When Ipon’s house collapsed into rubble one week ago in Sumatra, Indonesia, the 40-year-old farmer and father of three didn’t wait around to see what would happen next. Rains were coming and his family had to have shelter. Ipon started picking through the pieces of his quake-shattered home, salvaging sheet metal and sawing up a family cupboard for wood. In less than a week, he built a rudimentary shelter that kept the worst of the rain off.

Regional Information Officer Laura Sheahen captured some brief video of Ipon and what he’s accomplished so far.

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An Indonesian family celebrates a Ramadan meal on the ground outside their quake-destroyed home. Photo by Laura Sheahen/CRS

As hard as I try to skirt broken glass and shattered roof tiles, my footsteps crackle as our CRS team moves through a quake-damaged village in Indonesia. In many alleyways, there’s simply nowhere else to walk.

Seventy-two hours after the powerful quake struck, CRS has already distributed thousands of blankets, lamps, tarps and more to villagers who fled their collapsing homes. Our crew is now surveying the damage, trying to figure out which houses might be made livable and which ones can’t be salvaged.

Mostly with their bare hands, men are working on the less-damaged buildings, trying to mend roofs. I see no wheelbarrows, few tools and zero ladders; how did they get up there?

Food and water are available, but most of the men working in the sun are hungry and thirsty. It’s Ramadan, when observant Muslims abstain from food and drink during daylight hours. That means the men ate at around 4 a.m., and won’t eat again until almost 6 in the evening.

Talking to dozens of women and children whose only home now is a large army tent, I ask if they’re fasting too. “Of course!” they chorus, smiling. I see families sitting on blankets in their debris-strewn yards, breaking the day’s fast with a meal as festive as they can make it. Even in the midst of destruction, the celebration brings joy.

But the days are dragging by and there’s no sign of how soon people in the tent camps will be able to leave. Children sit with their mothers on dusty mattresses; their school was damaged too, so there are no classes. “We’re worried it will be worse in October, the rainy season,” says one woman. “I want my house to be like it was before,” says an elderly grandmother.

As residents rebuild, CRS will share its engineers’ experience and distribute tools. “CRS plans to provide things like nails, hammers, wheelbarrows, spades, and shovels,” says Yenni Suryani, country team leader for CRS Indonesia. The tools will be for short-term cleanup of debris now and reconstruction soon. “The people are eager to fix their houses,” continues Suryani. “They just need the tools to make it happen.”

Reported by Laura Sheahen, CRS regional information officer, Asia and the Pacific Rim.

Displaced people stand in front of a government-issued tent. “100 people slept here last night,” said a 55-year-old woman named Suliah. Photo by Laura Sheahen/CRS

By the light of a full moon, children are playing late-night soccer in what looks like a fairground. Four enormous tents loom in the background. Nearby, a few smaller tents have festive red and white stripes.

It’s Ramadan, a time of celebration, but this is no festival. It’s a camp for people whose houses collapsed in the Sept. 2 earthquake that struck West Java, Indonesia.

In poor villages near the southern Java coast, and in neighborhoods in the town of Tasikmalaya, tens of thousands of people became homeless in a matter of seconds. Many are now crowded into government-issued tents, sleeping 50 or even 80 people to a tent.

“In this tent, it doesn’t smell good, it’s hot, and there are mosquitoes,” says a 55-year-old woman named Suliah. “It’s noisy and hard to sleep.”

For all their limitations, the huge olive-green tents are an improvement over the previous nights’ lodgings. “The night after the quake I went to the hills,” says Uti Sapti, a 75-year-old grandmother. “I slept on the ground—there were no blankets or tents. Thursday night we also slept on the ground, but near my house.”

To escape the cramped conditions of the big tents, some villagers are creating makeshift dwellings in their debris-strewn yards. “I borrowed this tarp,” says Uti, pointing to a blue plastic sheet stretched between trees. “Ten people sleep under it.” Chickens peck around the bed Uti managed to salvage from her house.

As CRS staffers move around the village, assessing the damage the 7.3-earthquake left in its wake, it’s clear that shelter is a top priority. For the short term, CRS is providing sturdier tarps so villagers who can safely stay in their yards can leave the communal tents.

“Hygiene is a concern,” says Syahri Ramadhan, emergency program manager for CRS Indonesia. “People are going to open fields because the bathrooms are buried under rubble. Some of the wells are too.”

