ICRC adjusts its role to disaster needs in Aceh
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is one of a few international organizations which has had a long presence in Aceh. The Jakarta Post's Riyadi Suparno talked to the head of ICRC's sub-delegation for Aceh Amela Husagic and communications coordinator Martin Unternaehrer concerning ICRC's operation in Aceh before and after the tsunami.
Question: What does your operation look like following the tsunamis?
Husagic: ICRC tries its best to adjust its activities to the needs of the victims. We are currently giving both food and non- food assistance. There are about 30,000 beneficiaries of the food (program), and 52,000 benefiting from non-food assistance like tents, family kits, hygiene kits, baby kits, etc.
Like other organizations, we are currently working mostly here in Banda Aceh, but we are assessing the needs along the east coast. Within the Red Cross movement, there was an agreement reached in Jakarta that PMI will be working along the west coast, and PMI along with the ICRC on the east coast.
ICRC does not have volunteers, but all of our activities are implemented through PMI and they do bring volunteers from all over Indonesia, and we provide them with materials that are needed.
How is your work different now with relief operations as compared to previous activities in armed conflict areas as Aceh was previously?
Protection activities are really essential to ICRC's existence especially in a region that is considered to have disturbances. Yes, protection is and will remain our main activity. At the moment, like everybody else, we are trying to respond to the existing needs that are overwhelming to any organization. That's why we contribute to this as much as we can but it doesn't mean that we forget our main role.
Reportedly skirmishes continue to occur. Have you received any requests for protection since the tsunami?
At the moment, we have not received any requests for protection. We have not been informed or approached.
Do you keep in contact with separatist rebels (GAM)?
Unternaehrer: No we do not have contacts with GAM in Indonesia. But at that time (during the efforts to release Ferry Santoro), yes, we had an authorized contact, with Ishak Daud who is now believed to have been killed. But otherwise, the government of Indonesia does not want us to have direct contacts with GAM.
What kind of medical assistance are you providing to victims of the tsunami?
Husagic: In the coming days, we will open a 100-bed referral hospital. It will be a temporary one, in the sense that it will not be in a permanent building. It will be under the tents, but it will have all the components that are needed, starting from X- ray machines, laboratory equipment, and treatment for any urgent surgery. That will also include wards for those with any infectious diseases.
It will be located in Long Raya stadium, the largest stadium in Banda Aceh.
Initially this hospital will run for three months, as agreed with the government. At this stage, we will be ready to provide medical staff, and then, there will be Indonesian medical staff working with us as well as PMI volunteers. So, gradually, we hope that this hospital will be really integrated into the Indonesian system, and at the same time, if there is a need further on to continue this hospital to be run by us for more than three months, we are more than ready and flexible.
What about the funding of this project?
Husagic: This project will be mostly funded by the Norwegian Red Cross. But the ICRC budget will also be involved. This project will cost around US$2 million to $4 million, and that includes flying the field hospital down here from Norway as well as more than 30 people, including medical doctors, to run the hospital.
I noticed that you have an 'I'm alive' program. How does it work and how do you see this program working so far?
Husagic: At the moment, we have three or four specialists in that specific ICRC activity. They came here, together with PMI, and established a forum which allows people just to come here and in fact say a really, really basic thing: "I'm alive". We collect this kind of information here in Banda Aceh, and we have started to collect it in Lhokseumawe, and gradually, we will take all the PMI networks, and this information will be made available to all internally displaced people (IDPs).
Unternaehrer: Yesterday, we reached an agreement with state broadcasting station TVRI where they will scroll down our list so people can see it. When the people see the names of their relatives there, they can contact PMI. We are also working with a number of local radio stations, including Radio Suara Aceh.
Husagic: We've been able to link a number of families. For example, a few days ago, a family found their child through this forum. Also, one lady found her sister through this forum.
How do you foresee your future roles in Aceh?
Husagic: We will continue to adjust our programs to the needs that arise. We will continue to be flexible. And most of all, I really hope that the ICRC will be able to maintain its presence here.