In Focus

By Bonnie K. Carenen and Andreas Sinaga

The rainy season is both an asset and a liability to the local communities and to aid workers who are assisting in earthquake response in the Mentawai Islands. On Oct. 25 a RS 7.7 earthquake and tsunami struck, displacing nearly two thousand families. Church World Service has distributed axes, machetes, water proof tarps, and a variety of other non-food relief items to assist displaced families, and is working on establishing water and sanitation access that will serve these communities as they rebuild their lives and communities away from the tsunami flood zones. Local communities displaced by the tsunami can now harvest rain water using basic equipment like axes or machetes to gather wooden stakes, and water proof tarps to collect water fall.

Water officers are trying to make CWS water pump to work to provide tsunami survivors water. The water will be pumped to CWS bladder to reach IDP camps in Pagai Selatan Island.
(Andreas Sinaga/ CWS Indonesia )

The difficulty, however, for aid workers is that the washed-out road conditions are so poor that accessing the communities and distributing supplies, facilitating basic hygiene and sanitation, and overseeing the functional operation of water tanks and bladders, is slow and very difficult. The constant rains also affect the local communities by making it easier for them to collect water and lowering the risk of water-borne diseases. However it limits their ability to establish better hygiene and sanitation practices, and slows the overall recovery process.

Rain water harvesting is just an initial step to restoring life and livelihood to children and families in these IDP communities. Church World Service’s emergency response will be integrated into a slightly longer-term recovery program that is focusing on water and sanitation needs. We will work to supply a sustainable source of clean drinking water for daily needs for the whole community using a variety of technologies including rain water harvesting, but also water tanks and bladders which will be much more effective after the rainy season ends and other NGO’s move on. How long will CWS stick around? As long as it takes: CWS Emergency Response Team Leader is adamant, “We will be here until the water flows!”

A lady at IDP camp is taking water from CWS water tap and bladder. CWS collaborated with Arche Nova and IOM to provide water for the tsunami survivors
(Andreas Sinaga )