In Focus

By Choirul Syah

The earthquake has changed so many people’s lives in West Sumatra.  They've lost their houses and loved ones. Yusmaida, 43, is one of the earthquake affected people in Pinjauan Village, Sungai Limau Subdistrict, Padang Pariaman District. Before the 7.9 R.S. earthquake hit West Sumatra on 30 September, she lived with her husband and six children as well as a son-in-law and 3 grand children in a small house. She earned her living running a food stall in a nearby school where her husband worked as a gardener. The earthquake took her house and livelihood when it destroyed her house and the food stall. Without her house, she now has to stay in a small transitional shelter with her other family members, without any privacy and risking her family’s health.

The powerful quake

“I was preparing dinner for my family with my oldest daugther, Linda. Linda and I were the only ones home at that moment. Everyone was doing their own activity; my sons were bathing in the river and my grand children were playing at a neighbor’s house, while my husband was visiting our relatives in another village.

We ran out of the house when the earth started to shake, and Linda hurried toward our neighbor’s house looking for her children. The ground was still trembling, making it difficult for us to move fast. Linda collapsed to the ground.I panicked as I saw her laying on her stomach, because she was carrying her unborn baby, my fourth grand children. I cried for help.
When the earth finally stopped moving, the neighbors came and helped us. Linda and her baby were safe after a midwife helped her.

I saw my house, my food stall, and my neighbors’ houses destroyed. I felt like it was the end of the world, yet I was grateful that we were safe.

A few minutes later, a light drizzle started, which then turned into a heavy rain. We needed to find a place to take refuge as our house had just been destroyed. We went to the nearby school, but half of it was destroyed so we stayed on the terrace. Some of our neigbors joined us on the terrace later. As I watched the rain falling, tears stated to fall from my eyes as I thought about my dreams and hopes that were vanishing in this catastrophe.

Starting over

After two days, my family and I started to scavenge through the rubble looking for anything that can still be used to rebuild our life. Everything was destroyed, furniture, kitchen utensils, and the food stall equipments that I rented.

The village official put our names on the list of people whose property had been destroyed. Aid such as instant food, rice, blankets and tents began to arrive from outside the village.

We received a tent made of tarpaulin, and set it up in front of our destroyed house. The problem was that 12 people don’t fit in a 2x3 M tent, thus the men had to go back to the school terrace in order to give the women room in the tent.

For few days we cleared up the rubble and salvaged housing materials such as wood, zinc roofing, nails and anything useful for a new shelter. A week after the earthquake, my husband hired two construction workers. Their expertise was building transitional shelters from wood. We used zinc for the roofing and walls and wood for columns. The labor cost us 750,000 IDR for a transitional shelter of just two rooms for sleeping.

The two rooms that we have now are still not sufficient to accomodate 12 people. Our men now stay outside in the tent. It’s not as comfortable as our house but it’s better than staying in the tent. We are protected from the wind and rain, even though it still feels cold at night.

As long as the shelter can protect us from the weather at night, I thought we would be alright. But it turns out that it is not very good for us, let alone for the children. My grandhildren started to catch flu and cough after a few days living in the temporary house. Two weeks ago my fourth grandchild was born. The baby needs extra protection and care, and I'm afraid the baby's development will be hindered living in situation like this. I also don’t think it’s good for my sons and husband to stay in a tent for a long time.

However, we cannot do anything about this yet. Our resources are very limited right now. We have no more money to buy materials, and all material from the old house has been used to build the current transitional shelter.

Rumor has it, the government will provide us money to rebuild our house, but we need it now and it’s not going to be issued for 6 months. We need to build a new house, a place that can protect us from anything and a place to call home.”