Palu & Donggala Emergency Relief

Our third visit to Palu and Donggala happened on November 20th for a duration of one week. The main focus was still to distribute basic necessities, such as food, water, hygiene equipment, clothing and educational materials for children. We were also able to purchase three (3) electricity generators for communities who were still living without electricity.

Our team observed that most aid agencies have left Palu. Only a few are still active and the assistance is incidental.

The villages visited by the YUM team were:

• Biromaru: The refugees are scattered in several points of evacuation in conditions that are quite alarming. The team organized a trauma healing session for children including entertainment programs, singing together, and shared snacks. Some 200 children were involved in this activity.

• Tanjung Padang: Coinciding with the commemoration of Mother’s Day in Indonesia, this trip also focused on providing assistance to mothers and women such as giving out basic personal hygiene kits as well as bread and 150 aid packages.

• Sirenja: During this trip, we checked on the construction of temporary shelters, for which YUM donated approximately $1,000. The construction plan targets 70 units of 5 x 5 meters in size, with wood frame, zinc roofing and fibre cement walls. Furthermore, these shelters can function as kitchens or tradestalls.

• Amal: During our visit, we realised that very little assistance had so far been given to refugees because the village is located in a remote area; this tribal community was badly hit by landslides.The team provided assistance in the form of towels, underwear and local snacks for adults and children. The number of refugees there is 86 from 24 families.

• Saloya: We visited the Saloya shelter for a third time. Refugees in this shelter have made efforts to improve the quality of their life; they established an emergency school tent, measures to ensure hygiene are taken and the blankets that had previously been distributed by our team have been washed regularly. The community was welcoming and friendly and ready to cooperate. At this shelter, the team also held activities with the children.

• Kaliburu: Kaliburu is a shelter that was identified by the local team as having received minimal assistance so far. Because going there by car is not possible, the team brought assistance to the farthest point that can be accessed and the community picked up the relief goods using a motorcycle.

Our team also reported that temporary shelters are needed as soon as possible given the health of the refugees and the frustation that can result from living in camps for long periods of time. The government has so far only planned to build 12,000 houses out of 86,000 severely damaged, while temporary shelters provided by aid agencies are categorized as uninhabitable (the same happened in Aceh some years ago).

Thank you once again for your generous support to this much needed project!