Catholic youths rally to help quake survivors

The first shipment of relief materials from one group of young Catholic aid workers to earthquake survivors in Sumatra is expected to leave the capital on Oct. 6.

Young Catholics from Jakarta archdiocese pose for a photo with relief aid they collected for earthquake victims in Sumatra

“Our aid post is now collecting clothes, blankets, tarpaulins, mats, sanitary napkins and instant noodles.

We will keep this aid post for two weeks,” said Katharina Kristie Rahmawani who is coordinating the relief efforts of St. Alphonsus Rodriguez Parish of Pademangan in North Jakarta.

She together with other young people have so far collected 28 million rupiah (about US$3,000) since Oct. 2.

Some of the money will be sent to Jakarta archdiocese office which will in turn send it to the Padang diocese to be channeled to needy survivors.

Relief goods from the parish will be transported to quake survivors by a Catholic who has traveled from Padang in West Sumatra to the capital to collect them, said Rahmawani. The aid will be taken to survivors in Pariaman, a coastal city nearest to the epicenter of the quake.

The earthquake, measuring 7.6 on the Richter Scale, struck West Sumatra´s coastal area on Sept. 30. According to the province’s government disaster-management coordination body (Satkorlak), the quake has killed more than 600 people and injured more than 1,000 others. Hundreds are still missing.

As well as homes, many public buildings and facilities, including hotels, hospitals, mosques and schools were severely damaged. In Padang, part of the wall of St. Teresa of the Infant Jesus Cathedral building collapsed. The diocesan building and three Catholic-run schools were also damaged.

The material losses caused from the quake is estimated at trillions of rupiah.

“We young people are concerned about the plight of survivors and feel called to help after watching news programs on television,” Rahmawani said.

Young Catholics from eight other parishes in Jakarta archdiocese are also working together to collect and distribute aid to the quake survivors.

Robby Sebastian from St. Anthony of Padua Parish of Bidaracina in East Jakarta, who is co-ordinating the efforts, said young people had collected items such as milk, rice, sugar, drinking water, soap and toothpaste from Catholics.

Padang Bishop´s House that was partially destroyed in the earthquake

“We had planned to distribute these goods to the victims of the earthquake that hit Java in early September but with the earthquake in West Sumatra, we agreed to … start distributing to the victims in Padang,” Sebastian told UCA.

Sebastian said young Catholics had twice before distributed relief goods to the quake’s survivors in West Java.

The government says the 7.3 magnitude quake that struck Java on Sept. 2 killed at least 59 people and damaged more than 10,000 houses. A total of 25,242 have fled from their homes.

Father Agustinus Mujihartono, who heads the emergency response team of Caritas Indonesia (Karina) of Padang diocese, told UCA News by phone that a few hours after the quake “we directly opened aid posts in the diocesan center and parishes to meet victims’ needs.”

In response to the quake in West Sumatra, Bishop Josephus Suwatan of Manado, the capital of North Sulawesi province, sent a message to all parish priests in his diocese urging them to ask Catholics to donate to relief efforts.