Yogya Earthquake - Island Aid to Support Sam Schultz's IDEP Team

On Saturday the 27th of May at 5:55 am an Earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale hit Central Java with the epicenter 20km south of the city of Yogyakarta (also spelt Jogyakarta). The earthquake lasted for over 57 seconds with a second smaller earthquake occurring at 10.15 am.

It appears that Bantul area south of Yogyakarta bore the brunt of the damage with almost all buildings being flattened and deaths numbering in the hundreds also Klaten has been badly affected. In Yogyakarta the quake caused serious structural damage to many of the cities buildings.

The current death toll is close to 5,800 and expected to rise, injured 25-30,000, and countless bodies still buried in the rubble. Over 200,000 people are currently displaced, many of whom lost everything when their houses collapsed. There are unconfirmed reports that more than 47,000 homes are completely destroyed and more than 55,000 are damaged and unsafe in the wake of the quake and aftershocks.

Island Aid's Bali based field partners, IDEP*, have received reports of many people not having eaten since the quake struck. Stockpiles of food, medicines and shelter prepared for the impending volcanic eruption of Mount Merapi, which is in the same area, are being exhausted.

Island Aid will support IDEP team's response to the crisis.

On the 29th of May IDEP sent a team of 6 volunteers, with a truck full of medicine and emergency relief supplies, to the affected area. A second larger truck departed on the 1st of June. Volunteers will assist with search and rescue, deliver much needed emergency supplies
and offer assistance to the local teams that are already on the ground – who have been working around the clock since the disaster struck.

First priority is to secure funds for the purchasing of Family Aid Buckets. These buckets contain a wide assortment of food, utensils, water, simple medications, a tarp, candles and a well researched list of items we know from our Aceh experience will be greatly appreciate as families try to re-establish themselves amid the rubble.

Each Family Aid Bucket costs about $60 to prepare. We are aiming to raise funds for 100 of these buckets as a first step. If we complete that goal we will try for 500 Family Aid Buckets in our next appeal.

Please pass on the URL of this page to your friends and associates. DONATE NOW

https://www.fundable.org/groupactions/earthquakefamilykits/groupaction_view

*IDEP are a grass roots organization born out of the chaos of the first Bali bombing. Island Aid worked closely with IDEP's Sam Schultz during the emergency relief operations following the Great Tsunami. The two organizations together channeled more than $1,600,000 in aid to support isolated communities in the area last year.

Your support is needed now in Java as the vast scale of this disaster grows more apparent with each passing day.