Community Stories: Ibu Kasmabati

This is Ibu Kasmabati and her Mother (70 yrs), amidst the ruins of their family home in Sungai Geringging, Indonesia. On 30 September 2009, the 1st of two earthquakes struck West Sumatra and destroyed the dwelling that had housed their extended family since 1965.

Kasmabati works security and cleaning at the elementary school while her husband, Wan, sells chickens in the local market and works as a day laborer. Kasmabati and Wan’s joint income falls below the average monthly income for the area of $70 USD. Almost all of Kasmabati’s wages go towards uniforms, books, and school supplies for their 3 children, leaving the family with only Wan’s income to rebuild and meet the rest of the family’s needs.

HODR volunteers worked with Wan to deconstruct the home and salvage valuable materials for rebuilding. The trauma of seeing their collapsed home is now over and the rebuilding process begins.

With your donations and support we can help more families like theirs. With $250 we can supply a team of volunteers with tools to deconstruct earthquake-condemned homes, providing a clean slate to rebuild and as many as two-months-wages’ worth of salvaged bricks. With $700 we can support 20 volunteers for one week - that’s more than 1,000 volunteer hours helping families in need! We’re developing a shelter program, and while we’re still hammering out the details, for about $1,500 USD we hope to be able to build a family a transitional shelter, providing a safe place to live during the long process of rebuilding - currently many families are still living in tents.

Please give us millions of dollars so we can keep helping families in need. Okay, I guess we understand if you can’t give millions. But we do hope you’ll do all you can in this season of giving to help us provide safe space and shelter to Kasmabati & Wan, and other families like theirs. Your gift makes a direct impact.

Wishing you and yours all the best this holiday season!!
Thanks for your support!
-The HODR Team

INDONESIA: Project Sungai Geringging Update - Week 6

Wow, what an amazing start to Project Sungai Geringging (still love saying that!). We opened our doors on 25 October 2009 and in the following weeks have had 65 volunteers, representing 13 countries spanning the globe from Indonesia to Canada to Ireland to Russia to Lebanon!

We are assisting survivors of the 7.9 earthquake which rocked Western Sumatra on 30 September, 2009, and was followed by a separate 7.0 earthquake the following day. The earthquake damaged over 200,000 homes and survivors now struggle to remove the ruins and erect shelter as the rainy season quickly approaches.

Decon 5 (deconstruction)
We started with it on Day 1 and we’re still busy with it – deconstruction of rural homes. During the earthquake homes shook violently and walls buckled, often leaving the roof intact. Although the affected population of Padang Pariaman is proactively working to reclaim their ruined homes, many are so severely damaged that it is beyond the community’s ability to deal with the unstable structure. So the homes sit as a haunting reminder, precariously waiting to fall. The HODR hard hat team analyzes the structure, creates a safe working environment, re-claims salvageable materials, then in a controlled fashion brings the roof to the ground. Once the overhead hazard has been eliminated, volunteers busily remove the corrugated metal (aka zinc/galvanized iron/GI), disassemble the wooden trusses, and separate usable brick/stone from mortar. To date we have assisted in the safe deconstruction of 21 homes and 1 elementary school.

Salvage
The driving force behind what we are doing is not only the elimination of unsafe structures but also the salvage of rebuilding materials. Doors, windows, ventilation block, wood, and zinc are all high value items in this area and everything we salvage translates directly to a cost saving when rebuilding. We have seen families utilizing their salvaged materials almost as quickly as we create it, turning the recycled pieces into temporary shelters and kitchens. The local household income for our area is equal to about US$70.00 per month, and our brick salvage efforts alone equates to about 2 months wages!

Infrastructure
As our numbers swell, we’ve been keeping one step ahead with the build-out of our base. Our house starts as a blank slate (a pretty spacious fantastic blank slate), and over the weeks we’ve brought in bunks, built shelves, erected large canvas tents to increase the sleeping space and common areas, and expanded our rainwater catchment system to supply our water. If you arrive at the project today, it should look like the familiar HODR setup that you’ve seen at our other projects around the world. Thanks to all the volunteers who have worked at the base, making it a more comfortable and efficient place from which to run our work in the field.

1st Time & Repeat Volunteers
One of the highest compliments to our organization is to have a volunteer repeat their service at another project. We are proud of our programs and the work our return volunteers enable us to do (38% of volunteers on this project). Project Sungai Geringging is breaking some new ground on our international front with a high percentage of 1st time volunteers (62% of volunteers on this project). It is an honor to have so many people willing to fly almost around the world to join us on their first HODR experience. Thank you!

