THE HUNT FOR A NEW ELM SHIP IS ON

Paul Madden, the force behind the Louis Vuitton Cup and Dan Stabbert of Venture Pacific Marine have kindly offered to help ELM to find a new mothership to support our on-going relief efforts in Aceh/Nias.

ELM's long term strategy is to do a twice monthly run between Banda Aceh and Sibolga /Padang stopping for a few days at each of the remote communities we have been helping or new communities we find in need. The trip is about 400-500nm one way so say 1,000 nm round trip. If we include the Mentawai islands we could be looking at 1,300nm.

We need a ship capable of maintaining 10 knots to cover the hops overnight. 8-9 knots would be workable but it would be nice to have 12-15 knots up our sleeve in case of a medical emergency or need to get somewhere before dark. Ideally we want to be able to accommodate 25-35 volunteers and say 10 local crew. Volunteers will need basic air conditioning or very good natural ventilation with insect screening. A big galley and mess area goes with this. Freezer space is important.

Cargo of between 70 and 150 tons works for us but if we could carry more we could be more flexible. Low running cost is a huge issue as fuel is getting more expensive here and we want to cover a lot of ground. 50% of our operating budget for the last 4 months was spent on fuel (not including charter fees). We don't want to be used as a free truck!

We often anchor in exposed locations and so stability and a sea-kindly motion are vital. We don't have typhoons or ice but it gets very hot and humid and it rains a lot. Draft is an issue at many locations but we don't need to maneuver much so twin engines are not essential.

Quite a few different formats would work for us and each has drawbacks and advantages:

1) Displacement Ferry format. We have used Batavia for 3+ months with reasonable results. She is an ex Hong Kong ferry with the seats taken out. The top deck had been set up as a restaurant and so she had good kitchens and freezers. She is too expensive to run with about 4,000 hp. Her cargo capacity was at most 150 tons but most of the time more like 120 tons. Our volunteers slept on mattresses on the floor with curtains on the open plan air conditioned 3rd deck. A similar boat might prove hard to find and we are reluctant to purchase her because of her huge and fuel hungry main engines, small fuel tanks (38tons), filthy 2 stroke gensets and her terrible condition. She had no cranes for loading/unloading and so was pretty hard work.

2) Fast Ferry format. Using Batavia inspired us to look at aluminum fast ferries that have passed their prime and are not competitive... ie slow fast ferries. We don't need the speed but we are attracted to the stability and shallow draft. We could rip out all the seats and use the lower deck for cargo and the upper deck for accommodation a-la Batavia. These boats are always airconditioned so we could just turn off the lower deck and save some load. Downside is that we still have large fuel hungry and expensive high tech engines and no cranes.



3) Landing Craft. We have seen one large landing craft in Port of Spain that had a big bridge deck/saloon over the stern. She would be great for taking supplies direct to the beach but cargo would have to be tarpped as all exposed to the weather and we would have to build more accommodation to handle our medical teams so we have not pushed hard on this front. We are also reluctant to get into competition with commercial cargo operators as that is not our strength. Also the scale of such a ship will mean loads that are too big for the small communities we are determined to help.



4) Oil field support ships/standby ships. Main problem with these boats is huge engines and big fuel bills. The complexity of the gear is also a worry as maintaining it will consume a lot of money one way or the other. Worth a hard look.



5) Small Classic Ships. The ship that we like best so far is a sister ship to ex Greenpeace ship SIRIUS. (46m x 8.42m x 3.5m) She about the right size at 360 tons. We are consulting with the owner on the best way to manage stowage of relief supplies. An engine room hatch is within the swing radius of her deck cranes and we can access the aft below decks area with minor modification. She is built to last with 10mm plate riveted and welded to military specs. This is the most fuel efficient ship I've ever come across (650hp at 250rpm 80ltrs/hr at 10 knots). Range is 4,000 miles so we could run for 2 months between fuel stops.

She has bunks for 35 guests and 12 crew and could take more if over under bunks are fitted. We will loose some cabins to cargo aft so the final number will drop to about 30 guests.


The ex NATO heavy duty truck cranes can easily lift our 4 beach
landing skiffs with engines bolted on eliminating one of the most
stressful jobs we faced on Batavia.

