At least 6,000 children still in temporary shelters, six months after the Sulawesi disaster in Indonesia

INDONESIA – Thousands of children are still in need of permanent housing, six months on from the devastating earthquake and tsunami which ravished Indonesia last September.

An estimated 6,000 children[1] are still living in temporary housing. These children are navigating open sewers and mounds of sharp rubble daily, and being exposed to diseases such as diarrhoea and pneumonia. There has already been a major outbreak of Dengue fever in Indonesia.

“Tens of thousands of people have been helped, but time is critical for the estimated 6,000 children still living in temporary accommodation, such as tents,” said Tom Howells, Save the Children’s Response Team Leader in Indonesia. “These tents or makeshift homes often have bare floors, which flood when it rains, and are generally unsafe for children.”

Over 4,300 people were killed and over 170,000 people displaced in the disaster in Sulawesi, which was Indonesia’s deadliest in over a decade. The event also badly damaged or destroyed over 40,000 homes.

Since the disaster struck, Save the Children in Indonesia has been working to ensure children’s immediate needs are met and basic services can operate.

“The scale of destruction means that the relief effort is still ongoing, even for a disaster-prone country such as Indonesia, with strong government capacity,” said Bill Chambers. “Aftershocks are still being felt six months on and the crisis has been very distressing and destabilizing for girls and boys in particular.”

Despite ongoing and longer term recovery needs, funds are drying up. We now call on Canada and other members of the international community to ensure adequate funding is sustained to support local response and recovery efforts.

Indonesia is no stranger to natural disasters, but last year was a particularly brutal year with over 2,000 such events[2]. Over 5000 people lost their lives to earthquakes, tsunamis and landslides across Indonesia in 2018, thousands of others were injured, and tens of thousands more displaced.

Save the Children’s response in Sulawesi

Save the Children, which operates through local partner Yayasan Sayangi Tunas Cilik in Indonesia, has been working on the ground in the affected communities since this disaster struck.

At the outset we focused on reuniting separated children and providing emergency water, shelter and sanitation to desperate families. We then moved to longer-term sustainable solutions, like building learning centres, helping people rebuild their livelihoods and ensuring people, especially children are prepared for ongoing aftershocks and future disasters.

To date we have reached over 140,000 people, including over 70,000 children. We have distributed shelter kits, hygiene kits and water kits to over 25,000 households, making sure children and their families have a roof over their heads and are less vulnerable to diseases caught through dirty water.

We are running over 50 child-friendly spaces, which give children the opportunity to recover, play, and be children again, while their families rebuild their lives and livelihoods. We have reached over 9000 children and adults through psychosocial interventions, helping them to recover from the intense fear and stress that such a terrifying event will cause. And we’ve established 26 temporary learning spaces, where children can access learning opportunities while their classrooms are rebuilt.

ENDS

[1] The Indonesian National Agency for Disaster Management (BNPB) https://bnpb.go.id/pemulihan-bencana-dan-relokasi-pengungsi-sulawesi-tengah

[2] Indonesia’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-28/the-five-most-deadly-natural-disasters-in-indonesia-this-year/10668480