School #9
Although, schools (particularly primary schools) suffered heavy damages in the earthquake, resources for temporary classrooms were quickly mobilized and many now sport rows of temporary timber/plywood classrooms – a more conducive learning environment than hot canvas tents! However these temporary classrooms are often built right next to a precariously damaged masonry school building. Our deconstruction team worked side by side with local volunteers to “safe” an elementary school in a neighboring korong (neighborhood). The work was complicated and the scale was much bigger than the single-family homes we have been working on. Nonetheless, we brought the huge trusses down and salvaged tin that was quickly used to construct new temporary classrooms. Now, a new 3-classroom school building is under construction on the very site we helped demolish and clear.

Teaching English
On many of our international projects we have the opportunity to help students learn and practice English. In this case a local high school teacher invited our volunteers to come to his classes and engage students in conversational English with his students. Now, 2 days a week our volunteers engage high school students in topics ranging from life at home to life on the go.

Distribution
Project Sungai Geringging has been helped by many people so far, one of them being Pak Andreas, an Indonesian businessman based in Jakarta. He continued his support in the form of a donation of hygiene, household, and food items to be distributed to our neighbors. Our volunteers unpacked, inventoried, sorted, and repackaged the goods in suitable portions and will distribute them with the help of local Posko (community-based information exchange) organizers. In all more than 500 beneficiary families will receive needed items!

Malalak Safari
HODR is always looking for opportunities to help communities in need and for ways to engage our volunteers in meaningful programs, often in partnership with other organizations. One week ago, we started working with IBU Foundation, an Indonesian NGO at work in Agam (the district just north of us) where they are building an IDP (internally-displaced persons) camp. These families lost their entire community in earthquake-induced landslides, and now they’re working with IBU to build shelters, water systems, and latrines in their new home.

So far our work with IBU Foundation has taken us to Sini Air camp. As a HODR satellite project, our volunteer team lives and works away from our main base. In this case, they’re living in the IDP camp in a remote area (more remote than Sungai Geringging!) with no infrastructure. In the first round of this project, we installed 10 rainwater catchment systems on the transitional shelters; this week we return to help construct 2 communal latrine blocks.

People & Place
Part of a HODR project is experiencing the community we live and work in. Sungai Geringging has been friendly and welcoming to the volunteers who have come here to help. “Hello Mister!” and cheerful motorbike horn beeps ring out wherever we pass. Volunteers have become an established presence at the local warungs (streetside food stands) and in the market. We were even invited to a local wedding party! Volunteers have also explored the area on their own, taking weekend trips to Bukittinggi, hiking up local volcano Gunung Merapi, and renting boats off the beach in Pariaman. Through these activities, we gain a better understanding of the people and the place of Padang Pariaman. (Ok fine, the trips to Bukittinggi might just result in appreciation for the Big Bucket at KFC.)

With two and a half months of Project Sungai Geringging left, there’s plenty of time to come and volunteer! Taking it one house at a time, we’ll continue our deconstruction/salvage work as well as expand the diversity of our programs with the community and NGOs, bringing Sungai Geringging closer to the path to recovery.

Marc Young
International Operations Director
Hands On Disaster Response

A Day in the Life of a Volunteer - Project Sungai Geringging

Hi from Project Sungai Geringging!

In response to the recent earthquakes in Indonesia more than 50 volunteers from 11 countries have pitched in to help get the community back on its feet, and we’re excited to share this video that was put together by volunteers on-project. Thanks for your support!

INDONESIA: Project Sungai Geringging!

On Sunday, October 25, 2009, we opened our doors to volunteers to join us as we live and work with the people of Sungai Geringging to recover and rebuild from the recent earthquakes.

We are assisting survivors of the 7.9 earthquake which rocked Western Sumatra on 30 September, 2009, and was followed by a separate 7.0 earthquake the following day. The earthquake damaged over 200,000 homes and survivors now struggle to remove rubble and erect shelter as the rainy season quickly approaches. We anticipate working for four months, with the possibility of month-to-month extensions as needed. (If you watched this video of the assessment, you can catch a glimpse of our new base in Padang Pariaman, Sumatra, Indonesia!)

