January Recovery Highlights

Jan. 28th

• A new team just got into Nagapattinam, India. They are identifying families who are not being helped, and the medical effort will start in a week’s time.

Jan. 26th

• Medical Clinics at Meulaboh Hospital and in Banda Aceh, Indonesia continue, but mobile clinics and feeding are now focused in areas along west coast of Aceh where washed out bridges prevent road access. OB partner Mission Aviation Fellowship continues to fly small fixed wing planes and a float plane carrying OB teams and emergency food packages. We also have use of a Bell Ranger helicopter and fly daily reconnaissance missions to locate pockets of refugees as well as dropping in medical teams and food into areas lacking airstrips or road access.

• In Lhoong, an isolated coastal county south of Banda Aceh, we are operating the only clinic and supporting our doctors by helicopter from Banda Aceh. We have purchased a 35’ boat to increase volume of supplies and food delivered daily and are about to begin construction of a dock to enhance unloading efficiency. Near-term efforts in Lhoong will include mosquito control and construction of airstrip. Long-term we plan to partner with Habitat for Humanity Indonesia and United Way of Indonesia to adopt the village, build 500 homes, renovate medical clinic and provide Cash-For-Work programs.

• The 200’ ferry boat BATAVIA pulled into Meulaboh today as planned. This is the ship we loaded in Jakarta last week with 50 tons of food, mosquito netting, kitchen ware and hygiene supplies. The boat will travel up the coast toward Banda Aceh preceded by our recon helicopter team and serve isolated villages along the way. Tomorrow we will make the first stop in Teunom, a cut-off river village north of Meulaboh. The people there are desperate. Today a UN representative told Bill Horan that OB Indonesia is the only NGO effectively serving the cut-off villages along the West Coast.
  

Jan. 25th

• A team of Indian doctors from OB India are in Sri Lanka caring for tsunami survivors in numerous refugee camps.

• We plan to build 10 toilets with water supply in 10 different locations. This is a great need.

• Every day we are feeding 170 families with the assistance of the Sisters of Mary Immaculate Convent in Nagapattinam, India.

• The four mosquito fogging machines will arrive tomorrow in Kalmunai, Sri Lanka. We will deliver them to the hospital and train the staff on how to operate it.

• Furniture and equipment is being purchased for the Medical Office in Kalmunai, Sri Lanka. They lost their clinic and everything in it during the tsunami.

• A team of four doctors and 2 nurses from the Mercy Mission hospital in Calcutta will join our medical team in Sri Lanka January 29th - February 10th.
  

Jan. 21st

• The Batavia is an ocean-going ferry boat 200 feet long, 35 feet wide and four stories high. She used to haul hundreds of passengers at a time in Hong Kong. Yesterday, in the harbor at Jakarta Indonesia, the Batavia was transformed into a ship of mercy as OB Indonesia worked with local charities and volunteers to pack the ship full of food, water and critical relief supplies. I was on board all day and much of the night working with the OB staff to load over fifty tons of relief supplies including food, mosquito netting, bales of clothing, cooking pots and dishes, kitchen utensils, soap, shampoo, fresh fruit, coffee and many other things.
  
  There are thousands of unreached Tsunami survivors suffering in tiny villages scattered along the west coat of Aceh Province where the mountains run parallel to the sea. There’s a lush shelf of land between the mountains and the sea that was a tropical paradise before December 26. The villages perched on that shelf are connected by a single coastal road that has many bridges. The earthquake crumbled most bridges and cut off many seaside villages. About a half hour after the earthquake, the gates of hell opened and the Tsunami stormed ashore. The only help available to survivors has been by helicopter and float plane. The voyage of the Batavia is the first major NGO effort to help isolated coastal villages. The ship was chartered by an Australian couple with a heart for the people of Aceh and sponsored by local businesses including Rolls Royce. OB provided most of the cargo.
  
