Mennonite Central Committee

MCC responds to March 28 earthquake off coast of Indonesia

April 6, 2005

As part of a multi-million dollar tsunami response in Asia, Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) is also committing $60,700 Cdn./$50,000 U.S. to respond to devastation on the island of Nias from a March 28 earthquake.

 

Earthquake

The quake struck off the coast of Indonesia on the same fault line as the Dec. 26, 2004, quake which created a tsunami that killed tens of thousands of people in 12 countries around the Indian Ocean.

MCC, which had supported projects in Nias in response to the Dec. 26 tsunami, is responding to the March 28 earthquake through a partner organization YAKKUM Emergency Unit (YEU), the emergency response arm of the Christian Public Health Association of Java.

 

Response Details

According to the project proposal, YEU is providing a team of 21 medical and logistical staff and responding with mobile clinics, as well as providing clean water and food, building toilet and shower facilities and providing body bags, gloves and boots for workers removing the dead.

Because YEU had been in working in Nias since January, teams were in place to continue and expand emergency services immediately after the March 28 earthquake.

 

Work in Nias

By the end of March, the YEU medical team had been providing medical services in eight locations in the island’s main town, Gunungsitoli, and had also built an emergency field hospital, the first emergency hospital in Nias. YEU was constructing several bathing, washing and toilet facilities in Gunungsitoli.

MCC has supported health work in Nias in the aftermath of the Dec. 26 tsunami and also provided funds to mobilize personnel to provide relief supplies and clean water equipment, to send medical personnel and medicines and to send volunteers to bury the dead.

 

MCC Workers

MCC workers in Banda Aceh, Aceh Province, Indonesia, report that they were shaken by the quake but are safe. Workers in Sri Lanka were notified of the quake and advised to move to higher elevations in the event of a tsunami.