ZACH SHIELDS ON-LINE DOCUMENTARY - FIELD REPORT

Four days after I arrived in Padang a trip to Nias Island was organized and a team of 5 volunteers set off for the Gomo District of the Island.

My goal was to conduct interviews with teachers, students, doctors and other citizens in the villages to find out what their primary concerns and needs are at the current time and for the future. Ali Nudin, a key member of ELM was vital for translation and helping to conduct interviews. We spent most of our time in central Gomo but also traveled to Siraha, Siphalago Soussoua and finally to Sirombu on the West Coast.

The primary concerns of most of the citizens we talked to is that help is becoming almost non-existent as time goes on and they are being left to fend for themselves unless small NGO’s like ELM can return to help. Hati, a high school teacher in Gomo, said “We were behind before the earthquakes but now we are even further behind and it will take a long time to get back to where we were as a community before.”


People in the villages within Gomo are scared and tired since the earthquakes. We got footage of a funeral for three victims of a landslide 4km from central Gomo. We also spoke to the father of a young burn victim in Siphalago Soussoua pleading for help because his daughter has no way to receive proper medical treatment. With this footage and much more I hope that it can serve as a gateway for people to become more aware of the problems these areas are facing and that it is not limited to the areas we visited but many more as well.

After we returned from Nias the team quickly organized a trip to the Mentawai Islands. This time we traveled with another Australian volunteer, Mike Frood, who along with Ali was key in helping to conduct interviews. Most of our work took place on Siberut where we visited Malilimoh, Torolagahgok, and Taileleu. These villages received far less damage then Nias but their greatest concern was their ability to protect against earthquakes and tsunamis in the future. The communication and healthcare nowhere near adequate for such a high-risk area and the villagers are aware of this.

We conducted interviews with the village heads and secretaries of each of the villages along with others including doctors and teachers in the area. Most of the interviews included stories of the fear people feel presently as the threat of another disaster looms. Some people in Malilimoh are still living in the mountains months later to protect themselves from a tsunami. We have footage of makeshift braces people have attached to their homes in case of another earthquake and distant shots of the shelters in the mountains.

This video will compliment the Nias trip so that people can see there are other areas West of Sumatra that are in need of better healthcare and better communication after the tsunami to protect from any further damage.

The online documentary is going well and my project partner Chris Podell is working in the US to give us a jump start to start the post-production phase. With the help of UVI and ELM the online documentary will be a relevant and ongoing project to help raise awareness of the affected regions of Sumatra.

A final trip to Simeulue is being organized and I will provide further information upon completion of the trip.