Jogjakarta Earthquake

Survey Trip Report, reported as it is without personal comments...
Saturday, 3 June 2006 – Monday, 5 June 2006
By: Kelvin Wu (ORPC), Agung Prasetya Susanto (BBPC), Steven Halim (BBPC)

I. The Damage

Figure 1. The affected areas (not exhaustive)
Imaginary lines and circles are used to illustrate the regions affected.

On Saturday, 27 May 2006 morning, the civilians of Jogjakarta and surrounding areas, who was at that time still in fear of the possible eruption of volcanic Merapi mountain nearby, is surprised by the 5.9 (some other sources mentioned 6.3) richer-scale[1] earthquakes. It hit a massive area consisting of: Jogjakarta, Bantul district, Klaten district. These affected areas form an imaginary `line' when observed from above, see Figure 1. The earthquake lasted for about 53 seconds to 1 minute. Within that short span of major earthquake which was felt throughout surrounding areas, thousands[2] houses, especially ordinary houses owned by the poor and homes for them for years, flattened in an instant...

There are mixed reactions during that earthquake. All are in panic, obviously, but some are so stressful that they didn’t move out from their house. Those who died are mainly because they didn't managed to get out in time, and therefore are crushed by heavy objects from their own house while they were inside. It is estimated that around 5.000++ people died[3] and 15.000++ injured (see Table 1 and Figure 2).

Many said that it is still a blessing that this earthquake occurred in the morning when most people are already awake and not in the midnight when people are sleeping. The death toll is predicted to be much higher if it happened few hours earlier.

Table 1. Death/Injury Toll as of Saturday 3 June 2006 as reported in local newspaper.

Figure 2. Death Toll at Bantul & Klaten District.

This earthquake didn’t choose its victim: churches, mosques, temples, schools (early June is actually the final exam period), public buildings, malls (e.g. Carrefour @ Jogjakarta city), hotels, Jogjakarta Adisucipto airport, cemeteries (“even the dead are not spared”) are all affected, the community of Jogjakarta is suffering together. However, even though this fierce earthquake hit not only the poor but virtually everyone around Jogjakarta, it is evident that the not-so-well-constructed (or old) buildings (usually owned by the poor) that were affected the most. The houses that were built well with strong foundation have higher chance to survive[4]. It is worth mentioning that houses that suffer major damage (but not flattened) still need to be totally destroyed and rebuilt as it is unsafe to stay there.

In overall, the economic loss from this disaster is very high.

These series of photos visualize what we saw during our trip

Injured victims (left), Flattened house (right)

Mosque (left) is broken, Candi (temple) is broken (right)

 
GKJ Patalan (left), GKJ Canden (right) --- totally destroyed

Adisucipto Airport also affected (left), New mall: Opening (or... "Closing") soon (right)

Victims are living in tents (left) in front of their own collapsed/broken houses (right).

In the first few days after the disaster (Saturday, 27 May 2006 – Monday, 29 May 2006), the victims are in panic state and psychologically traumatized. The emergency state at that point of time is very saddening as:

1. The relief teams are yet to arrive.[5]

2. Rumors about possible tsunami actively spreading, causing unnecessary panic.[6]

3. The wounded/near die victims queuing in crowded hospitals around Jogjakarta.

4. It was raining around that time, homeless and tent-less victims suffer.

5. Small aftershocks every few hours.

6. Television/Telecommunication lines down.

7. Lack of food so that people are hungry and thus they begging, etc.

8. Bleak future as now the victims are now suddenly lost most of what they have.

10 days ago, one house collapse is a phenomenon. Now, this is a common sight around Jogjakarta.

II. The Current Situation, 9 days after the disaster (as of 6 June 2006).

At this point of time (6 June 2006), the so-called first phase emergency period is declared as over. Currently (9 days after the disaster) most victims already stayed in public emergency tents or at their families’ houses or set up tents in front of their house. However, their broken/unguarded/door-less houses seem empty, raising concern about security. Usually they set up night patrol to guard their village.

Public kitchen already set up and food rations (perhaps for weeks) are in stock in hundreds (unsure) distribution station (Posko-Pos Koordinasi) around Jogjakarta, Bantul, and Klaten.  Some of these stations are set up by the village members themselves, some set up by the local churches, some set up by volunteers (Red Cross, etc).

Situation @ Posko (Distributing Food - left, Health clinic - right)

Public kitchen (left), logistic goods (right)

It seems that now the difficulties experienced by those who are in charge at these stations are in:

1. Distributing the goods to the one who really needs it.

2. Maintaining balance between reasonable stocks versus actually distributing the goods.

3. Preventing misuse/repeated order of goods.

4. Preventing thefts of the goods.

5. Coordinating between the stations.

The debris is being cleaned, slowly removing the sight of destroyed houses to just plain grounds… If we saw this same scene few days earlier, perhaps it much worse that what we saw yesterday, perhaps we may see dead bodies of the victims…

There are several minor aftershocks, but in much lesser scale. There is an (unproven) issue of possible tsunami on 7 June 2006 and possible eruption of Merapi volcanic mountain.

As the worship places destroyed, victims who are Moslem conducted their Friday service on open air/public tents. Likewise, Christian victims conducted their Pentacost Sunday service on open air too.

We also saw many victims begging for help along the streets (especially along the Parangtritis road where major damage occurred). All volunteers are advised not to stay until night as the security is not good at the moment, especially in the most affected areas (there are various attempts of robbery to the volunteer's cars…)

The streets around the affected areas are currently packed with four groups of people:

1. People who want to survey the affected areas directly, like us.

2. Volunteers/medical team/debris removal team. They carry food, tents, medicine, etc.

3. The families/relatives of victims to visit/rescue their relatives.

4. Unfortunately, people who want to seek out fortune out of this disaster by stealing something from the victims’ houses or from volunteer’s cars or by begging for “help”.

Fight back, Jogjakarta

We saw a lot of notice boards along the streets, voicing out their needs or urge to survive:

• "Help us"

• "We need to be helped, not to be watched”

• "Draw yourself closer to God”

• "Gerakan Jogja Bangkit"

The relief teams are now shifting their focus from “sustaining life” to “short term rehabilitation” phase, to let the economy rolling again around that area. To rebuild Jogjakarta and surrounding areas, as in Aceh and Nias disaster, will take years… 

III. Personal Reflections

* This earthquake, as with other disasters, reminds us what/who is our hope in life?
Is it God, or is it other stuffs such as our earthly possessions?

* When we eat, remember the victims who are hungry
When we sleep, remember the victims who are living in tents

* The victims need hope to survive, the will to fight back…
It is the time for churches to be the light for this darkness…
We can’t save all, but as a body of Christ, we must work together,
Each has their own share to lessen the victim’s burden...

 
GKI Muntilan (left), GKI Ngupasan Jogjakarta (right), as a body of Christ, we must work together...
Be the candle that light this darkness...