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Humanity First Indonesia’s Team in Padang Assessing Conditions and Establishing Relief Services |
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Humanity First Indonesia’s team in Padang are assessing conditions and establishing relief services in the city. Their focus is medical assistance, emergency shelter, blankets, hygiene kits and hot food. Further details will be provided once known.
SituationA major earthquake magnitude 7.6 struck after 5pm local time on Wednesday 30 September, north-west of Padang (pop. 800,000), the capital of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The next day, a further 6.8 magnitude quake struck just before 9am in the same location. Take ActionPlease support the efforts of Humanity First by contributing to our disaster relief fund by online or mail your checks directly to: Humanity First USA
October 2, 2009Several hundred concrete buildings have collapsed and are on fire, and due to the time of the initial quake, thousands of people are still thought to be trapped and killed under the rubble. Relief efforts are being hampered by heavy rain and poor access to Padang, as well as blackouts. The official death-toll is currently 1,100 with over 2,500 people injured, but this is expected to increase significantly as bodies are pulled out of the rubble. Humanity First Indonesia’s team in Padang are assessing conditions and establishing relief services in the city. Their focus is medical assistance, emergency shelter, blankets, hygiene kits and hot food. Further details will be provided once known. The team has previously responded to disasters in Banda Aceh, Yogyakarta, Mount Merapi and Pangandaran across Indonesia as well as long-term water, educational and orphan care projects. October 3, 2009There are over 3,900 people left homeless in the Sungai Limau District, which is about 80 kilometers from Padang city. A soup kitchen has been set up in the area, serving hot meals twice a day for 700 people. A team of volunteers from Humanity First Indonesia are currently providing these services. October 5, 2009The team continues to provide hot meals serving 600 to 700 survivors twice daily. A team of medical doctors have mobilized to provide medical services. October 6, 2009Activity in the Padang area is still focused mostly on running the soup kitchen. On October 5th and 6th, our soup kitchen camp was visited by a local comedian, Doyok, in an attempt to cheer up the victims, especially children.
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Humanity First is registered in 33 countries across 6 continents, and has been working on human development projects and responding to disasters since 1992. These have included the earthquakes in Turkey, Pakistan, Japan and Iran, floods in Africa and Latin America, hurricanes (Katrina and Rita) , tornado's (Kansas) and wild fires (California) in the USA, Indonesia and Bangladesh, and conflicts in Eastern Europe.
Since its inception and IRS registration in 2004, Humanity First has been focused on spending most of the raised funds on direct program related expenses. As a result, more than 90% of its funds are in that expense category. This is achieved through dedicated volunteers in its management, and program operation teams.