  The Batavia sailed this morning (1/21) at 4AM with cargo that included 80 tons of fresh water and thousands of plastic buckets. The ship will stop in Padang to pick up more supplies and an OB medical team equipped with portable clinic. In the meantime, OB is conducting daily helicopter reconnaissance flights from Meulaboh, as well as scouting missions with three small aircraft supplied by Mission Aviation Fellowship. By the time the ship arrives Monday night, with support and guidance of the Indonesian Military, the most critical destinations will be identified. We will relay information by satellite phone to the ship’s captain and our onboard team. The ship will move from place to place, anchoring offshore stricken areas, shuttling doctors and supplies ashore via six 20 foot boats with outboard engines. I will post progress reports as they become available. I am Bill Horan reporting for Operation Blessing in Indonesia.

Jan. 17th

• OB Indonesia has been on the scene in Meulaboh since January 6th. Dr. Kim Pascual, COO of OB Philippines, is running field operations and is engaged in the following relief efforts:

  Stationary Clinic at Meulaboh hospital - We are set up at the entrance of the only hospital in Meulaboh. OB Indonesia doctors examine arriving hospital patients; provide primary care, and refer serious cases to the hospital. OB was asked by hospital administration to provide this service in order to take pressure off of their overloaded system.

  Helicopter Medical Team - Every day this week a team of OB doctors travels by helicopter to remote coastal areas north of Meulaboh inaccessible by road or sea. The Indonesian military disaster relief command picks a spot for our team to visit each day. An OB Indonesia donor provided the helicopter and fuel.

  Aircraft Medical Team - A team of OB doctors flies into remote villages north of Meulaboh every day. Mission Aviation Fellowship provides a Cessna 206 plane free of charge. The doctors also take survival ration packages for distribution.

  Mobile Medical Team - Every day a team consisting of OB medical doctors and volunteers travels to refugee camps in vans. A truckload of survival ration kits follows the team. Once the medical needs at the camp are met, the refugees are given food as well as coloring materials for the children.

  Feeding Remote Villages via Seaplane - OB supplies survival ration packages to Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) for delivery to remote riverbank villages every day. MAF lands on the rivers and distributes three or four loads a day.

  Clean-Up Teams - OB hired local Meulaboh college students and young men to clean streets in devastated areas. Today we had 30 men employed as well as about 20 volunteers. This program provides desperately needed income and contributes to the local economy.

  Survival Ration Packages - An average of 3,100 survival packages are made up every day in Medan and Jakarta. Then they are shipped by truck to Meulaboh, Banda Aceh and Sigli. Packages contain items including canned sardines, rice, sugar, cooking oil, biscuits, coffee, water and soap.

• Non Rawung, executive director of OB Indonesia, is heading up the relief efforts in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. They distribute survival ration packages as well as run one stationary medical clinic and three mobile medical clinics.

• The vice-governor of Aceh, Indonesia requested that OBI send help to Sigli. Ongoing OBI operations include distributing survival ration packages as well as running one stationary medical clinic and two mobile medical clinics.

Jan. 14th

• Kumar Periasamy is heading OB efforts in Sri Lanka. He is coordinating OB medical personnel from India and Singapore. Our team is operating in the Ampara district, providing medical services and medicine to persons made homeless by the Tsunami. The entire area along the coast near Ampara is destroyed. Sri Lankan government health officials have directed us, along with Canadian military medical teams, to provide services for nine refugee camps in Kalmunai, the worst-hit area.

• Two portable field hospitals just arrived in Indonesia for deployment by OBI medical teams in Sumatra.

• OBI has received a donation of 12 mobile medical clinics, by Christian Alliance, one of our Ministry partners in Texas. The units, each self-contained in a 40’ shipping container, include generator, AC, heat, plumbing, electrical, consulting area, examination rooms and basic medical equipment. We will take delivery of the first unit immediately and ship to Sri Lanka. The others will be finished within four to six weeks and deployed to areas most suitable.

Jan. 12th

• Over a meeting with the Kalmunai Deputy Provincial Director of Health Services in Sri Lanka today, we found out that there is a severe problem of mosquitoes and house flies. Heavy rains during the weeks following the Tsunami have created countless pools of stagnant and debris filled water which provides mosquito populations the opportunity to explode. Until major cleanup is accomplished—spraying insecticide is the only solution.
  
  The tsunami wiped out the local supply of fogging machines and chemicals. If not addressed, the area will be at high risk of a malaria or dengue fever outbreak. OBI will be providing 1 ULV machine, 4 royapulse fogging units, 11 pairs of gum boots, 10 protective goggles, 10 boiler suits, 50 masks and 50 units of disposable hand gloves.

