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INDONESIA: WASH concerns a month after Sumatra quake

04 Nov 2009 14:38:02 GMT
Source: IRIN

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• Indonesia earthquakes

• Earthquakes

JAKARTA, 4 November 2009 (IRIN) - Thousands of survivors of an earthquake that devastated Indonesia's West Sumatra Province are still grappling with a lack of clean water and adequate sanitation more than a month after the disaster, relief workers say.

Aid agencies are delivering clean water to survivors by truck, but it is insufficient unless water sources damaged by the earthquake on 30 September are restored, said Endang Trisna, programme coordinator for Mercy Corps [see: http://indonesia.mercycorps.org/].

"Water pumps in many houses have been damaged and wells are contaminated with sand and dirt. Some residents have no access at all to clean water," Trisna told IRIN.

Trisna said Mercy Corps was helping villagers fix their water sources and providing treatment facilities, as well as building latrines and distributing hygiene kits in Padang Pariaman and Agam districts, among the worst hit by the earthquake.

"Our staff are also providing training on hygiene. Our target is to help 10,000 households," she said.

The magnitude 7.6 quake left 1,117 people dead and more than 119,000 houses severely damaged or destroyed, according to the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB).

IDP camps

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its 3 November report that funding for transitional shelter, water and sanitation, and agriculture activities was still urgently needed to bridge the gap into the recovery phase.

According to the report, 600,000 people in Padang, the provincial capital, will be reliant on water trucks until year-end.

There are also 4,000 displaced people in three camps in Agam and about 4,000 in six camps in Padang Pariaman who are being supported with water and sanitation activities.

The government declared a recovery phase from 1 November in all but Padang Pariaman and Agam, home to the camps, where the emergency phase continues because sanitation is particularly poor. The camps are providing shelter for some of the thousands of people displaced by landslides triggered by the earthquake, said Tanty Pranawisanty, Mercy Corps emergency response team leader.

"The tents are not up to standard. They are close to each other, causing overcrowding," she said.

The government is expected to announce its rehabilitation and reconstruction action plan on 15 November, the OCHA report stated.

Ade Edward, head of West Sumatra's disaster coordinating agency, said piped water had been restored in 60 percent of households in Padang, while about 1,000 temporary shelters had been built by aid groups.

But he admitted that living conditions for people displaced in Agam and Padang Pariaman were still far from normal.

"They live in makeshift shelters and there's a lack of water and toilets," Edward told IRIN. "There are problems with sanitation, but it's being handled by authorities."

Funding gap

The UN Children's Fund, UNICEF, said aid groups have complained they lacked funds to deliver water but stressed that the situation would not threaten the emergency relief effort.

"Aid agencies have been helping with the supply of water bladders and other equipment, but the operational cost is being paid by the local tap water company," said Lely Djuhari, a spokeswoman for UNICEF Indonesia.

"We're confident the government will come up with the cost for water trucking for the next three months, or even beyond," she said.

Meanwhile, the government estimates that reconstruction in West Sumatra will cost more than US$700 million, while the BNPB says more than $315 million will be needed for rebuilding damaged houses.

"We are still awaiting the release of the funds by the central government. However, some reconstruction work has begun, even though money from the government has not come," said BNPB spokesman Priyadi Kardono.

atp/ey/ds/mw

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