Families receive aid following Indonesia’s twin disasters

World Vision has distributed relief items in seven evacuation centres in Indonesia following a week of volcanic activity at Mount Merapi in Java.

The organisation has given out 1,000 family kits containing soap, shampoo, blankets, toothpaste and toothbrushes and 1,000 children’s kits containing nappies, baby soap and blankets.

World Vision is also distributing 15,000 breathing masks and opening up a mobile library for children who have been displaced from their homes.

Aid workers are concerned that an increasing number of children are suffering from diseases caused by the harsh environment, lack of rest and crowded conditions at the emergency shelters.

"Rains have helped clean the air from Mount Merapi's ashes, but have also made some of the children sick," said World Vision’s Jimmy Nadapdap in Indonesia.

“It is hard to stay here; life is doubly difficult at the evacuation centre. My daughter and I had to sleep on the ground with only a thin mat and blanket,” said Sukiyem, whose six-year-old daughter Lia is sick with a cold and fever.

More than 57,000 people have been evacuated following the disaster.

Tsunami

Meanwhile, the death toll following a tsunami that hit several remote islands in Indonesia last week has risen to at least 435, officials say.

More than 23,000 people have been displaced from their homes by the tsunami, which followed a 7.7-magnitude earthquake off the west coast of Sumatra on Monday 25 October.

Bad weather continues to hamper efforts to reach survivors on the Mentawai islands, which are only accessible by air or an eight-hour boat trip.

A rapid assessment by a World Vision team found that the most urgent needs are clean water, food, blankets, clothing, mattresses, hygiene kits and emergency shelters.

World Vision's emergency response team is working closely with the government of Indonesia and local organisations and is preparing to distribute 1,000 water containers to families displaced by the disaster.

1 November 2010