Her engine is very simple and we have a team who can manufacture the parts in Indonesia so she will be the cheapest of all to maintain even though she is the oldest ship we have looked at (1950). There is no gear box to break and the prop turns slowly enough that hitting debris should not cause problems. The single 6 cyl engine can run on 3-4 cylinders if anything breaks and can be rebuilt in hours if the parts are on board so she has the get home capacity despite the lack of a back-up. Her prop is variable pitch and reversing making her easy to maneuver and anchor.

We are open to other ideas and appeal to readers to contact us with suggestions.

TSUNAMI HEIGHTS MEASURED BY TOP SEISMIC TEAM

Many of us who have been working in Aceh over the past months have discussed the real height of the tsunami in various locations we visited. At one point we climbed to the highwater mark on Pulau Raya where water had surrounded a steep rocky hill where the rampup or run-up would have been minimal. We sighted the horizon against the mast on Batavia and measured a wave height of 22m.



It seems the wave height further north was considerably higher and now the numbers are out. Some areas were hit by a tsunami of over 30m in height! The scale of such a monster wave is beyond most peoples comprehension. I have seen 100ft waves in the Great Australian Bight (measured from trough to peak) but they were not breaking with the force of a wave hitting shallow water.

Think about how hard a 1.5m wave can "dump" you at the beach. Something 2o times as large would be more powerful than anything ever seen or experienced by mankind. It redefines the term "natural disaster" and certainly recalibrates the word "tsunami" forever.

Distribution of the Tsunami Heights of the 2004 Sumatera Tsunami in Banda Aceh measured by the Tsunami Survey Team (The Head: Dr. Tsuji)
The effects of the astronomical tides are removed. These heights are the pure tsunami heights.

The Members of the Tsunami Survey Team
Yoshinobu Tsuji (Earthquake Research Institute, the University of Tokyo, Japan)
Hideo Matsutomi (Akita University, Japan)
Yuichiro Tanioka (Hokkaido University, Japan)
Yuichi Nishimura (Hokkaido University, Japan)
Tsutomu Sakakiyama (Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry, Japan)
Takanobu Kamataki (National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Japan)
Yoshikane Murakami (Kansai Electric Power, co., inc., Japan)
Andy Moore (Kent State University, USA)
Guy Gelfenbanm (USGS, USA)

ROTARY UK REQUEST ELM DISTRIBUTION

Similar Rotary boxes being unloaded at Leuser National Park after the 2002 flash flood

A lot of aid supplies have been tied up in customs or delayed by shipping bottlenecks but Rotary UK have managed to get a large consignment of family packs on the ground in Medan and ready to send to needy areas. Aceh veteran Marion van der Reijden has been based in Meulaboh since January and she is determined to see these supplies reach remote areas. Trucking is being arranged and our ELM team is on standby to meet the convoy and distribute to Gomo and Mazino areas in SE Nias next week. The consignment consists of 44 tons of large sturdy plastic boxes containing clothes, kitchen items, tools, torch, bucket, hygiene supplies and water purification tablets.

DEC26 QUAKE UPGRADED TO BIGGEST EVER RECORDED

Temblor big enough to 'vibrate the whole planet '


Aceh coast near SAWANG village where one woman and three children survived - none of them related to each other or to the 50 fishermen who were in deep water and returned to find their families gone without trace. This is all that was left of a thriving community. image by Jason Childs copyright

By Marsha Walton
CNN Thursday, May 19, 2005 Posted: 1953 GMT (0353 HKT) click this links for the full story

SPECIAL REPORT
(CNN) -- Dramatic new data from the December 26, 2004, Sumatran-Andaman earthquake that generated deadly tsunamis show the event created the longest fault rupture and the longest duration of faulting ever observed, according to three reports by an international group of seismologists published Thursday in the journal "Science."

"Normally, a small earthquake might last less than a second; a moderate sized earthquake might last a few seconds. This earthquake lasted between 500 and 600 seconds (at least 10 minutes)," said Charles Ammon, associate professor of geosciences at Penn State University.

The quake released an amount of energy equal to a 100 gigaton bomb, according to Roger Bilham, professor of geological sciences at the University of Colorado.

