This newsletter covers the 2 months of December 2010 and January 2011. We are still concentrating on helping the people who lost their homes and livelihoods during the eruption of Merapi volcano near Jogjakarta in November 2010, the largest eruption in living memory. During the eruption the Government set a 20 km danger zone around the volcano, because of the danger of hot gas clouds which travel down the slopes of the mountain destroying everything in their path.

Hot Gas and Sand Clouds.

During November 2010 a vast area to the south of the volcano was laid waste by these hot clouds, up to about 8 km from the summit. Many villages were completely destroyed. This area used to be very green, full of trees and bamboo. Now there are no trees, just dead wood and sand.

The following two pictures were taken at the same spot before and after the eruption. They give an illustration of the destructive force of the superheated gas and sand clouds.

Entrance to the Merapi protected forest National Park, at Kinahrejo, before the eruption.

The same spot in February 2011. The forest, entrance monument and all the houses in the area have been destroyed by the force of the eruption, and buried under about 50 cm of volcanic sand.

Scenes of destruction from Kinahrejo, Pakem, February 2011.

Many houses in villages further from the volcano collapsed from the weight of sand on the roof.

Cold Lahar.

The danger now threatening villages near rivers is landslides and floods bringing down huge volumes of sand from the steep slopes of the mountain. These are called “lahar” flows. The following two photos are at Kali Kuning, north of Jogjakarta.

Lahar flow after heavy rain. Below: The same spot some weeks later. Government machines are trying to unblock the river, to save the bridge downstream.

However, the lahar has already brought down several other bridges. Also some rivers, being full of sand and boulders, have burst their banks. The main road between Jogja and Semarang has been closed several times near Muntilan by sand and rocks blocking the road.

The town of Srumbung near Muntilan has been hit several times by lahar floods, and many shops and houses have been badly damaged.

A damaged house near Srumbung, Muntilan

Rebuilding.

Many families are still based in evacuation centres or temporary Shelters, while they visit what remains of their villages during the day, to rebuild their houses and repair water supplies. As many as 7 of the 35 children attending LittleCare Children’s Centre in Pakem are now homeless.

So Little Care has been trying to help these families by delivering staple foods such as rice, cooking oil, sugar, powdered milk, eggs, vegetables etc to the evacuation centres. Also rice has been distributed in small packs to families on their first arrival back in their homes from the evacuation Centres.

Packing rice for distrubution

Distributing rice

Delivering medicine to lahar flood victims in Srumbung, Muntilan, Magelang

Food delivery to Umbulharjo Evacuation Centre

Delivering supplies to ACT Shelter, Pakem

Distributing free eye drops, Kinahrejo, Pakem

Installing a toilet at Banteng kindergarten

Childrens Creative Centre, Pakem.

In November we had to close the Children’s Creative Centre in Pakem during the eruption, as all villages had to evacuate down to Jogja or further away. The Centre reopened in mid December, as soon as this area was declared safe again. In December and January some of the children from adjacent villages have found it difficult to attend the regular classes because of unusually heavy rain, and they have to cross rivers with the danger of flooding with lahar sand. However classes have continued for English and Computers every Thursday to Sunday.

In January we held our routine milk day, when the children play games in English.

We have received several Proposals from NGOs running shelters in the area affected by the eruption of Merapi for assistance in making childrens reading rooms. They have requested books, bookshelves and other equipment. We hope to be able to help them next month.

Children’s reading room at Paten, Desa Dukun, Kecamatan Muntilan, Kabupaten Magelang. They need bookshelves and childrens books in both Indonesian and English.

Reading room at ACT shelter, Hargobinangun, Pakem. They need books, bookshelves and childrens’ school bags.

On behalf of LittleCare I would like to say a big “thank you” to those of you who have so generously donated funds and logistics to support our work.

Certificate of Appreciation given to Dompet Duafa and Rumah Bersalin Madani, Bali.

