Earthquake in Sumatra
A major earthquake struck the Indonesian island of Sumatra, located within the seismically volatile “Pacific Ring of Fire”, on 6 March 2007.
The earthquake destroyed 4,085 houses and damaged 5,632, leaving an estimated 20,000 people homeless. Fifty-three schools were also destroyed and a further 153 were damaged.
In the picture above, children search for school books amongst the rubble of a school, in the Solok district, that was levelled by the earthquake.
Save the Children, CARE and Mercy Corps have launched a joint response in the worst affected areas. The agencies are distributing 500 clean up kits, along with 4,000 school kits and 30 school tents to allow children to return to school as soon as possible. In addition 30,000 bottles of water purifying solution and 3,000 jerry cans will be distributed to affected families.
The distributed clean up kits are assembled by the local community.
A large clean up operation is currently underway, including the many school sites.
A young boy helps with the clean up operation.