ANIMATION

MAJOR QUAKES BRACKET NW ACEH

2005/05/19 01:54 M 6.7 SIMEULUE, INDONESIA Z= 30km 2.00N 96.97E

This information is provided by the USGS
National Earthquake Information Center.

These parameters are preliminary and subject to revision.

A magnitude 6.7 earthquake IN SIMEULUE, INDONESIA has occurred at:
2.00N 96.97E Depth 30km Thu May 19 01:54:53 2005 UTC

Time: Universal Time (UTC) Thu May 19 01:54:53 2005
Time Near Epicenter Thu May 19 08:54:53 2005

UN CONFIRMS RECONSTRUCTION STALLED

Maybe the world's leaders have no idea of what it is like on the ground in Aceh... University Volunteers help Pulau Raya villagers to build a bridge out to a boat landing over submerged coastline. Just to get tents and food ashore is a major exercise.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Rebuilding tsunami-ravaged Asia is extremely slow, the United Nations warned as global business leaders met for the first time since the December 26 tragedy to devise swift reconstruction plans with governments.

"The reconstruction effort is still too slow," lamented Jan Egeland, the UN emergency relief coordinator.

"I am concerned with people in the displacement camps that it (reconstruction) is going slower than they had expected to get back to their homes, their livelihood," he told reporters at the conference

MORE AT http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20050512/wl_asia_afp/usquakeasia

TELOS ISLANDS DAMAGED BUT NO INJURIES

OCHA's Nias coordinating officer Andre Therik has just confirmed that the Police Chief for the Batu Islands (Telos) reports no deaths or injuries so far resulting from the May 14th quake. "The epicenter was located near Pulau Pini and that island is not inhabited so we were very fortunate".

"Several mosques, schools and a number of private homes collapsed and all concrete structures have been cracked but most houses are built from wood and they are still usable with some bracing. People are camping on hill sides at night but commerce is able to continue". More as reports come in.

QUAKES PREDICTED BY UNIQUE CLOUD FORMATIONS

The Zhonghao Shou Darrell Harrington Earthquake Prediction Center http://quake.exit.com claims to have predicted a significant number of recent major quakes by analysis of satellite cloud images. Yesterdays quake near the Telos Islands was heralded by one of these cloud phenomena and the UN alerted.

Unfortunately this is underfunded and very new technology and so the risk of causing public panic will preclude it's use as an early warning mechanism until it is better understood. It is of considerable interest to anyone who lives in an active seismic area.

Most conventional work using satellites to predict earthquakes has focused on monitoring tiny movements of the earth's crust. An alternative approach that has recently shown great promise is satellite imaging of strange non-meteorological cloud formations and their correlation with earthquakes.

Shou is convinced that these clouds are formed when rock formations along highly stressed faults start to fracture ahead of a major event. The micro fractures fill with water which is super heated and this in turn is expelled into the atmosphere some time ahead of the quake. Exactly how long is not well understood but a window of 60 days is conservative. Sometimes only hours pass before a big quake.

The clouds are readily visible from the ground near the epicenter and can take the form of straight lines, feathers, snaking or curved lines or wave forms depending on winds and pre-existing atmospheric conditions. In some recorded cases hot gases have burned victims many hours before quakes where fault lines pass below inhabited areas. Perhaps this explains why some Aceh tsunami survivors were severely burned by hot black oily water that they say followed the wave or in some cases erupted from fields just before the wave hit.



The first recording of the successful use of this method dates back to China 381 years ago and interest in it has recently been revived both there and in Japan.

Shou observed a "quake cloud" (see above) to predict the Bam earthquake of Dec. 26, 2003. Predictions were made public on the internet (@1) at 17:58 UTC, Dec. 25, 2003.

The Bam earthquake occurred precisely on the predicted fault, and its magnitude was within the predicted magnitude windows. For more see http://quake.exit.com

6.9 QUAKE HITS NIAS AND TELOS

This latest quake caused wide spread panic and further traumatized the populations of Teluk Dalam and Gunung Sitoli townships on Nias. Some damaged structures collapsed but so far no loss of life or injuries reported. We remain deeply concerned about Gomo and Lahusa areas as they were closest to the epicenter and we have not been able to reach Dr Laia's satphone number.