Best Regards, Indah S. Richardson.

ps. If you are interested to support our ongoing program in Jogja, please send any contributions to our bank account :

Yayasan Little Care, Bank CIMB Niaga,
Cabang Jogjakarta,
Acc. No. 018-01-00138-00-8
Swift Code BNIAIDJA.

Dear Friends,

As you know, Merapi volcano erupted last month, the largest eruption in living memory, and the most destructive since 1830.

The first signs of activity started in mid October, and on 26 October a huge cloud of super hot ash and poisonous gas suddenly destroyed the village of Kinahrejo, killing Mbah Marijan, the traditional “gatekeeper” of the mountain together with 16 other people in his house.

Since then even bigger explosive eruptions have completely destroyed several villages on the slopes of the mountain, and the latest data from BNPB (21/11) shows that 304 people have died.

More than 100,000 people fled from the danger zone, which, with each increase of volcanic activity, grew from a radius of 10, 15 and finally 20 km from the summit. Many hundreds had to be treated in hospital for burns and respiratory problems. Thousands of hectares of agricultural land have been turned into a wasteland of smouldering volcanic ash, all trees, bamboo and crops have been incinerated.

Thousands of cows and goats, which formed an important source of income for the villagers living on the slopes of the mountain, were killed. Evacuation camps were set up by the Government, NGOs and volunteers, at first very overcrowded with the initial influx of evacuees, and later becoming more organised.

With our office located in Jogjakarta, LittleCare was able to mobilise volunteers very early, and we started to distribute emergency items before Government aid arrived. We had to evacuate our office on Jalan Kaliurang on 27^th October, but moved our logistics down to Jogjakarta city, and we are still operating from there.

We first distributed milk, baby food and toiletries, followed by school books and writing materials for the children, so that they could study in the evacuation centres.

From other NGOs and individual donors we received donations of money, food, water, medicines, toiletries, blankets and school equipment for children, which we distributed mostly to the large number of smaller evacuation centres where there was a shortage of particular items. In this way we were able to ensure that none of the goods donated were wasted.

We also carried out a program of post trauma healing, with many activities for children and their parents in the evacuation centres. For the children these included setting up reading corners, playing games, reading, writing, drawing and learning handicrafts.

We also held classes for the parents in cooking, hair cutting, manicure and pedicure. The aim was to relieve boredom and stress for the evacuees waiting in the centres.

Now people in the villages where the buildings are still standing have started to move back to clean up what remains of their homes, while those whose houses and farm land were completely destroyed are still in the evacuation centres, waiting to be relocated.

Local and international NGOs are also building temporary shelters near the affected villages so that people can move back nearer their agricultural land as soon as possible. The Government has promised to relocate those who cannot return to their former homes.

LittleCare has received many requests from the small groups of evacuees who are trying to return to their villages. In the immediate future they do not have work, and the most urgent need is supply of staple foods such as rice, cooking oil, sugar etc. LittleCare plans to set up distribution of these basic urgent needs to the villages in Muntilan, Sleman and Klaten for at least one month.

Some villages are also completely without water supplies, as the springs and previous piped distribution systems have been destroyed by the lahar sand flows in the rivers. At the moment they need temporary water supply by water tankers to the villages, and they need storage tanks to receive the water. In the longer term they need technical assistance and funds to rebuild low cost water supply systems.

On behalf of LittleCare I would like to say a big “thank you” to those of you who have so generously donated funds and logistics during the last month:

PT Garuda Indonesia; Systems Indonesia; Surabaya European School; I’m an Angel, Bali; Dompet Dhuafa, Bali; Radar Jogja; Siska Salon & Spa, Jogjakarta; Wahyu Austin Pastry & Culinary, Jogjakarta; Sicer, Jakarta; Ibu Dyah Subroto, the Netherlands and other private donors who we cannot mention one by one.

Best Regards, Indah S. Richardson.

ps. If you are interested to support our ongoing program in Jogja, please send any contributions to our bank account :

Yayasan Little Care, Bank CIMB Niaga,

Cabang Jogjakarta, Acc. No. 018-01-00138-00-8 Swift Code BNIAIDJA.