Operation Blessing medical teams rush to treat quake victims
OBI medical personnel treat victims of Saturday's devastating quake.
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Listen (MP3 download) to a live report from Yogyakarta with Operation Blessing Indonesia Director, Mark McClendon and Operation Blessing President, Bill Horan.
YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia - Operation Blessing emergency medical teams poured in from Jakarta within hours after Saturday’s quake that annihilated the province of Yogyakarta, Indonesia. A team of 40 OBI medical support personnel rushed to treat the masses of injured people left outside with no access to medical care due to over-filled hospitals.
People are lying outside, too scared to enter any standing structure for fear of aftershocks," reported Operation Blessing Indonesia director Mark McClendon, who led a team of Indonesian doctors into Bantul. "They are sleeping on wet newspapers, traumatized, critically injured and soaked by pouring rains."
"The most glaring need is medical," states McClendon, "you have people lying all over the place, with IV’s hanging from tree branches. They have severe compound fractures, internal injuries and head injuries."
It is estimated that the quake killed more than 4,500 people plus displaced over 200,000 in central Java who need emergency food, water and medical care.
In addition, "Hardly anything is left standing, village after village has been leveled, people are under tarps with no medical help or access to get help," McClendon said.
With homes destroyed and villages leveled, thousands are living outside with no access to food, water or medical care.
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As a first-responder, Operation Blessing immediately established a command center in the still-standing Bhinneka Hotel and is utilizing 20 rooms and a ballroom to run emergency relief operations throughout Yogyakarta.
By Sunday, Operation Blessing deployed five emergency medical teams and sent three of the teams to Bantul, the area closest to the epicenter of the quake. Another team began working in pediatrics at Bethesda hospital. To transport injured people stranded in outlying areas, a roving Operation Blessing medical team drove three ambulances into surrounding villages.
Over the next five days, Operation Blessing will also partner with local organizations to mobilize over 100 volunteers who will assemble 20,000 family packs for distribution to quake victims. Family packs are packaged in water-resistant plastic bags and include coffee, sugar, rice, canned fish, beans, cooking oil and hygiene items such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, and soap.
OBI Medical staff provide emergency care to those critically injured from Saturday's quake.
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Operation Blessing International has regional headquarters in Jakarta and provides medical aid, hunger relief and disaster relief throughout Indonesia. Operation Blessing Indonesia was a first responder following the December 2004 tsunami and continues to be involved in strategic rebuilding efforts in the hardest hit areas of the Aceh west coast.
"Since we were ready and positioned in Indonesia because of our tsunami relief efforts we were already geared up for the earthquake," states Bill Horan, Operation Blessing president, "our largest regional center in Asia is in Jakarta. We were there and ready to rush in – to provide medical aid when and where most needed."
Indonesia Earthquake Survivors Need Your Help
Thousands of critically injured people need help right now. They need medical treatment, food and shelter to stay alive. Donate now to provide for those devastated in Indonesia.
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