So there is no news from the Batu Islands (Telos) and they are located over the epicenter. We are trying to reach contacts in the area to establish the extent of the damage.

BATAVIA OFF HIRE

ELM volunteers were celebrating our arrival in Padang Tuesday afternoon completing a 106 day mission that departed from the same port on the 24th of January. The party mood continued despite Captain Wayan's decision to anchor in the middle of Bungus bay rather than go alongside at the wharf we had arranged for Batavia.

Without missing a beat, we launched our skiffs and called on the local fisheries work boat to help us unload our gear in the dark.

All of us are determined to arrange to purchase Batavia or a similar vessel so that we can select our captain and crew for the long haul. Negotiations will be much easier now that we are off the ship and able to continue our mission independantly.

PULAU RAYA FISHING FLEET PROGRESS

While BATAVIA refueled in Sibolga, we had a chance to check progress on the refurbishment and repowering of 5 fishing boats funded by Sam Schultz and friends. Sam found one 10m decked boat and 4 smaller 7m open boats near Sibolga and they are almost ready to take out for sea trials. Sam just called and he has secured funding for 5 additional boats so a total of 10 boats will travel north next month and be delivered to the Pulau Raya and Patek fishermen who lost their boats in the tsunami.

Batavia volunteers Michael and Phil unloaded anchor rope for Sams boats.

Unfortunately our bagan rehabilitation project has been delayed due to the sinking of the IDEP funded cargo ship "Endless Sun" after hitting an uncharted reef off the west coast of Nias. Our 200 drums were aboard but their loss is hardly worth comment in light of the scale of the trauma the crew endured. Our sympathy to James and the rest of his brave team. Fortunately no one was injured.

REPORT ON SCHOOLS ON WEST COAST SUMATRA (NIAS SIMEULUE AND LOKRUET, ACEH) POST TSUNAMI AND EARTHQUAKE

Objective : To survey damage to school buildings, meet students and parents and identify teachers. After negotiations with community, erect temporary school tents and provide basic school materials. Participate and facilitate the commencement of classes with local Indonesian teachers.

Process: Julie Janson, a teacher and university lecturer from Australia volunteered to join the ELM to assist in restarting schools in damaged towns and villages in the ELM footprint area on the West coast. The teacher often went to the villages and towns with the medical team and she began an appraisal of the school's needs. As people gathered to attend the clinic, Julie would set up a tarpaulin on the ground and commence teaching English, art or maths. Children and parents would gather and take part in the impromptu classes. Julie speaks basic bahasa Indonesian and quickly developed a rapport with students and parents.



After the two to three hour long class, Julie would ask to meet the local teacher. Often the response was that the teachers had fled and were refugees in the mountains. In some cases, teachers arrived and were introduced to Julie. Discussions about school needs proceeded and ELM would arrange for two large Red Cross tents per school to be delivered from the Batavia. Volunteers from ELM and the local community then erected the tents. Tarpaulins were also provided from AusAid and other donors.

The tarpaulins were placed on the ground in the tents and black boards, some desks and a teacher's chair were rescued from the rubble of the school building. Class could now commence with the local teacher or a temporary volunteer teacher from the village. In some cases, ELM volunteers would return to the village the next day and were delighted to see fifty or so children in their school uniforms sitting in their classes working.



Assessment of outcomes: The process of delivering some classes to students as a visiting teacher has merit because it encourages both the students, parents and teachers that life can get back to some kind of normal activity. Once the students experience a class atmosphere and realize that the tent is safe from earthquakes, if it falls down no-one will really get hurt. The tent schools are usually on the school playground so the school environment is familiar and the students know that they can safely attend. The students were very frightened when after shocks rocked the ground while Julie taught class, but her reaction of calm and the reaction of parents reassured the students that they could go on learning.

Temporary tent schools are a method of getting the schools started. The building of new schools should be a priority for Indonesian authorities with an emphasis on earthquake resistant buildings made of steel and wood and plastic, not concrete!

There is a lack of school supplies in all schools visited. ELM needs supplies on board the Batavia to distribute: writing books, pens, pencils, paints, paper, scissors, Indonesian reading books and all subject area texts.

