Home \ Initiatives \ Providing Medical Support

Relief Effort Indonesia Earthquake May 27, 2006

YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia

Project Proposal

  You can help by donating here , and specifying
  'Indonesia Earthquake Relief'' in the Note to Real Medicine.

A magnitude-6.3 earthquake struck at 5:54 a.m. on May 27 near the ancient city of Yogyakarta, 250 miles east of Indonesia's capital, Jakarta. The massive earthquake has so far killed almost 5,700 people, seriously wounded more than 20,000 and left 200,000 homeless. Many of the homeless people remained near their damaged residences in makeshift shelters. Since the quake struck, there have been several hundred aftershocks. The earthquake's epicenter was close to the rumbling Mount Merapi volcano, and activity increased soon after the temblor.

REAL MEDICINE FOUNDATION/YAYASAN KOMPIP JOINT

"COMMUNITY SAVINGS" PROJECT

Mlese Village, Gantiwarno District, Klaten City, Central Java, Indonesia

SIX MONTH UPDATE MARCH 2007 Drafted and Submitted By Nicholas Taranto The community savings program is the beginning of a much more long-term, and what I think is a positively exciting, approach to bringing people out of poverty. This past October, the Real Medicine Foundation (RMF) issued a US$10,800 grant to Yayasan KOMPIP (YK) to expand YK's TRT or "community savings" project in Mlese Village, Central Java. Since dispersal, the grant has already directly impacted over 1,000 individuals. The RMF grant has stimulated a multiyear process of economic growth that will actively fight poverty and redevelop the community, damaged in a May 2006 earthquake. In Mlese Village, where over 99% of homes were partially or entirely destroyed, the RMF grant has begun to serve as a direct catalyst to revitalizing the community and returning village members' lives to normal. Much progress has been made, but many thousands of villagers in dozens of neighboring communities are still waiting for assistance. Read more...

Update: December 24, 2006 Indonesia, by Zhi Jenni Myers ...The Real Medicine Foundation came with the main plan of microfinance to help small businesses, either by funding the villager for a food stall, a bicycle or a sewing machine. Microfinance is a concept that had recently caught a fair amount of press due to the latest Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus being a micro-financier himself. It is not just giving fish but giving the equipment to fish. It is a method of aid that is practical, long-lasting and its effects, multiplying. Within minutes of discussion, we realized that the government aid for shelter had been delayed, and that people were still living in vulnerable tents. Therefore in this situation, microfinance can perhaps be considered as a secondary need - important but not as urgent as say, food and shelter. The microfinance project would impact them so powerfully... but at a time when they could not even think straight from having no shelter, it seemed early. If I am not mistaken, it was like giving a drowning man a wet suit when he needs a life jacket. Read more...

Update: November 16, 2006

By Nick Taranto and Akbarudin Arif, Mlese Village, Indonesia

Participants Statistics
Minutes of 29 Neighborhood Meetings
Profile of Community saving

Two staff members have been hired and have already been on-site for three weeks. Nine out of nineteen RTs (neighborhoods) have had their first of three training sessions, and the other ten RTs are scheduled in the near future. One of three village wide meetings has already taken place, and, as previously reported by Akbar, it was a great success. The women particularly are very interested and involved in the project.

Here are some of the rules and regulations that have been decided amongst RTs:

• -Interest rates (usually 2 or 3% per month)
• -Length of repayment (12 months or less)
• -Maximum sum to be borrowed (normally $10 or $100 in emergencies)
• -Treasurer for the RT (Ruang Tetangga, neighborhood)
• -Initial personal contribution(US$.50, in one instance US$1.00)
• -Monthly personal contribution (US$.10)
• -Order of the waitlist for funding