• John Tesh, Connie Sellecca and our team worked in the same refugee camp as on Jan. 11th. We brought crayons and 1,000 large sheets of paper for the children. They were asked to draw pictures of what they remembered of the tsunami. Some adults even joined in to draw. Blue was the most popular color and the tragedy that showed up on the paper "just ripped my heart out," said Mr. Horan.

• We helped a local health representative by equipping her destroyed office with new equipment. She will now be able to serve more people in a timely fashion.

• Health officials also expressed a need for medicines, since they lost 100% of warehouse supplies in the Tsunami. We have $4.2 million dollars worth of antibiotics on the ground in Colombo, and can send more if kinks are taken out of import process.We are making plans to import additional anti-infective antibiotic procured by OBI yesterday.

Jan. 11th

• OBI President Bill Horan and a team of nine including John Tesh and Connie Sellecca arrived safely in Colombo, Sri Lanka today. Right away they flew to the Ampora District where our medical team is working.

• Confused, frightened and displaced, children's faces lit up when John sang them songs, Connie taught them their English names, and a volunteer did magic tricks. The refugee camp manager said it was exactly what the kids needed and asked us to come back. The team will tomorrow.

• OBI medical teams and Canadian military medical personnel are working with Sri Lanka's local medical department in helping tsunami survivors living in nine refugee camps.

• Today an OB medical team treated hundreds of sick and hurt tsunami survivors at the Kalmunai South refugee camp in Sri Lanka. It currently is housing 3,900 children and adults

Jan. 10th

• OB Thailand's team spent their first day in Phang Nga's Bangmuang Camp today. Almost 4,000 homeless are staying there in tents. The military and NGOs are building small temporary homes. We have kitchen supplies and gas burners ready to distribute as soon as tomorrow.

• Phuan Peung Pa Foundation, a charity begun by one of the king's daughters-in-law, asked OBI Thailand to help them feed 4,000 survivors every day. They have the volunteers and equipment to cook but lack funding for food. We have given them enough funding for five days right now (10,000 Baht or $250 per day). Our team will help cook and distribute lunch on Wednesday.

Jan. 7th

• We are bringing 20-30 tons of food, medicine and relief supplies into Indonesia's Aceh Province every day of the week.

• After being cut off from the world since Dec. 26th, the people of Balg Pidiet, Indonesia were visited by OB staff a couple of days ago. The people quickly agreed to and cleared a 400 meter long, dirt landing strip. Four times today, a single-engine plane came loaded each trip with approximately 1,000 pounds of emergency survival kits (i.e. rice, oil, sardines, biscuits, soap, shampoo).

• Today, a small medical team was flown to and treated people all day in an unreached village. The closest landing strip was 3 kilometers away; the team walked the rest of the way.

• Dr Kim Pascual from OB Philippines is leading the team of 12 doctors, 8 nurses and several volunteers in Meulaboh. Mission Aviation Fellowship is shuttling members and supplies to Meulaboh in a small plane.

• OB Singapore's medical team arrived in Colombo Sri Lanka this morning. They will join staff from OB India Saturday and operate a clinic in the hardest hit area in Sri Lanka. In addition to medicines purchased locally, the shipment of 787,000 doses of antibiotics is arriving in Colombo tonight.

• A faith-based Australian team of 13 doctors and nurses have joined OB Indonesia and are being flown into Banda Aceh to work in OB clinics there.

• OB India continues to operate a feeding program for 2,000 people at the Sisters of Mary Immaculate Convent in Nagapattinam. Nuns continue to take our medical team to rural areas needing our help.

Jan. 5th

• OB India continues to operate a medical clinic and feeding operation at a Sisters of Mary Immaculate Convent in Nagapattinam (300 kilometers south of Chennai). Today we treated about 1,000 patients with medical services and medicine as well as sent a mobile clinic to reach patients in remote areas. We served approximately 2,000 people a hot meal and distributed around 1,000 blankets.