Psychological healing: The community healing that takes place in the simple commencement of school is inspiring. Instead of fear and hopeless expressions the ELM were greeted with cheers and appreciation. The children were smiling and taking pride in their accomplishments of singing, drawing, reading, writing and maths.


School locations:
30/3/05 Lokruet in West coast Aceh. This school had already had a tent erected by other aid organizations (Obor Berkat and Child Fund. After one week there were desks and seats built by the community in a work for pay project. ELM contributed schools supplies such as writing books, pencils, pens and paints. Julie also taught in the school in a team with the local teachers over two days. There were 30-40 children attending the school mostly of primary and infants age group. A proposal for ongoing funding of the school was forwarded from ELM to Jack Shultz in USA.

The earthquake (28th March) centred on Simulue and Nias. The ELM went to the island of Simeulu. A survey from Sinabang revealed many schools destroyed but many NGOs were already focusing on educational rebuilding there.



7/4/05 ELM arrived in West Simeulu . The Salong area and Simeulu Tenga was highlighted by the Bupati in Sinabang as needing attention. Palau Tupa is an island 3hrs sailing from Sinabang. The concrete school building is badly damaged. Julie taught English and maths in the morning. A tent school was set up and the local teacher was delighted to start teaching in the afternoon. Approximately 30 students attended the temporary class room. The reported number of children needing school was over a hundred.

11/4/05 ELM reached the town of Kampung Air. This is a big town with five schools. ELM provided two tents to two schools and a further one tent to the Muslim school and another to a village school five kilometers out of town.
Each school had approximately 200 students. School had not commenced when ELM left the area but there was assurances from teachers that school would begin the following Monday. School materials such as pens books and paper were distributed to a number of teachers.

12/4/05 ELM arrived in Gunongsitoli, Nias . The schools were badly damaged and no obvious sign of UNICEF tents or commencement of outdoor classes. There was rubble everywhere and chaos.

13/4/05 ELM reached South West Nias . We assessed the flooded fishing village of Ono Limbu. People here were very hungry, the land had sunk 3 metres. Some school buildings were damaged, but the school was not operating. Two school tents were erected and a teacher (who was utterly terrible and turned out to be a pretend teacher) worked alongside Julie to teach English to 40 students. The real teacher commenced teaching the next day with children in their uniforms and much relief and joy.

Follow up: On Julie's return to Medan she met with Tengku Silvana Sinar the Co ordinator of the Departmen Pendidikan Nasional Kopertis Wilayah and Michael Fay from Aseanfocus Group. Silvana is the head of private education in Sumatra. She was interested to be briefed on the situation in Nias and Simuelu and Aceh. The reconstruction of the teachers College in Gunongsitoli was one of her priorities. The issue of earthquake proof buildings was discussed.

Also student scholarships for those effected by the tsunami and earthquake. There was a follow up meeting between Julie Janson, Michael Fay and the Deputy Head of the Education Department in Sumatra. He was interested in ELM’s activities and contacted Rick Cameron to ask for assistance in distributing school materials and possibly tents. The deputy assured Julie that tents and school packs of materials had been distributed by UNICEF and Save the Children Fund . Unfortunately, Julie had not come across any of these items in her one month of work on ELM.

Proposed Long Term Follow Up:
Julie Janson and ELM to undertake 2x14 day assessment of island community educational infrastructure from Sabang to Padang.

Co-operating Agencies
Governor's Office North Sumatra.
Provincial Education Department North Sumatra
Departemen Pendidikan Nasional Kopertis Wilayah, Medan
Provincial Education Department West Sumatra
Provincial Education Department NAD

Focus Areas
Physical Infrastructure
Resources
Teacher Training
Curriculum development

Proposed Funding Agency
Aus Aid

Team
Deni Purba; Julie Janson MA, BA, BVis A Dip Ed;
Michael Fay MEd, BA, Dip Ed(International Education Consultant)

MISSION STATS

Batavias Aus Aid mission to Simeulue and Nias is behind us and we have a moment to look at our statistics:

Voyage - 800nm+
Aid supplies distributed - 140mt+
Patients treated - 2,737+
Volunteers aboard - 55+
Tents distributed - 520 family size
Lives saved by medivac - 1 without a doubt.

Our full distribution sheet will be ready tomorrow.