The Sukimans: Beneficiaries of Community Saving

Mr. Sukiman (43) and his wife Mrs. Parwati (40) are the proud parents of four children. Aris, the eldest son, could not continue his studies at senior high school due to prohibitive costs. He is currently working in nearby Yogyakarta as a brick layer.
Rini Hastuti, the second eldest, is now studying marketing at the local vocational school in Klaten. As she told Real Medicine Foundation representatives, "I study at the vocational school so that after I graduate I can directly find a job." She is currently ranked 7th out of 37 in her class. The Sukimans' third child is Joko Tri Ariyanto, currently in the fifth grade. "I want to be a teacher," he explained shyly, staring at his toes. The fourth child, Bagas Waras, is in the second grade and has lofty ambitions of becoming a pilot. "I want to travel and see the world," he says.
Because of the May 26th earthquake, the family of six now lives in a temporary shelter amidst the ruins of their old home. Life was difficult before the disaster. Now it is daunting. Mrs. Parwati works as a temporary tobacco leaf picker. The work will last only as long as the dry season. She toils from 5:00AM to 11:00AM in the fields, goes back home to cook for her family, and then returns to the fields from 3:00PM to sunset. For over ten hours of labor per day, Mrs. Parwati brings home a mere 5,000 Rupiah, the equivalent of fifty cents. When the wet season begins (early December) and the fields close down, Mrs. Parwati will have to find an alternative source of income. Meanwhile, Mr Sukiman works as a bricklayer in Yogyakarta, the provincial capital of Central Java. He leaves the remains of his house at 5:00AM and returns to Mlese at 6:00PM. When he cannot find a ride (which is often), he bikes two hours to reach his work, where he labors for a full eight hour day. At the end of the day, he gets back on his bike and rides the eighteen miles home. "As a brick layer I receive 20,000 Rupiah per day," he says. When the exchange rates are in his favor, that's a little over two dollars.
The Sukimans' make less than US$3 per day to support a family of six. When jobs are in short supply, their income is less. "Almost everyday our spending is higher than our income," Mr. Sukiman relates. Between two dollars for food, seventy cents for the children's pocket money, and monthly school, books and uniform fees, the family is living in a perpetual cycle of debt and poverty.
Mr. Sukiman is one of the first people to join the Mlese Community Savings Program, funded by the Real Medicine Foundation. He hopes that by borrowing money from the fund, his family can pay back their debt. He realizes that paying back loans by taking another loan is extremely risky. Thus, his family has planned to take their loan in order to open a vegetable stall at their house. Fifteen years ago, Mr. Sukiman attempted a similar venture. Unfortunately, his efforts failed due to what he calls "the careless purchase of non-essential goods." "Now I am grown up and able to manage money. I have learned well in school. I will help my mother and father to manage the money when we open our vegetable stall", says Rini, the vocationally trained daughter. "We need mentoring from RMF and KOMPIP in this effort so that we will not fail again," says Mr. Sukiman.

Update: October 2006

By Akbarudin Arif, KOMPIP, Mlese Village, Indonesia

Minutes of first meeting

In the last two days, we have completed the first village meeting attended by all neighborhood heads at Mlese Village (Monday 16 Oct 2006, 15.00 pm to 17.45 pm). 47 participants from the village and 7 KOMPIP staff members including the field staffs attended the meeting. Target of the first meeting was program orientation and agreement of the villagers to follow the program. Facilitated by myself, the meeting went very smoothly and indicated that all neighborhood heads and staffs were enthusiastic to wanting to being part of and follow the program. The meeting was ended with the signing of the agreement by the neighborhood heads, the village head and KOMPIP representatives agreeing that both, KOMPIP and villagers, will work together in the economic recovery program through the community saving strategy, supported by Real Medicine. Several neighborhood heads asked to very soon hold the first neighborhood meeting at their neighborhoods. However, there is a lack of women participants in this first meeting. There were only four women from the village attended the meeting. We can not avoid reality that most women are preparing for breakfast in the late afternoon during fasting days. We will improve women participation in the following meetings.

