Aid in Action

USAID Provides Critical Medical Support to Earthquake Victims

Yogyakarta | Tuesday, June 06, 2006

More than 30,000 people were seriously injured following the powerful earthquake that shook Yogyakarta and Central Java on May 27, 2006. Local hospitals were overwhelmed with patients. In the two most impacted districts, Bantul and Klaten, thousands were rapidly treated and released without adequate follow-on care.

USAID staff met two injured earthquake victims at a USAID-funded relief distribution site in Bantul, Pak Subardi and Ibu Wati. They were trapped in the rubble of their collapsed houses, suffering severe lacerations and broken bones. “The earth groaned and started to shake. Houses swayed. Water splashed from the wells,” Pak Subardi shared. “I rushed inside my house, grabbed my wife and daughter, and covered them with my body.” Both were rushed to local hospitals, stabilized, and released soon after, allowing room for the more critical patients.

USAID surveyed the villages around the distribution site for others in need of follow-on care, like Pak Subardi and Ibu Wati. Mobilizing a vehicle fleet with the International Organization of Migration (IOM), an implementing partner, persons still requiring additional medical attention were transported to a nearby U.S. Military Field Hospital.

With this assistance from USAID, Pak Subardi, Ibu Wati and others will be able to return to their villages sooner, in stronger health, and better able to begin to rebuild their communities.