MALARIA - LOCATION & ELEVATION

After consultation with our NWM team and meetings with IMC doctors and aircrew over the past two days, it seems reasonable to conclude that Malaria efforts should be focused in the South East sector of Nias and especially in low lying coastal villages.

IMC are finding very low levels of Malaria in the inland villages they are servicing in NW Nias and the population is sparce. We have seen up to 75% of patients test positive in coastal SE Nias and up to 22% in mountain villages in the same area. Given that the population of the areas we have supported exceeds 100,000 it would seem prudent to try to convince WHO to direct more medical capacity to these areas.



Our North West Medical team report follows:

April 30th, 2005

Site: Lawa-Lawa-Luo-Gomo
Agency: NWMTI
Providers: 2 docs, 2 RNs
Total Patients: 94

Condition: <5>5 yo

URI / Viral Inf. 6, 3
Pruritis / Eczema 3, 4
LRTI / Pneum / Bron 4, 7
GERD / PUD -, 4
Back Pain -, 1
Scabies -, 2
PTSD / Sleep dis -, 8
Scalp inf 1 , 1
Cephalgia -, 5
OB/Gyn -, 4
HTN -, 4
Thyr'/G'tr/Neck Mass -, 2
Diarrhea / Colitis 2, 2
Arthritis / MS pain -, 5
Otitis / ear 2, 1
Ophthamic -, 1
Acute Febrile illness 3, -
Helminth inf 3, 1
Impetigo 1, 1
Asthma -, 1
Dehydration / weak -, 1
Malaria - 6 (2(-) for Falcip')
Lac. repair / F/U -, 2
UTI -, 1
Burn wounds / F/U -, 1
CVA (New & old) -, 1

May 1 & 2, 2005

Site: Sifalago Susua, Gomo
Agency: NWMTI
Providers: 3 docs, 2 RNs
Total Patients: 392

Condition: <5,>5 yo

URI / Viral Inf. 22, 17
Pruritis / Eczema 3, 9
LRTI / Pneum / Bron 10, 24
GERD / PUD 1, 55
Back Pain -, 16
Scabies 2, 4
PTSD / Sleep dis -, 16
Scalp inf 1, -
Cephalgia -, 21
OB/Gyn -, 1
HTN -, 4
Thyr'/G'tr/Neck Mass -, 2
Diarrhea / Colitis 1, 6
Arthritis / MS pain -, 30
Otitis / ear 21, 13
Ophthamic -, 3
Acute Febrile illness 2, 1
Helminth inf 1, 4
Impetigo 3, 4
Asthma 1, 8
Dehydration / weak 5, 29
Malaria 2, 29 (16(-) for Falcip')
I&D/Lac. repair / F/U -, 2
UTI -, 5
Burn wounds / F/U -, 3
CVA (New & old) -, 3
Fungal inf -, 7
Cancer -, 2


Teti has a rare genic condition. Both eyes are fully functional. She is suffering from fever and severe respiritory infection in common with a high percentage of children in the area.

May 3, 2005

Site: SiForo Asi Gomo & OraHili Gomo
Agency: NWMTI
Providers: 2 docs, 2 RNs
Total Patients: 73

Condition: <5,>5 yo

URI / Viral Inf. 3, 2
Pruritis / Eczema -, 1
LRTI / Pneum / Bron -, 3
GERD / PUD -, 7
Back Pain -, 4
Scabies 2, 1
PTSD / Sleep dis -, 1
Scalp inf 1, -
Cephalgia -, 2
OB/Gyn -, 1
HTN -, 2
Thyr'/G'tr/Neck Mass -, -
Diarrhea / Colitis 2, -
Arthritis / MS pain -, 7
Otitis / ear -, 1
Ophtham/conjuc'itis -, 2
Acute Febrile illness 3, -
Helminth inf 2, 5
Impetigo 1, -
Asthma -, -
Dehydration / weak -, -
Malaria -, 13 (3(-) for Falcip')
I&D/Lac. repair / F/U-, 1
UTI / nephrolithiasis -, 4
Burn wounds / F/U -, 2
CVA (New & old) -, 3
Fungal inf -, 7
Cancer -, 2
Diabetes -, 1

