ACEH AID at IDEP
TSUNAMI DISASTER RELIEF UPDATE # 11 - January 27, 2005

Yesterday marked one month from the day of the Tsunami disaster which took the lives of almost 200,000 people in Indonesia. Since that time, many people and organizations have been working around the clock to deliver help to people in need. The challenges have been myriad and unfortunately the task at hand is still enormous. Here at AAAI we are continuing to distribute direct aid and humanitarian support on the ground in Aceh on an ongoing basis while programs for disaster recovery are being prepared. Aceh Aid at IDEP would like to take this opportunity to give special thanks to all those that made this first stage of direct aid delivery to the people of Aceh possible, including the Ubud staff, and volunteers both on Bali and in Aceh. This team has worked 24/7 for the past month to make Aceh Aid at IDEP a reality.

SPECIAL THANKS to the following for their early and generous support
Rip Curl, Surfer Girl, Quiksilver, LKMD Ubud & Ary’s Warung, Linda Garland, Janice Girardi, Sumatran Surffaris, AUSAID, World Neighbors, Tides Foundation, Permaculture Intl, Caldwell Associates, LTD & Mark Denny, LTD, Ibu Peduli, Institute Guepele, John Hardy, Hyperion Companies, Inc.,The Gilder Family, Rotary Club – Seminyak, Continental Airlines Micronesia Employees, Chantik Imports, Cayman Loves Children, Pondok Saraswati Group, Vinson Owen Elementary School, Circle K - Bali, Australia-New Zealand Assn/Jakarta, The Beat Magazine, Exiles, JBI-Mr. Eric, Jenny Stewart & Friends, Tom Corddry & Suzanne Jobin & Friends, David Mendoza & Friends, Ho Wai Chi & friends, Maurizio Colorni Rosenberg, The Champagnes & Friends, Lotta Barkmammar, Waynna K Schroeder, Essential Media, Bali Aids Sumatra, Restaurant Florent, Susan Ann Rubin, Tracey Patrick, EFTM, Katherine Kagel, Cathy Sarkowsky, Camille Uhlir, Peter Forstmoser... And for terrific In-Kind support from IALF and Blue Line.

 

And hundreds of other individuals and businesses who have supported AAAI

This list is NOT complete as funds are coming in from various countries and in different currencies so Aceh Aid is in the process of finalizing the list of donors and amounts. This will be published on our website soon. Please note that if you donated through the Tides Foundation or PayPal we are not given the donors names or amounts so we apologize for not listing your name – the funds are transferred to ACEH AID at IDEP in lump sums. If you send an email to tell us of your donation through Tides of PayPal we will add you to the list: donate@idepfoundation.org

What this wonderful support has made possible:

DIRECT DISASTER RELIEF

On January 21st the Sumber Rejeki Baru (Source of New Hope) ended its relief work along the western seaboard of Naggroe Aceh Darusalam province. The Rejeki headed back to Padang to go into dry dock for some much-needed work on its ailing propeller. The Rejeki was chartered by Aceh Aid at IDEP with the generous support of Rip Curl, AUSAID, Surfer Girl, Quiksilver, and many other donors at a cost of 500 million Rp/US$55,000, which included the boat and relief supplies purchased in Padang. The Rejeki also carried hundreds of aid buckets assembled by the IDEP Bucket Brigade in Ubud and in Padang.

During its journey which began on the January 4, the Rejeki delivered urgently-needed aid to the devastated town of Calang. The decision to go to Calang was made when the Aceh Aid team in Bali made contact with Ade and WAHLI (Friends of the Earth-Indonesia) volunteers who had just arrived on the ground in Calang. They confirmed that Calang had not received any substantial food aid or supplies. in the two weeks following the Tsunami.

After an initial drop of supplies, it became clear that the only presence on the ground at the time, the TNI (Indonesian military), were largely concentrating on clearing roads into the district. The Rejeki was the only source of appropriate nutrition and care that the community of Calang were receiving. The team leader of the Rejeki decided to go to Banda Aceh (see map) to attempt to get cooperation from the large agencies there to restock the boat. The Rejeki was reloaded with relief goods including sugar, cooking stoves, rice, milk powder, biscuits, mosquito nets, blankets, tarps, jerry cans and tents.

IDEP purchased 297 million rupiah (US$33,000) worth of goods in Banda Aceh including dried fish, tools, buckets, hose, pipes, milk powder, coffee, milk toothbrushes, toothpaste, sardines, soap, laundry soap, tomato sauce, eggs, dried fish, tarps, kerosene, corrugated metal roofing, and more. In Banda Aceh Igor O’Neill and Patrick Anderson from Walhi, and Pete Morris from Greenpeace helped IDEP with logistics coordination. Aboard the Rejeki when it departed Banda Aceh were staff from GOAL, GAA, World Food Program, and IOM, as well as a film crew from the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Cooperation) and a media team from Christian Science Monitor. The ABC story is due to be aired this week.

The Rejeki has provided approximately +400 tons of food and other aid to the communities of Calang and Lhokkruet over the past few weeks. This work could not have been possible without the unrelenting work of the Calang ground team led by Ade, who made distribution of these goods to the community possible. It could also not have happened without a strong leader at the helm. Sam Shultz (IDEP volunteer) pushed on from Nias to other areas which were in more in desperate need for the emergency aid the Rejeki was carrying. Reloading was made possible thanks to support from Lee Downey, IDEP volunteer.

On January 18th the Rejeki, stopped at a town called Lhokkruet above Calang on the west coast of Aceh. It found a community of around 7,000 people who had not been supplied with aid or help since December 26, apart from intermittent helicopter drops. The AAAI team were able to deliver food packages and tools to the surviving community there.