The HODR assessment team has been on the ground since 11 October, 2009, identifying key areas where volunteers can support the community’s mid-term recovery. For specific details of the project and how to get involved take a look at the Volunteer Info section of this site. Please contact Tom at info@hodr.org if you are interested in joining us for Project Sungai Geringging (please put project name as the subject)!

HODR previously worked in Jogjakarta, Indonesia following a 6.3 earthquake in 2006.

Thank you for your support. Donations to our South Pacific Disaster Recovery Fund will go towards Project Sungai Geringging. You can continue to follow our progress via Twitter (@HODRopsIN).

We hope to see you soon!

VIDEO: Indonesia Assessment - A Day in the Life

Follow Marc & Stef along on the assessment in Padang, Indonesia, following a 7.9 earthquake on Sept. 30, 2009.

More on our Indonesia Earthquake Assessment:
Photos
Video
More info
See daily updates from our assessment team on the ground on Twitter @HODRopsIN

INDONESIA: Earthquake Assessment Announcement

On September 30, 2009, a 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck Sumatra, Indonesia. In addition to severe damage in the cities of Padang and Pariaman City and surrounding areas, heavy rains and landslides that followed the earthquake resulted in additional damage and displacement. The government of Indonesia reports over 200,000 homes damaged; the majority of earthquake survivors have remained at their homes, struggling to remove rubble and erect shelter as the rainy season quickly approaches.

HODR is sending a team to Indonesia to assess whether we can establish a volunteer response project. International operations director Marc Young and project director Stefanie Chang will arrive in Jakarta on Sunday, October 11, 2009 and continue on to Padang.

HODR previously worked in Jogjakarta, Indonesia from May-October 2006 following a 6.2 earthquake.

If you’re interested in volunteering at a potential Indonesia response project, we encourage you to email Tom at info@hodr.org. If you have Indonesia contacts that you’re able to share, please send them to stef@hodr.org.

Thank you for your support. In addition to watching this space for updates, you can also follow the assessment team on Twitter: @HODRopsIN. HODR is also accepting donations for our South Pacific Disaster Recovery Fund here.

Updated Oct. 12: HODR Launches South Pacific Emergency Appeal

MEDIA RELEASE:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information please contact:
Beca Howard, Communications Manager
781.570.9412Beca@HODR.org

CARLISLE, MA, 10/12/09 — Within the span of five days the South Pacific was been devastated by a string of natural disasters. Hands On Disaster Response (HODR) is on the ground in Indonesia and the Samoan Islands, and has launched a fundraising appeal to support the recovery efforts. HODR, a recently accepted National VOAD Member, is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that harnesses the power of volunteers to bring direct assistance to survivors of natural disasters both in the US and around the world.

The organization’s South Pacific Disaster Recovery Fund aims to raise $250,000 toward the recovery efforts following the recent series of disasters.

“There’s a tremendous amount of suffering in the South Pacific right now after the recent string of disasters. Fortunately, we have experience in two of the affected areas having run successful campaigns to address the needs in 2006 following a super-typhoon in the Philippines and an earthquake in Indonesia,” says Marc Young, International Operations Director for HODR.

HODR projects organize volunteer work to meet the unique needs of the community, and can include everything from debris removal to rebuilding homes and schools. On the organization’s 2006 deployment to the Philippines volunteers rebuilt and renovated elementary school and daycare facilities, built fishing boats to restore the livelihood of fishing villages, and dug out nearly 150 homes buried by the mudflows. HODR’s 2006 Indonesian earthquake response mainly focused on rubble removal and salvaging materials, which residents quickly used to rebuild.

South Pacific Tsunami
On September 29 a powerful 8.0 earthquake created a series of tsunami waves that struck American Samoa, Western Samoa, and a small northern island in Tonga. Some of the waves are estimated to have been as high as 6 meters (more than 19 feet) high, and initial estimates show that as many as 15,000 people have been affected.

Sumatra Earthquake
On September 30 a devastating 7.6 earthquake struck the Indonesian island of Sumatra and within 24 hours a second earthquake of magnitude 7.0 hit, causing further damage on the stricken island.

HODR assessment teams in both the Samoan Islands and Indonesia are meeting with local officials, visiting affected areas and evaluating the recovery needs in order to determine further involvement and the potential for volunteer projects.

For more information and updates visit www.HODR.org and follow the HODR field teams on Twitter:
Twitter@HODRopsINTwitter@HODRopsUSA

To support HODR’s South Pacific Disaster Recovery Fund please visit www.HODR.org/SouthPacific.