May 4, 2005

Site: Hilizalootano and Hilinawalomazino, Telukdalam
Agency: NWMTI
Providers: 2 docs, 2 RNs
Total Patients: 109

Condition: <5,>=5 yo

URI / Viral Inf. 1, 4
Pruritis / Eczema - -
LRTI / Pneum / Bron 2, 8
GERD / PUD -, 6
Back Pain -, 6
Scabies 5, 6
PTSD / Sleep dis -, -
Scalp inf -, -
Cephalgia -, -
OB/Gyn -, -
HTN -, 2
Thyr'/G'tr/Neck Mass -, -
Diarrhea / Colitis 2, -
Arthritis / MS pain -, -
Otitis / ear -, 1
Ophtham/conjuc'itis 1, 8
Acute Febrile illness -, 1
Helminth inf 6, 9
Impetigo 5, 3
Asthma -, -
Dehydration / weak -, -
Malaria -, 23 (4(-) for Falcip')
I&D/Lac. repair / F/U 1, 2
UTI / nephrolithiasis -, 2
Burn wounds / F/U -, 4
CVA (New & old) -, 3
Fungal inf -, -
Cancer -, -
Diabetes -, -
Herpes Zoster -, 1

HUMAN TSUNAMI

SIFALAGOSUSUA is typical of many hill top villages in central Nias. It is dominated by a huge timber "Rumah Adat" that once housed the village heads entire family and protected them from warring neighboring villages. For centuries Nias had a classic feudal society as a result of population pressure on the island's very limited productive land. River flats were converted to rice long ago but villages were always built on hill tops to advantage the defenders.

After all the flat land had been converted to rice, the forested slopes were cleared and slash and burn agriculture destabilized huge areas of steep land.



The area around SUSUA is the poorest and most heavily populated in all of rural Nias. 5 years ago, torrential rains unleashed landslides that blocked rivers and when the debris dams collapsed, flood waves killed thousands and swept away or buried many of the most productive rice fields. The tragic situation was very much man made. Agricultural practices and population pressure have combined to create man made tsunamis.


Anyone who has spent time on the ground in Aceh will be jolted by this image. The high tide mark of what can best be described as a human tsunami - mountain top GOMO

Desperation has led to more and more steep land being burned bare every year. Our 14km trek to the village followed ancient stone walking paths and every so often a small concrete bridge testified to a plan to build a road at some future date. Unfortunately huge sections of these old paths had been buried by land slides and these sections were dangerous and clearly no longer able to support any kind of road. In some places we climbed over mud slides that had been released by the earthquake or possibly heavy rains since the quake loosened large areas of unstable ground.




We forded major rivers 7 times during our trek and it is hard to imagine the Government ever justifying the investment needed to build large bridges to access the valleys let alone the ridge tops.



The SUSUA area will probably never have road access or even motor cycle paths and the 12,000 strong population will have to face trekking 14 km along precarious trails to bring in enough food to survive.



Health is a luxury under these circumstances and to bring some hope of future opportunity for the huge number of children in the area is a massive challenge. If nothing is done, human tsunamis will be the only population control. GOMO is center stage for the island's most acute problems and a chance for all NGOs to make a difference.

ELECTRIC LAMB JOINS BATAVIA IN NIAS

Shallow water extends over a mile out from the SE coastline of Nias and Batavia is anchoring conservatively in 8m minimum water depth. We don't want to be caught up in the next tsunami and this area is unique in that it has suffered two quite severe tsunamis in a few months.

To drive our speed boats almost 2km to the beach takes up a lot of time and fuel so we have been using Electric Lamb as a shuttle. Her shallow draft allows the Lamb to anchor a few hundred meters off shore with a big load of supplies on board. There is no need to stockpile material on the beach with all the attendant security and crowd control issues. Trucks arrive and can be loaded quickly. Bad weather has not slowed down unloading despite 30kn winds and heavy rain today.

THE POWER OF COINCIDENCE

Unloading of last supplies wound up today with our 3 wheel motor "Helicaks" delivering to families most in need along the Lahusa coast. Priority was given to those who's homes had been destroyed completely. Cooking equipment, tool kits and jerry cans (many filled with kerosene) were delivered to families we have met over the past weeks and others that we have noted along the coast road. Grinders were given to those who had lost concrete homes or needed to demolish unsafe reinforced concrete structure.


