MAZARS in Padang
Mazars in Padang
The quake that struck West Sumatra last week with 7.6-magnitude brought thousands of buildings and houses flattened to the ground. And based on the government latest figure, over 700 were dead, hundreds are still missing while thousands of survivors must live under the makeshift tents and rely on distributed instant food or from public kitchens that scattered around the city or. Mazars Indonesia, an international business advisory company, shared this sadness, and collected donation from its 150 staffs on October 2nd. Within three hours, a moderate sum of 5.6 million rupiahs were gathered, the company then matched this donation so that 11.2 million rupiahs were made available. A small team was quickly assembled to draw the plan on delivery and distribution mechanism. The team was lead by Nurafnita Yanti, one of Mazars’ staff who is originated from Padang Pariaman, the district closest to the epicenter and hardest hit by the quake.The team together with Captiva Chevy Club Jakarta was able to buy food, milk, blankets, tents, medicine, and sanitary pack. On top of that, Syamsu Djalal a retired military general from Padang, donated 15 tons of rice worth 60 million rupiahs to the team for distribution. The container was arrived in Padang on Sunday and the distribution efforts started early the next day. The team has decided to prioritize helping the elderly, children and the poorest in Padang Pariaman regency, 50 km north-west from the province capital, Padang.
Since many rescue efforts were concentrated in cities or along the main road, the team focused their efforts to distribute the aid packages to Kampung Paneh, Toboh Kete, and the area of Sicincin. These three hamlets are about 20 km outside the regency capital of Padang Pariaman. It was a sad moment to witness that those hamlets were completely destroyed. Families were sheltering in damaged, unsafe houses on rainy days waiting for rescue teams to arrive. After one full day of survey to identify targets, on October 6th the team was able to distribute packages of aid door-to-door to 300 households. Each household received 10 kg of rice, 2 blankets, 12 sachets of mosquito repellant, 1 loaf of bread, various medicines, and 1 pack of tampons. Using tents, two distribution points were also set up in Kampung Paneh and Toboh Kete. Each tent equipped with basic kitchen providing 5 kg of Rendang (meals) and all the extras of undistributed packages for free.
The distribution of those aid packages took two days. It was clear that the people in these hamlets and in the surrounding areas are still needed further assistances and supports. Constant supply of food, clean water, clothes, milk, medicine and others will remain critical until they can stand on their own feet and rebuild their lives. What have been distributed by the team is nothing compares to their need. Those packages can only support their lives for a few days or one week at the most. What will happen after that is uncertain. We hope others can also contribute to ease the burden and reduce the suffering of these people. Those aid packages distributed by the team worth almost Rp. 90 million. They are not much, but surely enough to put smiles on the faces of these villagers.