These Indonesians whose house is still standing choose to sleep outside for fear of aftershocks

September 18, 2009: Indonesia's children have often been the hapless victims of repeated earthquakes, tsunamis, and floods. This was the case again recently, when a 7.0 magnitude quake hit the island of Java on September 2. The earthquake demolished thousands of homes, injured almost 1,400 people, and killed at least 75.

In Indonesia for nearly forty years, SOS Children's Villages has considerable experience in providing food, shelter, and medical assistance to children and families affected by natural disasters. SOS carries out this work in addition to its ongoing mission of creating warm homes, training SOS mothers, and forming supportive communities to raise orphaned and abandoned children.

SOS has responded to Indonesia's latest earthquake by building shelters and organizing activities to minimize the trauma faced by children who have lost homes or family members. SOS provided similar relief to victims of the particularly devastating December 2004 tsunami.

Food and Activities Focusing on Children

Indonesian children receive food at an SOS Emergency Relief Program

SOS Children's Villages is focusing its relief efforts on Pangalengan, a village about 18 miles from the town of Bandung that lost half of its homes to the earthquake. (Bandung is about 90 miles southeast of Jakarta, the nation's capital.) SOS Children's Villages staff have created two temporary camps there and have been distributing supplies and food packages to the local population.

Special packages are being given to children. With the assistance of local volunteers, SOS is also preparing food for Muslims observing Ramadan. These foods include kolak, a nutritious dish made of fruit, coconut milk, and sugar.

To minimize the long-term psychological effects of the disaster, SOS-Indonesia's mobile library is making daily rounds to the children in SOS's temporary camps. The children love books and are finding refuge in their pages at a difficult time. SOS Children's Villages' play-bus will soon begin its rounds with toys and games.

To treat the many children who have taken ill from the harsh weather conditions that prevail this time of year, SOS has arranged for doctors from Java's Ahmad Yani University to stay at the camps to care for the children. SOS staff from nearby Children's Villages are on site to ensure proper sanitary conditions.

SOS Offers Broad Array of Services to Needy Families

Two girls at SOS Children's Village - Lembang in Bandung, Indonesia

SOS Children's Villages operates eight Villages throughout Indonesia, which is an archipelago. The organization's complementary facilities include five SOS youth centers, eight kindergartens, a school, two vocational training centers, and nine social centers. Through its social centers, SOS staff run family strengthening programs. These seek to bolster parenting skills and the ability of local household heads to keep their families intact.

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