Houses collapsed in the Aceh earthquake. Photo: Reuter
CWS, as the convener of the ACT Indonesia Forum, coordinated the submission of a Rapid Response Fund (RRF) request to the ACT Alliance, and the request was approved on December 14th. Nearly $60,000 is now available to Indonesian ACT member YEU to partner with fellow ACT member NGO, Pelkesi, to ensure essential assistance for 1,000 people in two villages affected by the earthquake. The two organizations will support a mobile clinic and psychosocial assistance, plus water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) interventions. An update from UN OCHA notes that there has been a good response from many Indonesian NGOs, including 11 of the 15 members of the inter-faith Humanitarian Forum Indonesia (HFI), to which YEU and CWS belong. While CWS will continue to monitor the situation in Aceh, the response to this disaster is well within the capacity of the government and national NGOs to address.