Notes From The FieldUprooted Lives: SurfAid brings hope to earthquake hit communities in the Mentawai Islands.May 2005

The people from Pei Pei village in southern Siberut have left their homes for this new settlement on high ground.

Pei Pei village on the southern tip of Siberut, the largest of the Mentawai Islands, used to be home to more than 340 people. Today it stands empty. Homes are deserted, the school is shut and people are nowhere to be seen.The transformation from thriving community to ghost town occurred pretty much overnight following the large April 10th earthquake that measured 6.7 on the Richter scale. Although much smaller than the devastating 9.3 quake off northern Sumatra that triggered the December 26th tsunami, or the 8.7 on March 28 that killed at least 1,300 people in Nias, the epicenter of this third quake was only around 30km from Pei Pei.“We felt it immediately. It was so violent. Very strong. It came late in the afternoon. We were afraid that there would be a tsunami and we ran for the hill,” remembers Pak Anjelo the village teacher. “After a week of sleeping rough on the ground we started to build new wooden homes.”

68 families are now huddled in hilltop camps above Pei Pei. Among them is SurfAid staff member, Jati Kumoro. He has been living with the village since January when he and 26 newly trained community facilitators moved to the islands as part of the SurfAid malaria control program. “When I arrived here we would talk about malaria control, malaria education, ideas for getting the community involved in a village health initiative. I came out here to get people thinking about their health needs and the solutions to those needs. Overnight we were presented with a whole new set of priorities. For over a month our conversations have been of finding shelter, food and water. Basic hand-to-mouth stuff.”

The new settlement is rudimentary. Three generators provide limited electricity and water has to be carried in buckets from a source 300 meters away up a jungle path. Food is also in short supply.

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Seven-year-old Meriah hasn’t been to school since early April.“I like playing with my bothers and sisters, but I want to go back to school to learn as well,” she says.

Her daughter Meriah looks up from playing with her siblings. “I would like a new school and some new teachers,” she says.

SurfAid Field Project Manager Pak Zul Marpuang and Pak Anjelodiscuss the future of Pei Pei in Pak Anjelo’s recently finished new home.

The farmers have all been too busy building new homes to collect their crops for sale. As a result, money for basic goods is in very short supply.

Pak Anjelo admits that life has become dramatically harder in what is already a remote place to live. “We don’t know if we will stay here on the hill or go back to the old village. We want to go back, but we are afraid to now. It might be easier in

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When the earthquake struck the village’s only school was damaged. There are now big cracks in the building and fears over the extent of the damage lead to its immediate closure. The children haven’t had classes since April 9th

and although there are plans to build another temporary classroom on the hill, it may be another month before lessons start again. “Education for our children is already poor. Now this!” says 24-year-old mother of five, Nika. “

The village economy has taken a hit as well. Most people sell nilam (vegetable dye) and copra to make a basic living. Each family can make about US$20 a month during the three month growing season by selling the crops. But harvests have fallen by the wayside since the quake.

the short-term, but what if there were another earthquake? We sometimes go down the hill to check on our old homes, but we are always on standby. When we go down again we are ready to flee and we make sure no children go down, just in case something happens.”

SurfAid’s Jati has his work cut out ensuring the community he has been placed in comes to as little harm as possible. Measles and diarrhea are commonplace. In the days that followed the April earthquake a 50-year man and a one-week-old baby died of a chest infection and tetanus respectively.

Though SurfAid’s community development program didn’t ever envisage dealing with emergencies, Jati has taken the lead in Pei Pei’s shattered community.

SurfAid program manager Brian O’Callaghan, with Zul and Jati

“Jati is a friend, a help and an advisor to us,” says Pak Anjelo. “No-one from the government or the authorities has been here to this day to tell us what is happening to our islands. We were terrified a tsunami would hit the village like before in Aceh. Jati explained that wouldn’t happen, as the quake was too small. He gave us strength and courage. Most of all he gave us good information. There was no tsunami.”

Jati smiles shyly, and the village people laugh at his embarrassment. Then Pak Anjelo adds his highest accolade. “If I had a daughter I would offer her in marriage to Jati.” Jati reddens and the laughter increases. Jati shakes his head at their amusement, but smiling makes the final point: “The people here don’t have many friends from the outside. My wife, my family, my friends ask me to come back home because of the earthquakes, but I know people here need me. It’s about friendship. I am here because we are all connected to each other by ties of trust. My work here is important and this makes me happy.

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Jati and the community will start the malaria control program again in the next month. Through Jati and his colleagues, SurfAid is taking health programming into the heart of remote island villages. He has been living with the people of Pei Pei for three months. He and the other SurfAid community facilitators are working in extremely tough conditions.

Jati’s family lives on mainland Sumatra. He is married and has a three–year-old son. SurfAid salutes and thanks him and all the community facilitators for their commitment and loyalty.

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