Aid in Action

Hoping for the Best while Preparing for the Worst with Mt. Merapi

Yogyakarta | Sunday, June 25, 2006

The Mt. Merapi volcano in Central Java lies in one of the world's most densely populated areas while dominating the landscape immediately north of the major city of Jogjakarta.  Due to an increase in activity at Mt. Merapi in April 2006, Indonesian scientists raised the alert level for the volcano to three (on a scale of one to four), which led to the partial evacuation of villages in areas likely to be affected by an eruption.  Approximately 55,000 people are located in the immediate danger zone adjacent to the slopes of Mt. Merapi, and at least 100,000 people could be impacted by a large eruption.  

USAID’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA) has funded equipment, training and technical assistance to support the monitoring of Mt. Merapi.  In April and May, to complement local emergency preparedness activities, USAID/OFDA provided a total of $100,000 to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), working with the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) for the procurement of emergency commodities including shelter materials, blankets, and water containers.  PMI has worked in coordination with local authorities since April to ensure that evacuation centers are well organized, early warning systems are in place, and local citizens have been briefed on the hazards of an eruption at Mt. Merapi.

Activity on Mt. Merapi increased once again in the weeks following the Central Java-Yogyakarta earthquake of May 27th.  USAID/OFDA is continuing to support PMI as it currently manages evacuation centers in four at-risk districts, including Boyolali, Klaten, Magelang, and Sleman. As of June 13th, nearly 12,000 local residents had been evacuated to the centers.  The majority of individuals evacuated were the elderly, women, and children.  Men of working age generally remain at their homes during the day to look after their crops, livestock, and other possessions.  Many of them come down to the evacuation centers at night to be with their families before returning to tend to their homes and property again in the morning.

A strong spirit of cooperation is pervasive among the Javanese, and this is evident in evacuated residents and Red Cross volunteers at Camp Jumoyo, one of the evacuation centers in Magelang.  Camp Jumoyo is the temporary home of 385 families living in tents and several nearby buildings.  PMI is providing shelter and sanitation, the Singaporean Red Cross provides health services, and the Spanish Red Cross trucks in clean drinking water on a regular basis.  The local government of Magelang District supplies volunteers to organize daily activities for the children and provides the very popular “bookmobile,” a van filled with books and other reading materials for school-aged children. 

A truck laden with boxes of food for the camp residents arrives at Camp Jumoyo on a regular basis.  USAID assistance finances the truck and its contents, while PMI youth volunteers help manage a very orderly and efficient distribution of the boxes.  The boxes include ready-to-eat food and drink. 

Between April and June 2006, USAID has given a total of $1.2 million to PMI and the International Federation of the Red Cross, mostly for earthquake emergency assistance with a smaller amount programmed to support PMI’s operation of Mt. Merapi evacuation centers such as Camp Jumoyo.  As the largest donor to the IFRC and PMI in the wake of the Central Java-Yogyakarta earthquake and Mt. Merapi’s threatening eruption, USAID assistance is greatly appreciated.  Dr. Linis of PMI stated that “one disaster is hard enough, while the two crises are extremely difficult for our country.”  However, she was encouraged by the resiliency of the evacuation center residents, the enthusiasm of the Red Cross workers and volunteers, and assistance from USAID. 

None of the residents at Camp Jumoyo would contend that they would rather live in an evacuation center as opposed to their homes on the slopes of Mt. Merapi.  However, given the dangerous state of the volcano and the support provided by relief agencies and the local government, Camp Jumoyo’s temporary residents do prefer to wait patiently where they are until the day that local authorities assure them it is safe to return home.