The Java Earthquake, 27 May 2006

ACCT response to Yogyakarta earthquake

Immediately after the Yogyakarta earthquake, Willie Cheng (ACCT chairman) convened an emergency meeting on Sunday 29th May to see how the Catholic Church could best respond to the tragedy. Amongst those present were George Lim (JRS), William (ACCT), Vivian Liu (ACCT), Dr John Hui (Catholic Medical Guild - CMG) and Dr John Lee (CMG/FIAMC). Those present were given a quick update of the situation as JRS and FIAMC already had volunteers working on the ground.

It was reported at that time that there were at least 6,200 dead and an estimate of 75,000 injured. There were fears that the situation would be compounded by a possible eruption of Mount Merapi and presence of bird flu in that area. World Federation of Catholic Medical Associations (FIAMC) already had 50 doctors from its Indonesian associations (PERDHAKI and KMKI) working in the affected areas. They reported that the 6 hospitals were overcrowded and they were functioning from tents and other temporary shelters. The Indonesian doctors indicated that there was no shortage of personnel but medicine and medical supplies especially painkillers, antibiotics and infusion sets were unavailable throughout Indonesia.

On the basis of the information, ACCT approved a budget of $10,000 to purchase essential medical supplies. In the meantime CMG would compile a list of local doctors who were keen to volunteer their services. Dr Priscilla Lim a member of CMG coordinated the purchased based on a disaster relief plan drawn up during the Pakistan earthquake. On Wednesday afternoon until Thursday dawn volunteers were frantically sorting out and labeling medical supplies. We were confronted with a logistic problem as Parkway Hospitals informed us on Wed afternoon that they were unable to ferry our supplies into Yogyakarta as initially agreed. Urgent phonecalls were made to Red Cross, Mercy Relief and Ministry of Foreign Affairs to no avail. We even considered commercial avenues like Adam Air, Federal Express and DHL which would have cost us a substantial sum.

 Finally at 2 am Thursday morning we received confirmation from our contacts in Jakarta that Lion Air was willing to fly the cargo free direct from Singapore to Yogyakarta. As it was too late to arrange for custom clearance as the complete list of medicine was sent to Jakarta on Thursday morning the 44 cartons of medical supplies weighing approximately 600 kgs were sent on Friday morning. It was received with grateful thanks by PERDHAKI and Panti Rapih Catholic Hospital which is the coordinating centre for medical relief work in Yogyakarta.

During the few days immediately following the disaster, Catholic organisations were cooperating with each other to support the relief effort. For example FIAMC responded to an urgent request by Dr Gabriel Oon (Knights of Malta) to send trauma specialist to assist their hospital in Bantul region. The generosity of Singaporeans was inspiring as evident by little acts of unsolicited help. For example, a salesman from a drug company donated $50 from his own pocket after getting his company to give us a big discount. One elderly gentleman insisted on donating $50 after overhearing Dr Lim talking to a salesman on the phone. The next day his daughter turned up at the clinic to contribute another $50. These proverbial “widow’s mites” may not amount to a substantial sum but they reaffirm my faith in the basic goodness of human nature and reflect the presence of God.

ACCT will continue to monitor the situation in Yogyakarta and render further assistance where possible.
 

Ambulance donated by Singapore