Responding to the Disaster at Mount Sinabung
Mount Sinabung disaster
After lying dormant for over 400 years, on Friday of August 28th 2010, mount Sinabung which is located in the district of Karo in the province of North Sumatra showed some volcanic activities by spewing volcanic ashes and lava from its first eruption which was followed by a tower of volcanic ashes 3500 meters above the sea level. The volcanic activities scared the people living near the volcano like the village of Kuta Gugung, Bekerahm Simacem, Sigarang-Garang, Naman, Gamber, Kuta Tonggal, Kutarayat, Berastepu. The people in Karo had never seen any volcanic activities for many generations, the latest was the eruption of Mount Sibayak (1881), and the earthquake in the Batu Karang region (1936).
In the 31st of august 2010, in order to respond to the disaster emergency issued by the Center of Volcanic and the Mitigation of Geological Disaster (PVMBG) the Gerakan Kemanusiaan Indonesia (GKI) team was mobilised to the distrit of Karo, visiting one of the refugee areas in the village of Perbesi in the district of Tiga Binanga, Karo. The team was welcomed by Rev. Philip Sembiring Meliala the pastor of the GBKP Rungun Perbesi church. The team found around ±250 refugees from the villages of Susuk and Tanjung. The village of Perbesi was one of the remote villages located far from the district capital of Karo, Kabanjahe. With motor vehicles it took around 2 hours to travel from Kabanjahe. In this village the GKI-Humanitarian planned to make a command center to deliver services to the surrounding areas that has not yet been accessed by the medical team.
In September 1st 2010, the GKI-Humanitarian sent 3 medical volunteers (2 doctors and 1 medical volunteer) from Jakarta to join with the advance team that was already present in Kabanjahe, to set up the command center in Perbesi village. In the command center of GBKP Kabanjahe the GKI-Humanitarian was welcomed by Rev. Agus Purba, Rev. Shimon Tarigan. By the Moderamen GBKP in Kabanjahe, the team was asked to serve the village of Perbesi and its surroundings.
After spending the night in the center PPWG GBKP Kabanjahe, the next day the GKI-Humanitarian went to the village of Perbesi. After a 2 hours journey the GKI medical team arrived and was welcomed by Rev. Philip Meliala. The team then was invited to have lunch together with the refugees. Here we see the superb coordination inside the congregation of GBKP Perbesi in serving the refugees, starting from the preparation of the food in the communal kitchen up until the distribution of the food. Rice, vegetables and all sorts of meals was distributed by the refuges taking scoops of food from the buckets carried around by the members of congregation. For those who never see such custom it may look odd and extra ordinary, but it is a custom in Karo when there are occasions such as weddings, funerals, birthdays of kampong (yearly works).
REFUGEES
Customs and tradition of Tanah Karo has a significant part in the coordination of disaster mitigation such as this one, said Kalimbubu-anakberu (the social stratum of the society in Tanah Karo), aside from that the custom of the society in Tanah Karo dictates that guest have to be treated well, making all the church volunteers understands their respective tasks. This understanding can be seen throughout each and every refugee camp visited by the GKI-Humanitarian, and there are no refugee left starving.
The refugees are mainly distributed in the people’s meeting hall (Jambur), either owned by the government or private owned that spread across every town and villages and in churches.
The refugees located in Jambur or the people’s meeting hall are packed in a small space without walls, the region of Tanah Karo is very cold during the night, it can reach 18o C, which is very cold. The condition was dire, especially for children and toddlers who had to feel the cold every night. The limited number of blankets was one of the constraints in the first days of the eruption. Many of the refugees lacked clean clothing because they had to flee their homes immediately and many only have the clothes they’re wearing. As well as the lack of children’s clothing. Therefore the GKI-Humanitarian distributed the help in the form of children’s clothing to the refugees.
Medical Service
Few days after the eruption, many of the refuges started to get sick. It was because of the sudden change of living, the changing of environment and lack of rest, fear, and food.
Many of the refugees are still frightened when hearing the roaring explosion of mount Sinabung after hearing the explosion that night, many of the patient under the care of team GKI explained that they feel troubled and feared about the eruption every night. Worse still is the village of Susuk, which lies only 3 km from the mountain top of mount Sinabung, the villagers panicked after hearing the noise of a cat walking in their tin roof, thought that it was an eruption and was getting ready to flee their village.
