Razaul Karim, an aid worker with Islamic Relief, is currently in Sumtra assisting with our emergency response after the devastating earthquake. In this blog he writes about the long-lasting impact that he fears the disaster may have on the region’s children.

8^th October 2009

“Yesterday I visited the Dr M Jamil hospital in Padang city which is treating many of those injured in the earthquake. Around three-quarters of the hospital has been completely destroyed and in amongst the debris I could see medical notes and equipment strewn around as people had made a frantic rush for safety when the earthquake struck.

One of the people I met at the hospital was nine-year-old Indah Aptria from Gunung Pengilun. She loves cycling and was on her bike after school when she felt the earth start to shake. She was in a small side street and one of the shops on this road collapsed, trapping her underneath a large piece of metal.

She told me that she was scared and was crying for her mother and father. Thankfully her father managed to rescue her but her leg had been badly broken. She has now had an operation to mend the damage to her shin and is recovering well, but I believe that the mental trauma she has suffered will take longer to heal.

Today we visited the new trauma centre set up by Islamic Relief in the village of Abung Kapur. In this region around 95 per cent of houses have been destroyed and many children like Indah have been traumatised by their experiences.

The new centre has been established near a school that was destroyed by the earthquake. Islamic Relief has set up two large tents where local children can come and learn and play and where Islamic Relief staff and volunteers will provide psychosocial support.

The children I spoke to at the centre said that when the earthquake struck they were scared that they would die, or that they would never see their parents again. Others told me that they thought it was the end of the world. I was struck at how mature these children seemed but also how a simple game of football could help them release their anxiety and be children once more.

Islamic Relief also distributed food and tents to the most vulnerable families in this village and will increase our support here over the coming days and weeks. I was really glad to find out that the water system we had installed just last year as part of our disaster preparedness programme was still operating here and was providing more than 1,000 people with clean water, which is essential in controlling the spread of disease.

The people in rural areas like Abung Kapur are not rich and many put all their money into building their homes, most of which now lie as a pile of rubble. Thankfully aid has now reached this area but in other more remote regions which have been cut off by landslides, people are still struggling with nothing and instead of tents they are living in shelters made from bits of cardboard and cloth.

After Abung Kapur we travelled further to Rukam in Padang Sago, a village where no other aid agency had yet been. Here almost the whole village was camped under one makeshift tent which offered them little protection from the wind or rain. The conditions they were living in were appalling and deeply shocked me. There were no sanitation facilities, little food and people were at serious risk of disease.

We gave people tents and food, and will return to give them further aid over the coming days to alleviate their suffering, but again I fear that in the long-term after such massive destruction, it may be the need for psychosocial support that is the greatest.”

7^th October 2009

Everybody suffers

Even before we joined the Islamic Relief emergency response team in Padang, the affects of the earthquake could be felt all around us. As we stepped off the plane in Jakarta on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, I could sense that all around me local people were sharing in the grief of those who had lost loved ones in the disaster.

On the way to Padang the news came through that the search and rescue mission was coming to an end. The focus now for the humanitarian community would be on providing aid and recovering the bodies from underneath the rubble. This news had an impact on everyone, whether they were from Padang or not and made me recall one of the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, that the Muslim community is like a body, and if one part of it is injured then the whole body suffers.

People amidst rubble

Driving into Padang the scale of devastation was overwhelming. Schools had been destroyed, roofs had fallen in and office blocks had collapsed like a pack of cards. There were mounds of rubble and sheets of metal where peoples’ homes once stood, with just tarpaulin sheets or tents in their place. At the side of the roads, children stood holding out cardboard boxes asking for food and money, while elsewhere people stood around, still unable to take in the enormity of what had happened.

In some areas the devastation has been sporadic. While five houses may have remained standing, their neighbour’s may have come crashing down. However, in the more remote villages the scenes are apocalyptic, with many villages completely wiped out.

Looking for shelter

In one of the villages we visited, I met a woman who was heavily pregnant and whose house had been completely destroyed. She was desperately searching for bits of cardboard and plastic sheeting with which to make shelter for and her five young children. Thankfully we were able to give her a tent that will offer her and her family some protection from the relentless rain.

All the people I spoke to told me how terrified they were and how they desperately needed help. As always it is the children who are the most vulnerable in these situations as their whole world is torn from beneath their feet. Young children spoke of being brave but how they were scared of living in a tent. They are clinging to what is normal and familiar and want to go back to school and play with their friends.

Islamic Relief is helping

To help children overcome the trauma of the disaster and its aftermath, Islamic Relief has decided to set up a trauma centre, where children will be cared for and be able to play and learn in a safe environment.

Islamic Relief has worked in the affected region before, having previously installed water sources in villages in Padang Pariaman District. Although the damage to these water systems has been minimal there is currently no electricity to run them. In the next day or so Islamic Relief aid workers will set up generators to ensure that people continue to have access to clean water, which is essential if the spread of disease is to be controlled.

In the last village we visited to today, I came to learn about an elderly man who had been surviving on nothing more than water for the past four days. He had been trapped but no aid had been able to reach that far. Many villages have been cut off by landslides and in these areas the scale of destruction is presenting a massive challenge for aid workers. While we ensured that he was provided with emergency food, I wondered how many other people like him were still stranded, waiting desperately for someone to come and help them.