One month to date after the tsunami hit, the above describes the situation for many smaller towns and villages on the western coast between the major towns of Leyeun, Calang and Meulaboh. Villages in these areas still require urgent attention to recover their livelihoods and return some sense of autonomy in their lives. The area is still completely inaccessible by road. The Rejeki was able to fill a gaping hole in relief efforts for a time.

ACEH AID at IDEP thanks all the volunteers, partners, donors, and Bali-based team that made the Sumber Rejeki Baru live up to its name: A Source of New Hope. AAAI intends to continue its efforts to support the delivery of much needed aid to these isolated communities.

PARTNER PROGRAMS – “RAPID RESPONSE”

AAAI has a rapid response grant program for NGOs and local groups on the ground in Aceh supporting them during the emergency relief phase. Fifteen projects have been funded to date for a total of 589,193,100 Rp/US$65,465. Some examples are:

SUMATRAN ORANGUTAN SOCIETY/ORANGUTAN INFORMATION CENTER in Medan and WALHI SUMATRA UTARA/Friends of the Earth Indonesia- North Sumatra (Each 8,500,000 Rp/US$940) for satellite phones to enable communications support for SOS-OIC aid operations between Medan and Banda Aceh; and for WALHI Sumatra Utara aid operations between Medan and Meulaboh. These phones have enabled communications of updates and urgent needs reliably among partners.

Yayasan Leuser Lestari (25,500,000 Rp/US$2780) in Medan for ten volunteers to carry out short-term recovery and aid distribution in Lhoknga, focusing on IDP support, gathering information, area clean-up, and providing basic medical services, and food aid by creating a community kitchen. YLL is a member of the Give A Hand for Aceh coalition.

GIVE A HAND FOR ACEH (88,718,800 Rp/US$9,850) to support their relief projects in Brawe, Madina, and Nias to provide body removal, livelihood recovery, lighting and water, health education and places for praying.

WALHI Riau/Friends of the Earth (109,905,000 Rp/US$12,200) to develop sanitation, water systems, and temporary accommodation with privacy for families, especially women. This project is being carried out by a team of 24 volunteers, including 5 sanitation experts, in four remote IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camps in Banda Aceh.

INFORMATION-EDUCATION

COMMUNITY BASED CRISIS RESPONSE (CBCR) manual. The CBCR manual includes guidelines for the three phases of disaster management: Mitigation, Response and Recovery. It includes simple and culturally appropriate tools for rapid needs assessment, and guidelines for delivery of appropriate aid that are now being used on the ground in Aceh. On January 1st IDEP began distributing copies of the draft version (in Indonesian) to various organizations operating on the ground in Aceh. IDEP had completed this manual to final draft stage before the tsunami on December 26th

An addition, IDEP quickly produced simple fact sheets outlining key issues of post-disaster health and sanitation, and a booklet which covers information about tsunamis, sanitation, nutrition, women's issues and tips for post traumatic stress self help. 10,000 copies of both of these publications has been printed and will distributed in Aceh through IDEP’s partner organizations. You can see these publications at: www.idepfoundation.org/aceh_pubs.html

WHAT IS Aceh Aid at IDEP (AAAI)?

IDEP and the Sumatran Orangutan Society (SOS) (Indonesian offices in Ubud and Medan) are working in conjunction to rapidly assist the communities in Aceh affected by the tsunami. Together we set up Aceh Aid at IDEP (AAAI).

AAAI AIMS TO

• Help people to help themselves
• Deliver appropriate, direct aid, intelligently, to affected areas
• Mobilize resources rapidly through NGO and grassroots networks
• Offer support where support is needed
• Gather information for recovery stage

Yayasan IDEP (IDEP Foundation) is a local, Indonesian NGO, based in Ubud, Bali with a focus on self-sustainability, education and community-based development. IDEP was deeply involved in crisis response following the Bali bomb in October 2002. After this experience, IDEP began developing a community-based crisis response manual to support Indonesian communities to better handle and manage crisis situations. For more information about Yayasan IDEP’s programs visit our website: www.idepfoundation.org

How you can support ACEH AID at IDEP

The best way for people outside of Bali to help Aceh Aid and IDEP now is by making a contribution.
There are various ways to do this.

By CREDIT CARD
Via PayPal, an internet payment system which allows you to make payments from 45 countries (not including Indonesia - if your credit card billing address is in Indonesia this will not work). Go to www.idepfoundation.org/aceh_aid.html and follow the instructions there. (Tax deductible for US taxpayers.)

By CHECK (in US)
Via Tides Foundation. Make check payable to “Aceh Aid / Tides Foundation” and mail to Byron Miranda, Accounting, Tides Foundation, P.O. Box 29903, San Francisco, CA 94129, USA. (Tax deductible for US taxpayers.)

THE PayPal donations go through Tides Foundation and the foundation does not give IDEP the names or amounts of donations. So, if you donate via either of the above AND want to receive email UPDATES and be listed on our Donor List, please send an email to: donations@idepfoundation.org and tell us your name, date and amount of donation and email address.

By WIRE TRANSFER
Account Name : Yayasan IDEP
Account Number : 034.001229576.003
Bank : BNI (Bank Negara Indonesia), Cabang Ubud, Bali
Bank Address : Jl. Raya Ubud, Bali - Indonesia
SWIFT Code : BNINIDJA DPS

IF YOU SEND A WIRE TRANSFER PLEASE SEND AN EMAIL TO: donate@idepfoudation.org TELLING US YOUR NAME, DATE OF TRANSFER, CURRENCY and AMOUNT (also how you would like the donation listed if it is not the same as the name on the wire transfer receipt).

For additional information regarding donations or interest in help with fundraising or fundraising events or if you have questions, or interest in sponsoring particular projects, supplies, equipment, or about contributing in other ways, please contact at donate@idepfoundation.org