In Focus

The air was stifling hot inside the 12 square meters blue tarpaulin temporary shelter, the new home for six brothers and sisters who survived the West Sumatra earthquake in Pinjauwan Tinggi village. The woman of the house is Junita, 16 years old.

“When the earthquake hit, I quickly carried Fahri, my baby brother and rushed out of our house with my four other siblings.” She glanced at them, gathering near her inside the temporary shelter. “The second we stepped our feet outside, our house crumbled to the ground.” She recalled, adding, “We were bewildered and shocked.”

Their parents were attending a marriage ceremony in the neighborhood. They all survived and headed straight back home. The family of eight then sought refuge in a small mosque next to a nearby school.

All 70 households living in Pinjauwan Tinggi survived the 7.9RS earthquake and managed their life in the small mosque from donated rice and oil. Most of them only had clothes on themselves. When the rumbling has ended, they started to salvage any goods from remnants of their house. Junita and her family were able to get some more clothes and shared using cooking utensils with the neighbors. 

“I’m happy with the temporary shelter. But I’m still afraid to stay inside for a long time.” She said shyly.  Junita’s family is one of 70 households who have received temporary shelter.

Pinjauwan Tinggi village has 47 houses with 70 households. Although the houses are sparsely located, most of them were brought down by the earthquake. CWS distributed 47 temporary shelter and other non food items in this area, as well as installing a pillow tank with 5,000 liters capacity and one tap station.

Four of Six siblings, earthquake survivors
(Four of Six siblings, earthquake survivors)