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CWS Situation Report: Indonesia Earthquake

December 20, 2006

Relief efforts continue in the wake of the Monday (Dec. 18) earthquake in North Sumatra, Indonesia, that killed at least four people and damaged or destroyed 680 homes. There are reports that there may be additional fatalities if bodies are found in ruins of the quake, centered in a remote part of Sumatra.

Church World Service Indonesia reports that roads in blocked due to the quake are now open, though many of those displaced are still fearful of returning to their homes because of fears of additional quakes.

RESPONSE: Church World Service Indonesia has shipped 400 CWS Baby Kits, as well as as well as 273 Unicef tarpaulins. to Mandailing, North Sumatra. The items will be distributed Thursday (Dec. 21), reports Novin Patanduk, CWS Indonesia team leader in Mandailing. Among the locales of distribution will be an orphanage in the community of Aisyah.

CWS Indonesia plans to conduct further assessments in West Sumatra, the neighboring province, where there are reportedly some 300 displaced families awaiting assistance. Access to that area is said to be very difficult, CWS Indonesia reports.

CWS is working in coordination with local and provincial disaster response units and with fellow members of the Action by Churches Together (ACT) network in the region, including YAKKUM Emergency Unit (YEU) and Yayasan Tanggul Bencana Indonesia (YTBI). YTBI has distributed rice, noodles and sugar to affected survivors.

Media Contact:
Lesley Crosson, CWS/New York, 212-870-2676;
Jan Dragin, 781-925-1526;

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