An Indonesian mother kisses her one-month-old baby after treatment at a hospital in Yogyakarta May 28, 2006. Reuters/Beawiharta, courtesy www.alertnet.org.

Westport, CT (May 30, 2006) — Save the Children is appealing for $3 million in public support to help provide basic necessities to tens of thousands of children and families left homeless by a powerful earthquake that struck Indonesia early Saturday morning. Save the Children has worked on child-focused programs in Indonesia for 30 years, and its emergency response team is on the ground responding to the needs of children in central Java, the island where the earthquake struck. 

After meeting with officials from the United Nations and the Government of Indonesia on Monday, Save the Children is setting up three children's centers in Yogyakarta, Bantul and Klaten — heavily populated areas hit hard by the earthquake. Mobile teams from Save the Children will use these centers as base camps to work with children affected by the earthquake and, later, to build other safe play areas for children in their communities.

Meanwhile, Save the Children's emergency response team reports that heavy rains have complicated relief efforts as survivors, including as many as 40,000 children, search for shelter.

Initially, Save the Children will distribute household kits — which include cooking utensils, plastic sheeting, soap, toothpaste and games and toys for children — to about 5,000 families. 

Because as many as 1,000 schools were damaged or destroyed by the earthquake, Save the Children plans to assemble education kits for children and teachers, and work with government officials to try to get children into temporary schools as quickly as possible.

The magnitude 6.3 earthquake hit highly populated areas about 250 miles east of the capital, Jakarta, while many were sleeping. Indonesian officials estimate that more than 5,100 people have died in the disaster, with thousands more injured. Officials expect the number of casualties to rise further.

Tens of thousands of homeless survivors in the disaster area are living on streets, in rice fields and even in graveyards as they fear additional aftershocks. Save the Children staff members in Bantul estimate that as many as 80 percent of homes may be damaged. Families are in immediate need of shelter, blankets, cooking utensils and hygiene items, they report.  

Additional Save the Children emergency experts from the United States and United Kingdom have arrived in Indonesia to assist in the response efforts. 

Save the Children officials remain concerned that the earthquake struck in the vicinity of Mount Merapi, an active volcano that has been sending out large clouds of gas and ash. A major eruption of the volcano could claim additional lives and greatly complicate relief efforts.

"We are asking the American public once again to support our efforts in Indonesia as they did so generously following the earthquake and tsunami of December 26, 2004," said Rudy Von Bernuth, who heads Save the Children USA's emergency response operations. "We have assisted more than 276,000 children and families living in the tsunami-affected region of Indonesia, where we have operated programs for 30 years."

Von Bernuth said that Save the Children staff members in Indonesia have begun to assess the impact of the earthquake and to purchase supplies to meet the most urgent needs of children and families who live in the area.

"We will focus first on helping meet basic needs, including providing water, food, medicines, hygiene items and temporary shelter, with a special focus on ensuring that children are protected and safe," he said.

Following the tsunami, Save the Children played a leading role in helping protect children who survived the disaster. The agency helped reunite separated children with their families while also training teachers and re-equipping schools so children could return to school.

"In every disaster response situation, we work to inject some normalcy into the lives of children who have been uprooted from their homes and have seen everything familiar to them suddenly disappear," said Von Bernuth. "Children are very resilient and can overcome disasters, with the proper support and guidance."

Save the Children is a global leader in child-focused emergency response with decades of experience in addressing the unique needs of children in crisis. The agency currently works in 40 developing countries as well as in the United States, including communities along the Gulf Coast recovering from the devastating impact of Hurricane Katrina last summer.

Learn more about Save the Children's Indonesian earthquake response