Update: September 2006

By Nick Taranto

After spending time with employees of Yayasan KOMPIP (YK) visiting past and potential project sites in Solo and Klaten Cities, it is my recommendation that Real Medicine Foundation (RMF) devote resources to expand YK’s Tabungan Rukun Tetangga (TRT) program to Mlese Village. A US$12,066 grant to KOMPIP to be used on the behalf of Mlese Village will directly impact an estimated 1,000 households or over 3,500 individuals. Judging from YK’s past successes with the TRT program, the RMF grant will stimulate a multiyear process of economic growth that will actively fight poverty and redevelop the damaged community. The RMF grant is badly needed in the earthquake-affected region of Mlese Village, where over 99% of homes were partially or entirely destroyed. Thousands of people’s lives are currently paused, and despair-generated depression is beginning to take hold. The RMF grant will serve as a direct catalyst to revitalizing the community and returning village members’ lives back to normal.

THE PROGRAM:

Yayasan KOMPIP (YK) (http://www.kompipindonesia.org/) is a Solo, Central Java-based non-governmental organization (NGO) committed to facilitating the democratic process and alleviating poverty on a grassroots level. YK has a proven commitment to developing community economic sustainability, working with marginalized peoples, and promoting the democratic process.

Since 2003, YK has developed and expanded a unique version of micro-lending which the organization calls Tabungan Rukun Tetangga (TRT, or neighborhood community savings). Through a three-step process, YK has begun to implement what it calls a "third fiscal devolution" of resources directly to RT (Rukun Tetangga, or neighborhoods) from the organization. The three-step process is as follows:

1)                 Poverty information system (PIS) mapping for each RT. Information on household income, education, health, and shelter is gathered and compiled at the community level.

2)                 Work-plan development for each RT. Priorities and location-specific plans are developed.

3)                 The allocation of a "stimulus grant" or hibah. Grants are usually in the amount of 2.5 million Rupiah or US$250.

The Grant and Loans:

After the initial US$250 grant from YK, community members contribute an initial additional 5,000 Rp or US$.50 installment. Each subsequent month, community members contribute 1,000 Rp or US$.10. Contributing community members can borrow up to 1 million Rp or US$100 for emergencies, although most loans do not exceed 500,000 Rp. Over three years, one person in Boyolali Village required a 1 million Rp loan, and it was negotiated along special terms.

The compound interest rate on community loans is 2% per month, or 24% per year — identical to national banks. However, unlike national banks, dividends from the TRT are divided evenly each year and returned directly to contributing community members. If community members cannot repay their loans on schedule, individual special rates can be negotiated, although fellow community and family members are often willing to contribute to payments, and in Boyolali special rates have not been necessary to date. Money borrowed from the community fund is used for health expenses, to cover school costs, and to establish new entrepreneurial activities.

Such activities range from bread making to egg and fish farming to the processing of cow hide chips, a common Javanese snack food. The first 2.5 million Rp to Boyolali in June 2003 was divided between twenty-five community members. Today, three years later, the fund has grown to 8.7 million Rp and is shared by sixty-two community members, with many on the waitlist. Most people borrow only 100,000 Rp or US$10, enough to open a siomay (soy meatballs) business or to buy a bicycle for deliveries. The annual dividend for Boyolali village is 23,000 Rp per person.

In Boyolali village, every 1,000 Rp is accounted for in a comprehensive set of journals kept and maintained by the village head. Loans are made regardless of age or family affiliation, meaning young people can escape the generational "cycle of poverty."

In 2003, before the TRT program, poverty information systems maps indicate that Boyolali was home to no entrepreneurs. Today, thirty-one people, or half the contributing community members, sell products outside the village.

After an initial six-month monitoring period led by representatives of KOMPIP, Boyolali became financially independent. Members of Boyolali fondly refer to TRT as "ora ngiro," or the unimaginable miracle.

MLESE VILLAGE

Mlese Village is an amalgamation of neighborhoods located ten kilometers or six miles from the mid-sized city of Klaten, Central Java. In the aftermath of the May 24, 2006 earthquake, forty-one villagers from Mlese were found dead. Over 99% of the village’s houses were either severely damaged or destroyed, making the per capita destruction worse than Banda Aceh’s in the 2004 tsunami.

