ACT member YTB, the emergency unit of the Communion of Churches in
Indonesia (CCI), reports, that at least 30 people are dead and some
200 missing after floods and landslides on the Indonesian island of
Nias. CCI is going to provide food to the victims as the initial emergency
relief. Meanwhile, preparations for a larger emergency response are
well under way.
According to media reports hundreds of people initially unaccounted
for have been found alive. The villagers had fled to nearby hills
to escape the floods and landslides that were triggered by heavy rain
storms and three earthquakes with magnitudes of 5.3 to 5.4 on the
Richter scale. Torrential rains lashed the island early Tuesday morning
as most people were sleeping. Although Indonesia is in the "dry season",
there has been an unusually large amount of rainfall.
Nias is a remote Indonesian Island, located in then Indian Ocean,
west of Sumatra and about 1400 kilometers (825 miles) away from Jakarta.
The island with a population of about 600,000, is a popular Tourist
spot. Accessing the island and remote villages in the mountains is
very difficult.
Persekutan Gereja di Indonesia (PGI) - also known as Communion of
Churches in Indonesia (CCI) - has established Yayasan Tanggul Bencana
(YTB) in 1991 to develop a structure that could respond to emergencies
and also assist member churches in such responses.
