTs) held by Mercy Corps' PREPARE SumBar and our local partner, Jemari Sakato. The DPTs came from four Padang City sub-districts — Sungai Pisang, Gates Nan XX, Pasia Nan Tigo, and Air Manis. Each subdistrict sent out seven members to this training.

One thing that immediately caught my mind was the composition of the DPTs: among the 28 participants, I saw six young ladies and two elderly men, in addition to some men in their thirties and forties. This is a great start to have people from what are often described as "vulnerable groups" (i.e. youth, children, elderly people and women) represented in the DPTs.

I asked the two elders from the group — 65-year-old Herman and 70-year-old Burhanuddin — about what their motivation had been in joining the DPT. "Being old does not mean that you have to sit around and doing nothing," Herman quickly replied. "I will not do that, not while I still can stand and do something. Joining this DPT is a good exercise for me.”

”I want do something for my community, no matter how little," Burhanuddin added. "Also, I want to learn about disaster to cope with my fear.”

PREPARE SumBar — which is funded by the disaster preparedness arm of the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid department — is training 8 DPTs, 12 SDPTs (School Disaster Preparedness Team) and working with leading government agencies in around the area. With this capacity building, it is expected that the community will be able to face further disasters better, making them more secure and resilient.

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November 16 marked my one-year service anniversary with Mercy Corps West Sumatra. I realized this fact upon the ferry that I rode in with four other members of the Indonesia Response Team (IRT), as we docked in Bungus Port, Padang after a 15-hour journey from Sikakap, where we've based our emergency response for the tsunami-stricken Mentawai Islands.

It has been a challenging year for me, as a Communications and Monitoring-Evaluation Officer here. Lucky I always have the fullest support from the rest of the team. Over the course of the year, we have gone from eight programmes, down to five programmes, then two programmes before revving up with new programmes for the devastated Mentawai Islands.

When I arrived, Mercy Corps West Sumatra worked in two districts that are vulnerable to disaster: Padang Pariaman and Pesisir Selatan. Earlier this year, we added Padang City and Agam District. This month, after disaster struck, Mentawai Islands joined the list.

With so much happening here, I am fortunate for always been presented with endless opportunities to learn something new and unlock hidden potential, both in me and my colleagues.

My mentor said this to me before I decided to take this post in West Sumatra: ”If you do not challenge yourself, how will you develop your capacity? Do not feel too comfortable with what you have now, always be thirsty for new opportunities!”

I am glad I took her advice and came here. It’s only been 12 months and I’ve signed up for another year, ready for new challenges as well as new learning opportunities.

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It had already been a week since our Director, Erynn Carter, asked me to prepare myself to conduct the Joint Need Assesment for our emergency earthquake and tsunami response in the Mentawai Islands Yet, the tropical cyclone that has been hampering the coasts of West Sumatra and the Mentawai Islands threw off any plans we had.

This is the fact that you must be ready to face when you work in Mentawai, a colleague from an international non-governmental organisation (NGO) said. Weather is very essential if you plan to work in Mentawai. Some boat accidents already happened in Mentawai waters, and although they thankfully claimed no lives, they resulted in lost materials and aid for the Mentawai people.

The KRI (Indonesian Battleship) Cirebon 543, which I rode to the Mentawai Islands to help with Mercy Corps' emergency response. Photo: Juan Christie/Mercy Corps

Finally, I had the chance to depart for the disaster-stricken islands on Sunday, November 7. The Indonesian Navy deployed three battle ships, including the one I was in, KRI (Indonesian Battleship) Cirebon 543. We sailed away with some other volunteers and NGO members to Sikakap, where the command centre for Mentawai emergency response is situated.

I had no problem with the ten-hour journey across the calm sea, especially knowing that some of Mercy Corps staff had already conducted some distributions to survivors using simple long boats in the middle of the rain and rough sea. The usual travel time using passenger boats or ferryboats is around 18 to 22 hours, so being aboard a faster ship was really fortunate for me.

I am here in Mentawai to collect data from other NGOs and enter it into our assessment database. This database, developed by members of the Emergency Capacity Building (ECB) group, was supposedly to be tested out in Jakarta on November 3, 2010. Now, Mercy Corps — as the lead agency — must test it out in real emergency conditions.

Having reliable data is as important as having a targeted distribution of supplies during an emergency response. With good data management, the risk of overlapping assistance in certain areas can be avoided. Thus, the data can later be used to map which areas have been affected by disasters, but have not received any assistance.

So here I am, on the ground at last, in Sikakap, Mentawai. Let’s do this!

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October was a busy month for Mercy Corps and for the people of West Sumatra.

I happened to follow nearly all of Mercy Corps' programme activities last month, starting with the One-Year Commemoration Event of the devastating earthquake that hit West Sumatra Province on September 30, 2009. As a part of our disaster awareness campaign, we are constantly reminding people about the importance of having disaster risk awareness in mind. Here are some key events happened in October 2010:

A motorcycle eases across a temporary replacement for the tsunami-damaged bridge that linked the islands of North and South Pagai, Mentawai. Photo: courtesy of Tito/Save the Children

• October 13, 2010 — we had a clean-up day in Padang city, as a part of commemorating the International Disaster Risk Reduction Day. Around 350 people, ranging from fellow non-governmental organisations, government bodies and mountaineering clubs attended the event. The Vice Mayor of Padang City opened the event.
• October 25, 2010 — an earthquake measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale hit the Pagai Selatan island of Mentawai. The earthquake was felt by the citizens of Padang and — remembering the last big earthquake — some people fled into higher ground. The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Body issued a tsunami warning, although withdrawn an hour later.
• October 26, 2010 – we had a Padang City Earthquake and Tsunami Drill. This is in addition to the Padang City Evacuation Map that we distributed on September 30, 2010. Around 3,500 people joined this drill, despite the previous night's earthquake. That afternoon, preliminary reports from the tsunami Mentawai Islands arrived — and it was devastating. The government announced the emergency response to disaster, welcoming any help from the international community as well.
• October 27, 2010 — Mercy Corps sent Wawan Budianto, who had experience working in Mentawai, to do the initial assessment for our emergency response. Arriving the next day, Wawan quickly gathered his old contacts to assess the situation.

In the next two days, three more Mercy Corps staff arrived — including two staff from Jakarta — with 500 tarps and 500 jerry cans to be distributed.

My heart goes to the people of Mentawai and all the emergency responders there. As of now, the unpredictable weather, lack of boats to transport supplies, and damaged infrastructure is making the response harder. In addition, the tsunami changed Mentawai's coastline, meaning that any boats going into the Mentawai's waters must pay highest attention.

With this article, I would like to ask all of you to send your positive energy both to the survivors and the emergency responders. Hopefully, things will get better this month.

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