On the picture Fr. Paulus Rahmat, SVD one of the tsunami victims.
The tsunami hit Selat Sunda on Saturday night, December 22, 2018. This was triggered by the eruption of Mount Anak Krakatau which is an active volcano. The wave of tsunami hit the coastal area of Anyer, Pandeglang and Serang, Banten till Lampung. On the coast of Sumur Sub-district, in Pandeglang the waves reached 3.9 m. The earthquake has killed 426 and 23 people are missing, 7,202 people injured, and 40,386 people displaced.
As an initial response to the Tsunami disaster, Fr. Paul Rahmat and Fr. Lucius Tumanggor (VIVAT-Justice and Peace and Integrity of Creation team) visited the affected area on December 27-29, 2018 and assessed the need of the affected people in Sumur district. Besides the assessment, the team brought little relief materials such as kitchen equipment like, gas stoves, plates, sardines, coffee and tarps and distributed them together with the local volunteer group called "Rumah Madu Post" which VIVAT-JPIC collaborates for the relief project. On the Night of December 28, volunteers of Rumah Madu Post, together with VAVAT-JPIC team held a briefing and coordination meeting. They realized that there are already many volunteer groups distributing food items.
Knowing such situation, the team decided to focus on providing following relief items, blankets and mats, special needs of vulnerable groups (infants, toddlers, pregnant mothers and breastfeeding mothers, elderly and disabled) in the form of milk, baby food, dieters and women's special needs, carpentry tools (saws, hammers and zinc nails and board nails) and agricultural equipment (hoes, shovels and vegetable seedlings).
The tools for carpentry and agriculture will be used to reconstruct or repair the houses by themselves and to work on agriculture for their own livelihood. This enables them to rehabilitate their life with their own effort, which gives good effect for trauma healing and self-empowerment.
Fr. Lucius Tumanggor, SVD (JPIC SVD Java Province), Sr. Ruth Mulyani, SSpS (JPIC SSpS Jawa Province), Fr. Paul Rahmat, SVD and Sr. Genobeba Amaral, SSpS (VIVAT Indonesia) formed a team to coordinate the project.
Volonteers