Living in the larger tents, some villagers are falling ill. “My six-year-old daughter has a fever,” says one woman. One of the smaller tents in the camp area is being used for a clinic run by a CRS partner; patients mention rashes and stomach problems.

“After a quake, it’s important to get families into safer, cleaner living spaces quickly,” says Yenni Suryani, country team leader for CRS Indonesia. “It’s a challenge we’ve met before here in Indonesia, and we’re ready to meet it again.”

Reported by Laura Sheahen, CRS regional information officer, Asia and the Pacific Rim.

The rubble of a destroyed house is seen after a dam burst on the outskirts of Jakarta. A burst dam unleashed a wall of water on the outskirts of the Indonesian capital. Photo by Reuters/Dadang Tri, courtesy www.alertnet.org

With help from CRS, Jakarta residents whose homes were washed away when a dam burst are getting blankets, clothes, and tarps. On Thursday March 26, heavy rains hit the Indonesian capital of Jakarta and surrounding areas. A major dam burst, and the resulting flood claimed the lives of over 80 people; over one hundred more people are still reported missing. Hundreds of houses have been destroyed or flooded, and families are living in temporary shelters.

CRS’ local partners are distributing aid to affected families. “CRS had already prepositioned items like blankets and tarps for emergency responses,” says Richard Balmadier, Country Representative for CRS Indonesia. “So our partners have been able to swing into action quickly.” CRS partner Yayasan Ibu (“Mothers’ Foundation”) has given out 200 sarongs, 270 blankets and 20 tarps. The sarongs are used as clothing, and the tarps are used to create makeshift tents. CRS has also provided the diocese of Jakarta with 270 sarongs and 200 blankets to support their response.

CRS information officer Laura Sheahen sent this report.

CRS Indonesian Country Representative Rich Balmadier reports from Jakarta on Hillary Clinton’s visit.

What a memorable week it has been in Jakarta! Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited the Indonesian capital as part of her first overseas trip as an official representative of President Barack Obama’s administration. It was exciting for those of us working in the humanitarian field in Southeast Asia to hear that she is hinting at more development aid for this region. Clinton, who arrived here after a stop in Japan, singled out Indonesia and praised its hard-won, diverse democracy and efforts to fight terrorism while respecting human rights.
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Two girls walk through the streets of Suak Bidok, a village completely rebuilt by CRS following the 2004 tsunami. At the fourth anniversary of the December 24, 2004 tsunami, CRS continues to help the people of Indonesia recover and regain a sense of community.

CRS has built 3,853 homes for tsunami survivors in Indonesia’s Aceh Province, providing safe, well-built housing for  over 19,000 people. In addition, CRS built nearly 60  kilometers of new roads, like the one pictured here. The outpouring of compassion from donors all over the United States is what made these efforts possible.  Photo by David Snyder for CRS

Adhong Syahri ramadhan, CRS’ emergency response manager based in Jakarta, recently returned from two villages in Indonesia hard hit by the recent flooding and landslides following of heavy rainfall. More than 14 people were reported dead, and nearly 3000 people were forced to flee their homes. Adhong, who has worked for CRS for five years, spoke with CRS Communications Officer Liz O’Neill about what he saw. CRS is supporting our local partner in distributing emergency relief materials to the most needy populations. Adhong was also involved in the Aceh tsunami response and Yogyakarta-central Java earthquake response.

A bridge damaged by flooding near the village of Girimukti. Photo by Syahri Ramadhan/CRS.

1. For someone unable to see what you witnessed on the ground, could you describe the scene for us?

November 19, I was arriving in the hardest hit village by landslide name Girimukti at 2 p.m. with torrential rain still falling in the village. That was a day after the search and rescue team pulled out from the location with total casualties reported 14 and more than 3 missing. The number of people missing was reported differently by newspaper, but search and rescue teams received only 3 people reported missing from the community.

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Life is gradually returning to normal for people living in tsunami affected areas. A woman farmer in the town of Pulo Aceh, Indonesia weeds what would become the first rice harvest since the 2004 tsunami ravaged the northwest coast of Sumatra, particularly the province of Aceh.

To help farmers restore their crops and livelihoods, CRS provided fertilizers and local “hybrid” seeds, which grow faster than traditional varieties. CRS continues to work with communities in Aceh with reconstruction projects:  building new homes, parks and  water systems and replacing washed-out roads.

Photo by Sean Sprague for CRS