Breaking down a reinforced house frame with a claw hammer! What is truely alarming about this was how easily the concrete disintegrated. The cement content in the mix must have been barely enough to bond the sand and river gravel aggregate. Perhaps this explains why so many structures have totally collapsed.

The last of our WFP rice was delivered to Gomo Camat yesterday bringing the total delivered to that underserved area to over 12 tons. While this is not a significant proportion of the total needs for the 50,000 population, it arrived in time to suplement other deliveries from Samaritans Purse and a number of church groups. The Camat confirmed a total rice delivery of 60 tons prior to our first delivery and since then an additional 70-80 tons have made it in on trucks and TNI helicopters. At .6kg per person per day, the needs for GOMO are in excess of 30tons/day and considering that 25 days have passed since the quake, the backlog is about 600 tons. Deliveries to date are enough to support about 20% of GOMO families at WFP recommended levels. This is below the level needed to provide for families who's homes are completely destroyed but it is encouraging that supplies are starting to arrive at last.


The old hill top village of SIFALAGO SUSUA a 14km walk south from GOMO.

Dr Laia comfirmed that after our first rice delivery, WFP arrived and surveyed the villages we mentioned on our website and in emails to other agencies. Everyone in the area we met seemed convinced that we had arranged the supplies no matter what we said. "They saw you come and bring rice and tents and a few days later more arrived. They thank you for bringing relief and it is no use telling them that you brought only a small amount on your ship" Dr Laia explained.



The highlight of yesterday's medical mission to HILINAWALO MAZINO was to see the lines of bikes and villagers carrying in bags of rice, sardines, cooking oil and noodles as we walked out at dusk. This time our Aus Aid distribution had happened an hour ahead of a church organized distribution of WFP supplies and again we could not convinced the happy villagers that this was a pure coincidence. Hundreds of people insisted on shaking our hands as we met them on the trail.



Our NWM team treated over 100 in HILINAWALO MAZINO and HILIZALOOTANO after walking in over 5km past the end of the road. We were the first medical team to work in the 300 year old HILINAWALO MAZINO village. Full reports to follow.

NIAS LOG

Relief supplies have been unloaded without incident over the past 4 days with most material being trucked to Gomo. Road conditions have deteriorated due to rain but bridges are being repaired and the river gorge cliff edge is now a lot safer. Trucks are very difficult to rent and unreliable and afternoon loading has to be moved constantly from beach to beach to avoid the drunken minority who turn up every day.


This 3 yo was crushed during the quake, hospitalized and then sent home. Her head wound had turned septic and her parents were quite frantic for help.

Aus Aid supplies have been sent to support the following villages/subregions:
Lahusa - zinc and timber for reconstruction of junior highschool
Gomo - zinc and timber for reconstruction of senior highschool
Gomo Camat - 6 tons WFP rice, CARE tents, gen-set
Gomo heath support - gen set
Lahusa area - tool kits, wheelbarrows, cooking equipment, jerry cans and buckets.

Lamps, tool kits, wheelbarrows, tents, cooking equipment, jerry cans and other to:
Lawa Lawa Luo Gomo
Sifalago Susua
Siforo Asi Gomo & Orahili Gomo

North West Medical teams have conducted health clinics in the following villages:
Lawa Lawa Luo Gomo, (pop 2,720) 94 patients treated
Sifalago Susua (pop 7,000 incl nearby kampungs) 392 patients treated
Siforo Asi Gomo & Orahili Gomo (population 7,500)73 patients treated

NIAS JIGSAW

BATAVIA is anchored off Lahusa, Nias. Unloading went smoothly today with good cooperation on the beach until our local workers returned from lunch. They had been drinking tuak (palm wine) and they were completely drunk. Paul was organising our loading on the beach and he was surprises at the change in atmosphere when the afternoon shift started. All the workers wanted to do was argue and shout. Despite this we unloaded over 15 tons of aid. Another part of the Nias jigsaw falls into place. Tomorrow we will start loading at 6am.



NWM team treated over 100 patients at an afternoon clinic 2km west of Gomo township and tomorrow we will head up into the mountains to an area with a population of over 12,000 who have not seen any medical support at all since the quake.