On October 1st, 2009, CERDAS Foundation launched an urgent appeal to help the people in the city of Padang and the surrounding areas in the province of West Sumatra in Indonesia following a strong earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale that struck the area on Wednesday, September 30th, 2009. This earthquake which compeletely destroyed thousands of houses, schools, and buildings and cities and rural areas, killing more than 1000 lives, has been claimed stronger than the one that was struck in the city of Tasikmalaya and the surrounding cities in the province of West Java on September 2nd, 2009.
Our appeal has received generous responses from the public and donations to the sum of $10,156.00 have been collected. On October 13th, 2009, we sent all of the money to help the earthquake victims in the West Sumatra. Due to an outpouring of support from the community, we extended our collection period for another week. In addition, we also received donations of $2,011.72 from the Indonesian Student Associations in Seattle (PERMIAS, ISAUW, ISASU) who held a fundraising event at Seattle University. At this extended period, we have received a total donation of $2,448.00 which was sent to West Sumatra on November 16th 2009.
To distribute the aid, CERDAS Foundation collaborated with Pos Keadilan Peduli Ummat (PKPU), a Non-Government Organization (NGO) that has access to the affected region. PKPU used the money to respond to the immediate demand of basic needs and other important needs. A total number of 200 cartons of bottled water, 150 cartons (around 40 pcs/carton) of instant noodles, and 5000 packs of biscuits have been distributed for the immediate needs. Since the earthquake made thousands of people left homeless and thousands of children lost their school, PKPU also used the money for constructing a unit of temporary school (SDN 13 Batang Tapakis) and provided 1000 packages of school supplies. The money has also been used to create a trauma healing program, a program which is intended to help these school children cope with the experience of psychological trauma and disruption resulting from this natural disaster. For details of the report, please see the report provided by PKPU in Bahasa Indonesia (1.9MB) and its English translation (3.2MB).
On behalf of the people of Padang and West Sumatra province, we would like to express our gratitude to all donors for your kindness, generosity and support.
For further information, inquiries, or questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us at info@cerdasfoundation.org
