Mercy Relief sent a 4-man team last weekend in response to an appeal by its Indonesian NGO partner, the IBU Foundation, to assist in their relief efforts to the West Javanese victims of the 7.3 Richter earthquake which rocked the island on 2nd September 2009.

IBU Foundation, which worked closely with Mercy Relief’s medical teams in the remote areas of Meulaboh after the Indian Ocean Tsunami had caused massive destruction to the Acehnese coastal district in 2004, had earlier sent its Rapid Assessment teams to assess the various affected locations and identified the following areas which require priority assistance:

  1. Cianjur Selatan District (Kabupaten Cianjur)
  2. Pangalengan Sub-district, Bandung (Kecamatan Pangalengan)
  3. Pameungpeuk Sub-district, Garut (Kecamatan Pameungpeuk, Kabupaten Garut)

Unloading the relief supplies at IBU’s headquarter in Bandung

To ensure swift logistical operations are met, Mercy Relief communicated directly with Carrefour (Indonesia) hypermarket for the procurement, delivery and distribution of much-needed relief supplies to the badly-hit areas. Based on the needs assessment conducted by IBU Foundation, Mercy Relief managed to dispatch the follwing relief items to the affected villagers:

  • 600 pieces of tarpaulin to shelter families
  • 600 units of cookingware
  • 600 units of kerosene lamps
  • 1200 units of gas stoves
  • 800 pieces of blankets
  • 1360 boxes of baby food formula

MR’s Chief Executive Hassan Ahmad handing over a tarpaulin to a villager

Distribution of baby food formula

The total amount of relief supplies donated by Mercy Relief is SGD $35,000. Mercy Relief wishes to thank Carrefour (Indonesia) for providing complimentary manpower, warehousing and trucking services to the affected areas.

Carrefour Indonesia’s President Director, Mr Shafie Shamsuddin helping to distribute the blankets in the IDP camp

Ecstatic villagers at Los Kulalet

Moving ahead, Mercy Relief will be collaborating with Sampoerna Foundation to support IBU Foundation in providing psycho-social rehabilitation programmes for the affected children. Mercy Relief will be deploying system tents to be used as temporary classrooms to encourage swift return to school.

General facts based on BNPB data (National Disaster Management Body)

  • 57 deaths (as at 5pm WIB)
  • 11,039 total houses destroyed/badly damaged
  • 13,464 houses partially damaged
  • Devastation affected a total of 10 districts

About Mercy Relief

Mercy Relief is a Singaporean humanitarian organisation which engages in both disaster relief and sustainable development programmes. It was established in 2003 as an independent non-governmental humanitarian charity responding to the human tragedies in Asia. Mercy Relief’s aid programme focuses on providing timely and effective assistance to disaster-stricken communities and has maintained the delivery of emergency aid within 72 hours from the point of appeal for assistance.  

In the past 12 years, Mercy Relief has disbursed over S$32 million in aid across 40 disaster relief and 53 sustainable development initiatives. Mercy Relief has impacted an aggregate of 2 million lives in 24 countries and areas, namely Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, DPR Korea, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Laos, Lebanon, Malaysia, the Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal,  Pakistan, Palestine, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam and Yemen.

For more information, you may call us at 6514 6322 or email corporateaffairs@mercyrelief.org

 

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