Most people in the village are still living in makeshift tents on the slabs of their former homes. The Indonesian government has in theory promised to rebuild 100% of the homes. Faulting their good intentions, international NGOs such as the International Organization for Migration, the Catholic Humanitarian Fund, OXFAM, and the Catholic Relief Service have pledged to fill-in the gaps.

Following natural disasters, after disease and burial of the dead has been taken care of, the three main priorities remain 1) housing, 2) psycho trauma treatment, and 3) the re-establishment of economic self-sustainability.

Because housing is nearly accounted for, and because most villagers claim that they require jobs more than treatment for mental trauma, YK’s TRT program will be used to facilitate the economic revitalization of Mlese.

Previous Next

COSTS:

In order to support a Yayasan KOMPIP community savings project in Mlese village for an initial four-month trial period, 108.6 million Rp or US$12,066 is needed — an itemized budget is available on the following page.

o        An honorarium of US$250 per month will cover expenses of an expert YK field coordinator. An additional US$200 per month will cover the expenses of two assistants for the expert.

o        The team must be equipped with a laptop computer and printer, which YK can buy used for US$600. The rental of office space, or lacking office, a weatherproof tent, will cost US$500. Maintenance, food, and stationary for the team for the four months will cost US$520.

o        Village and neighborhood capacity building initiatives will cost US$2,200 over the initial four months. These costs will cover orientation, monitoring, and evaluation meetings on the Biren village-wide level at three separate occasions, and each of the twenty-one neighborhood-wide levels once per month. KOMPIP employees assure that such meetings are pivotal to ensuring a smooth, efficient, and effective implementation of the TRT.

o        The near majority of the costs will come from the Stimulus Grant. With US$250 supplied to each of twenty-one neighborhoods within Biren, the grant will serve as the catalyst for economic recovery and independence for over 3,500 people. Each neighborhood is home to roughly fifty households. With an average of between three and four people per household, this means that the Real Medicine Foundation grant of US$12,066 will serve over 3,500 villagers, setting them on the path to economic and social recovery.

ITEMIZED BUDGET:

CONCLUSION:

Based on field experiences — which included visits to successful Yayasan KOMPIP Tabungan Rukun Tetangga (TRT) programs and to earthquake-affected villages in Central Java — it is the author’s recommendation that the Real Medicine Foundation grant KOMPIP a US$12,066 stimulus package. The program will both supply down-and-out villagers with a new source of short-term economic independence, and will also provide Mlese with a long-term path to sustainable development.

May 27, 2006

Thousands of the survivors are in urgent need of medical assistance. Many areas are still struggling to see aid deliveries, and hospitals in the region have been overwhelmed by the injured as the death toll keeps climbing and hopes of finding more survivors fades. In the hardest-hit district of Bantul, rescuers tried to pull bodies from the rubble as residents started digging mass graves. A local official reports that 600,000 of the 800,000 people in the district needed assistance. Medical teams are struggling to care for the injured, hundreds of who are lying on plastic sheets, straw mats and even newspapers outside the overcrowded hospitals, some hooked to intravenous drips dangling from trees. "We need help here," said Kusmarwanto of Bantul Muhammadiyah Hospital, the closest hospital to the quake's epicenter, adding that his hospital alone had 39 bodies.

The Real Medicine Foundation is preparing to send medical teams and much needed medicines into the disaster area. We are also accepting donations for water purification supplies, blankets, tents, clothing, and food.

Your help to get the support and supplies to the victims of this disaster is urgently needed and highly appreciated. To make a donation to Real Medicine's relief efforts for the Indonesia Earthquake disaster, please click here.

Photo MSNBC
The earthquake of May 27, 2006 is the worst disaster in Indonesia since the December 26, 2004, magnitude-9.1 earthquake that triggered a tsunami, killing at least 131,029 people in Indonesia alone. Another earthquake on March 28, 2005, killed about 900 people off the western coast of Sumatra.

Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin, marked by heavy volcanic and tectonic activity. Scientists are worried about the impact of the quake on Mount Merapi, which experts and villagers have watched closely in the past few weeks. The nearby volcano has been rumbling for weeks, spewing out lava and hot gases.