URGENT: Earthquake and Tsunami Devastate Indonesia

One year after Palu, Sigi, Donggala and other areas of Central Sulawesi were shaken by a devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake, and inundated by tsunami waters, thousands of women and girls face challenges in accessing safe shelter, water and sanitation facilities, as well as uncertainty about their future. Together over the last year, CARE and partners have constructed latrines and sanitation facilities, distributed shelter and kitchen kits and provided multipurpose cash grants. CARE is working to implement more programs aimed at strengthening family enterprise and business through the provision of inputs, small grants and vocational training packages.

“CARE is committed to supporting the people of Central Sulawesi for the years to come and is increasingly shifting its focus to help restore economic livelihood activities, particularly for women,” said CEO CARE Indonesia/Yayasan CARE Peduli, Bonaria Siahaan. Ms. Siahaan further noted that thousands are still living in temporary shelters and they need help to move on from this difficult situation.

Since the emergency hit, Bonaria Siahaan said CARE has reached nearly 60,500 people through hygiene kits distribution and promotion, clean water rehabilitation and distribution, shelter repair materials and training, latrine rehabilitation and construction, and cash grants. To maximize the impacts of program implementation, CARE is working with local partners like PKPU, Dompet Dhuafa, Bina Swadaya, Solidaritas Perempuan, and IBU Foundation. 

Aligned with CARE’s focus on women and girls’ empowerment, this reconstruction phase presents an opportunity for livelihoods recovery that challenges the inequalities women face in Central Sulawesi.“As we see through our work with communities, when women earn money for their family, everyone in the family benefits because women dedicate the vast majority of their income to the health, education and food security of their children, their family or their community,” said Bonaria Siahaan. 

In Central Sulawesi, CARE will distribute agricultural inputs to help create eco-farms and provide grants to food producers while providing comprehensive training to enhance value Siaran Pers addition and marketing to food production. “Our target is to reach at least 5,400 families through this program,” said Bonaria Siahaan. 

Due to the climate sensitivity of agricultural livelihoods, it is crucial to strengthen the resilience and mitigation strategies of communities by identifying related risks and adjusting existing livelihood activities to reduce these risks. “CARE and its partners will help to identify and sensitise communities on disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change issues, especially the impact of climate change on livelihoods, and to develop adaptation and disaster risk reduction strategies,” said Bonaria Siahaan. CARE will also support the start-up of micro, small and medium enterprises to allow local community members to undertake activities that contribute to disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation and mitigation. 

“This is not a situation that can be solved overnight. It will take years to recover from this. It is imperative that the government together with humanitarian and development agencies like CARE begin planning tomorrow’s permanent livelihood solutions today,” said Bonaria Siahaan.  
 

SOURCE: https://www.care-international.org/news/press-releases/one-year-on-in-central-sulawesi-devastated-women-and-girls-continue-to-face-challenges