The schedule of team GKI services are as follows:
Considering that the refugees had been living in the camps for several days, many of the refugees fell ill, the help and services given by team GKI in various places are as follows:
- Medical Service
- 02/09/2010 Perbesi Village 117 people
- 03/09/2010 Perbesi Village 118 people
- 03/09/2010 Bintang Meriah Village 71 people
- 03/09/2010 Siabang-abang Village 100 people
- 03/09/2010 Kutabuluh Village 50 people
- 04/09/2010 Perbesi Village 48 people
- 05/09/2010 GBKP Center 38 people
- 05/09/2010 Department of religion Kabanjahe command post 20 people
- 06/09/2010 Siabang-abang Village 92 people
- 06/09/2010 Perbesi Village 101 people
- 08/09/2010 GBKP center 84 people
- 08/09/2010 GBKP church Runggun Simpang Enam 29 people
- 09/09/2010 KWK GBKP Brastagi 95 Orang
The total number of people served by team GKI was 963
- Non-Medical services
1. 600 pairs of clothing and pants in various sizes for children and toddlers.
2. Kitchen wares:
a. Buckets 24 pcs
b. Basins 4 pcs
c. Teapots 12 pcs
d. Spoon 24 pcs
e. Vegetable scoop 24 pcs
f. Disinfectant 10 box
g. Blender 1 pcs
h. Barrels 29 pcs
i. Big soup ladles 3 pcs
j. Glass’ tray 24 pcs
k. Plastic boxes
l. Reinforcement for the communal kitchen in the refugee camp in GBKP centre.
- Field coordinator supplies
Alongside theKA/KR GBKP the GKI-Humanitarian conducted trauma healing services in various refugee camps, which took place in:
1. The office of Klasis Kabanjahe
2. Jambur Tuah
3. Jambur Guru Pulungen
4. Jambur Sempakata
5. GBKP centre
6. KA/KR building in Katepul st.
7. Office of Department of Religion Kabanjahe
8. Jambur Lige
9. Jambur Adil Makmur
10. KWK Brastagi
11. Jambur Taras Brastagi
12. Desa Perbesi
13. Desa Singgamanik
14. Desa Tiga Binanga
15. Desa Tanjung
16. Desa Kuta Buluh
17. Desa Siabang-abang
The situation in the refugee camp was swarming with people walking to and fro at night, whether preparing for food or the distribution of incoming food and donations from NGOs and churches made it hard for the refugees to get some rest.
Aside from that, there were a lot of patients with preconditioned illness such as Diabetes Mellitus, Arthritis Gout, and Hypercholesterolemia. The diet of most people in Karo which consist of pork and coconut milk resulted in patients, found by the GKI-Humanitarian, having blood pressure of 220/140 mmHG, but found no significant ailment from the patients, and as predicted with such custom, there are also people with Diabetes having blood sugar rate of 450mg/ml.
Respiratory problems (inflammation of upper respiratory tract) are the most common ailment faced by the GKI medical team, and most cases are faced by children and toddlers. Due to poor hygiene, cold environment, and the enormous consumption of instant food by the children resulted in the decrease of the immune system making the toddlers susceptible to immune related illness such as diarrhoea and viral infections.
While serving in the refugee camp in KWK GBKP Berastagi, the resting GKI medical team was woken up in the middle of the night at 03.00 WIB because of an emergency. There was a toddler with severely high fever (almost 400C) the patient’s condition was critical and might endanger the patient’s life. At first the patient tried to wake one of the team members, but since the patient wore black attire it gave fright to the team member because as he recalled the gates were closed already, and the surrounding areas are a bit eerie. After the second attempt the patient was received by one of the GKI-Humanitarian member, Mr. Irianto, after dr. Johannes A. Kemit check on the patient and gave some medication the patient returns to their camp which is not too far from the team’s lodging. We were glad to hear that the patient was cured in the next morning. The very same day the team and the refugees in KWK GBKP Berastagi was visited by the representative of Moderamen Central of GBKP who wished to interview the refugees, without any us knowing, the patient who came to our lodge the night before told the representative about how satisfied and enthusiasm about the services given by the GKI-Humanitarian.
The constraints during the service of GKI-Humanitarian in the area of Perbesi and the surrounding areas was caused by the sheer distance and bad conditions of roads between each refugee pockets, and often it took all day to reach one area, the medical services are also often given until late in the night. This was caused by the refugees daily activities, either working in the fields or returning to their homes to check on their belongings, and returns to the refugee camp at night.