• OB Indonesia launched a 6-vehicle convoy from Medan that is now en route to Sigli in north Sumatra. The Indonesian government requested that OBI go to Sigli to help refugees gathering there. We will set up a base medical clinic and operate two mobile clinics in surrounding area. We will also distribute emergency food rations.

• Our relief effort in Banda Aceh, Indonesia is still in full swing with one base clinic and distribution center, two mobile clinics and staff of approximately 100. Our rotating convoy continues to deliver an average of two truckloads a day of food, medicine and relief supplies.

• Tomorrow an OBI reconnaissance team supplied with two tons of medical supplies and food is being flown into Meulaboh (Mel-O’-bah), Indonesia by Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF). Meulaboh is a massive graveyard with over 20,000 dead and precious few survivors. The survivors are starving and need immediate help. In partnership with MAF, Operation Blessing plans to fly in teams and over 10 tons of food, tents, generators, medicine during the next few days.

Jan. 4th

• Today an OB Indonesia convoy of six trucks and three support vehicles is leaving Medan Sumatra for Aceh where they will expand current relief efforts. The trucks are loaded with food, relief supplies, medicine, large tents, generators and equipment to set up a base clinic and two mobile clinics. Tomorrow a team of OB doctors will board a government Hercules aircraft and fly to Banda Aceh to meet with convoy. By Friday we will be operating two base clinics and four mobile clinics.
  
  
• OB India helped 750 patients and gave food to 2,000 people today. Tomorrow the team will go to a village where there are 2,000 people taking shelter in a temple. We will also distribute blankets. Our medical team is on the move helping pockets of people who are not being helped by anyone else.The first medical team from Singapore will be in Colombo on Friday. We will be working in the district of Ampara and also planning to go to Batticoloa and Trincomalle. All these places are in the Tamil speaking areas.

Dec. 31th

• A team from OB Thailand took supplies (including rice, toothpaste & brushes, soap) to 560 families living in Lun Thai Island in Krabi Province. This is the first tsunami relief they had received.
  
  
• OB Indonesia has 100 staff and volunteers working in the Banda Aceh area. Fourteen trucks filled with food and relief supplies are on their way from Jakarta to Aceh Province. The trip takes four days and three nights.
  
  
• OB India has a medical team south of Chennai at a Catholic Convent run by The Sisters of Mary Immaculate. Today our team treated 450 patients. In the next few days the nuns will lead our team to small remote villages needing medical assistance. The nuns also run a small hospital that we will help to supply with medicines.

• The OB India team purchased and distributed 1,000 blankets. It is getting chilly at night and the people made homeless need blankets. On January 5th our team will begin serving lunch and dinner at the convent to 1,000 survivors every day.
  
  
• The Maldivian Government representative in Singapore requested assistance from Operation Blessing Singapore alliances. Relief supplies are being marshaled and a team is being organized in Singapore to go to the Maldives.

• OB Indonesia has a command center and fully-functioning base clinic set up in Banda Aceh. 30 OB doctors, nurses and medical personnel are treating patients. We also have a distribution center in Banda Aceh staffed by 70 disaster relief workers distributing food, clothing, shoes and relief supplies. So far we have distributed 40 tons of goods.
  
  
• On December 31, OB in Virginia Beach will airlift $4.2 million worth of antibiotics to help our medical teams fight infections and disease in affected areas.
  
  
• Meulaboh Sumatra is an area not yet reached by any relief agency. Government air reconnaissance reports the death toll upwards of 80% of the population of 36,000. OB Indonesia will launch a task force to Meulaboh on January 2nd to provide survivors with food and medical services. We will also help to bury the dead.

• OB Indonesia chartered a private cargo aircraft in Jakarta, and sent a disaster response team to Aceh in Northern Sumatra. In cooperation with Indonesian Air Force, a C-130 brought in a large OB team of medical professionals and volunteers. The plane also carried tons of medical and relief supplies.
  
  
• OB Singapore has teamed up with the Singapore YMCA and the local crisis network to mobilize teams and resources for Sri Lanka. In addition, our Singapore office is coordinating efforts of volunteers that will go into stricken areas as soon as possible.
  
  
• OB Thailand sent a medical team of doctors, nurses and translators to Pangnga Province to relieve exhausted hospital staff members who have worked nonstop since the disaster struck.