IOM will today start to distribute 2,500 non-food relief kits
comprising blankets, rubberized mats and tarpaulins in Koto
Singkarak district.

The distribution, in partnership with three local NGOs –
Yayasan Tanggul Bencana Indonesia (YTBI), Muslim Aid, and Bina
Masyarakat Peduli – will initially target five villages where
590 families have been assessed as “at high risk” and
another 488 as “vulnerable.”

The distribution follows a rapid expansion of IOM’s
transport capacity in the quake zone, in response to a request by
the West Sumatra authorities to set up a free delivery service and
database tracking system for arriving relief goods and their onward
distribution.

Last Tuesday’s tremor, which registered 6.3 on the Richter
scale, killed 66 people, injured hundreds and displaced more than
6,500 people. An estimated 10,000 homes and public buildings were
severely damaged.

IOM is now operating 12 trucks, 24 pick ups and five cars in the
area and has delivered some 61 tons of food and non-food relief,
mainly for local government and the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI).

The West Sumatra local government has also provided IOM with
temporary warehousing space for 10,000 blankets, sleeping mats,
clothing and tarpaulins, half of which are already in Padang, the
provincial capital. The remainder will arrive this week. 

IOM emergency shelter experts also arrived in West Sumatra on
Saturday from Yogyakarta, where 1.5 million people were left
homeless by a major earthquake in May 2006. The one-week assessment
mission, led by a professor from Yogyakarta’s Gadja Mada
University, will work with students from the Technical University
of Padang to assess shelter needs following the quake and advise on
appropriate medium term interventions.  

IOM is currently implementing a programme in Yogyakarta and has
so far built 14,000 low cost transitional homes using bamboo frames
and matting walls on a cement and brick base.

An IOM pilot project with a local NGO where emergency shelters
will be built using bamboo frames and tarpaulins will be launched
in West Sumatra late this week. 

IOM Indonesia Chief of Mission, Stephen Cook, visiting the
affected region today and to be joined there tomorrow by the Dutch
Ambassador to Indonesia, said: “It is important for the
victims of these disasters and their communities to see the
government and the international community working in concert to
bring much needed relief. IOM has thus established joint logistics
and coordination operations within the Governor’s office and
is working hand in hand with other governmental, UN and
non-governmental agencies in the region.” 

IOM’s relief operation in West Sumatra is funded by the
Dutch government, which has provided EUR 750,000 for emergency
relief goods, medical aid and logistics to help the thousands made
homeless, displaced and injured by the earthquake.

For more information, please contact:

Jules Korsten

West Sumatra

Tel.: +62.8121018819

E-mail: "mailto:jkorsten@iom.int" target="_blank" title=
"">jkorsten@iom.int

Paul Norton

Jakarta

Tel.: +62.811895651

E-mail: "mailto:pinorton@iom.int" target="_blank" title=
"">pinorton@iom.int